Jane Dunn

Hello Jane,

What were the first names of Thomas and Mary's children? Their names may help in finding more information about them and their mother Mary, providing that baptism records exist for them.

In addition, do you know what Thomas's crime was that got him the transportation sentence? Did the crime take place in the town of Kilcock or another town in the Kilcock Civil Parish?

Was Mary's maiden name also spelled Corrigan?

Thank you.

Dave Boylan

Dear Dave, thank you so much for acknowleding my email, I was really thrilled to get your response.  We certainly don't have the names of his children unfortunately and as for the spelling of Mary's maiden name, we only have the spelling as Corroghan on the documents we do have. However that is not to say it couldn't be Corrigan.  Re his crime, we don't have that but my brother is a colonial historian and I will speak to him, because if anyone knows where else we might be able to access that information, he will know. I'll get back to you!  With thanks, and kind regards Jane 

Hi Jane

Can you confirm where you got the name Mary Corroghan from please?  

Thank you

Linda

Dear Linda, it appears on a record from the local Family History Society in Singleton, NSW. It gives the name of his first wife as Mary Corroghen which is a variant on the spelling I gave you previously ie Corroghan.  It is also mentioned separately in a handwritten document that a now deceased cousin gave me who had done a lot of research into the family, she talks of Mary Corroghan there as well. 

We have a copy of a letter he wrote asking the Governor to consider his request to bring Mary out to Australia, but there he refers to her as Mary Dunne (note the e on the end of Dunn). In later official documents (conditional pardon) the 'e' seems to have gone from the name and he is referred to only as Thomas Dunn.  In that request, he refers to her as living in Kilcock, County Kildare.

Re the names of his children, the eldest may have been called John, possibly born in 1821 but to be honest I don't know how reliable that information is, though John is the name of Thomas' father.

And his crime is not given on any of the official documents we have in our possesion iincluding his ticket of leave.  My brother will be out at the State Records in the next week and if he can, he will try to find the ship's records and see if they have recorded it there. I've checked another website here listing Irish convicts, date of departure, ship etc and found Thomas there, but again no list of the crime.

I really do appreciate the efforts you are going to to try and find some information.  

Kind regards

Jane 

Hello Jane,

I found information, thanks to another researcher who posted information online, that Thomas and Mary did have a son named John. I'll be sending you more information, hopefully by this coming weekend with the results of the research, which includes not only John’s baptism transcription, but also a copy of his original Kilcock Catholic Church baptism record.

I also found another record that may pertain to Mary and where she was living after her husband Thomas had been deported.

I'd like to do as much research as possible before sending the results to you.

With Best Wishes,

Dave

Dear Dave, this is all very exciting!  Thank you for your email and I shall look forward to hearing from you again when you've got all the information gathered.

Kind regards

Jane :)

You're welcome Jane. I'll write back as soon as possible. Thank you for your reply. It is most appreciated.

Dave

Hello Jane,

I looked for the Kilcock marriage transcription for Thomas Dunn and Mary Corraghan/Corrigan, as well as the baptism transcriptions for any children that they had at the free Find My Past website. I didn’t find a marriage for Thomas and Mary but did locate the baptism of their child John “Dunne,” based on information from a researcher named Michael Worthington who submitted details about the Dunn family to Ancestry.com in his Family Tree called, “Ancestors of Jacob Wothington.” You can access Michael’s “Ancestors of Jacob Worthington” submission at: https://is.gd/EXyLjF

After reading Michael Worthington’s submission, I accessed John baptism transcription at the free Find My Past website, which shows he was baptized in the Kilcock, Kildare, Catholic Parish on 6 August 1821. His first name in the transcription is abbreviated as, “Jno.” His parents are listed as Thos Dunne and Mary Corrigan.

You can view the Find My Past transcription at: https://www.findmypast.com/transcript?id=IRE/PRS/BAP/5328382

Attached to the transcription is a link that takes you to a copy of the original baptism register for John held by the National Library of Ireland in Dublin. You can access a copy of the original baptism register at: https://registers.nli.ie//registers/vtls000634475#page/13/mode/1up

There are two facing pages of the register. John’s baptism entry is on the right-hand page, 14th entry down. You can enlarge the page by means of round icons in the upper center/ right of the screen. The icons are white with green backgrounds. You can also access the full-screen function by clicking on the last icon on the right with the two arrows pointing northeast and southwest.

The initials Jno. in the baptism entry are on the right edge of the register page. The baptism entry for John looks like this:

Thos Dunne Thos Dunne
Mary Corrigan Cath. Toole Jno
____

Coincidentally, the baptism record shows that John’s godfather is also named Thomas Dunne. His godmother is Cath. Toole. The two Thomas Dunnes, father and godfather, may have been cousins.

Michael Worthington also subitted information about a second Dunne child, a daughter, with no first name given. He has this child’s year of birth as 1822, but I could find nothing about her at the Find My Past baptism transcriptions or in the Kilcock Catholic Parish registers at the NLI. If you access Michael’s submission to Ancestry.com you’ll see he also includes details about Thomas Dunn’s 1832 marriage to Rose Cecilia McGarry in Hoxham, Newcastle, New South Wales on 27 Apr 1832, as well as information about their children, Maria (1836); Thomas (1842); Margaret (1844); and Jane (1846).

Michael also has information that show that Thomas and Rose’s daughter Margaret had died in Patricks Plains, near Singleton, New South Wales, Australia, in 1858

Continuing with the Irish research, I went back to the National Library of Ireland (NLI) website to see what years the Kilcock Catholic registers of baptism and marriage are extent, and found that the registers are not complete, though they go way back to 18th century. See the NLI link for the availability of the parish registers as well as a map of the Kilcock Catholic Parish at: https://registers.nli.ie/parishes/0708

You’ll see that the Kilcock baptism begin on 6 July 1771 and proceed to 4 December 1786. There is a 30 year gap in the baptism registers until they pick up again on 14 August 1816 to 23 December 1826. By 1826 however, Thomas Dunn had already been transported.

There is another gap in the baptisms until they begin again on 9 October 1831 and extend to 28 June 1834.

The baptisms then pick up again on 8 July and continue to 27 February 1881.

As you can also see Kilcock marriages begin on 28 January 1770 and continue to 28 May 1787. The marriage registers are absent for almost four years before they begin again on 27 February 1791 and continue to 1 May 1791. There is a gap in the register from 1791 for about 25 years before they begin again on 7 August 1816 and proceed to 9 March 1825. There is yet another gap in the registers from this point until they start again on 8 July 1834 and continue to 9 October 1883.

If Thomas and Mary had been married in the Kilcock Catholic Parish, and if their other child, or perhaps children were born in the parish, there would be no records for them in the registers if the marriage and baptisms occurred anytime from say, 1795 to 1816.

But, there are also gaps in the parish registers from the year 1816. For example, baptism records from the months from January to July are missing for the year 1816, while Kilcock marriages are only available in 1816 from the months of August to November.

Baptisms for the year 1817 are available for all 12 months, but marriages for 1817 are only extent for January, February, May, June, August, September, October, and December.

Baptisms for the year 1818 are complete for the 12 months of the year, but marriage for 1818 are available only for February, May, June, July, October, November, and December.

Baptisms are complete for 1819. Marriages for 1819 cover the months of February, May, June, August, September, October, and December.

For year 1820 Kilcock baptisms are available for the whole year, while marriages are available for January, February, April, May, July and November.

Baptisms are available for the whole of 1821, while marriages can only be found for the months of February, March, May, June, August, September, October, and November.

Baptisms for the year 1822 are complete, while marriages for the month of March 1822 are missing, but are available for the other 11 months of 1822, which is the year Thomas was transported.

In going through the registers that are complete I found at many of the entries can not be read with any clarity as they have faded over time.

I looked for the marriage of Thomas and Mary and the baptisms of any other Dunn/Dunne children in the several County Kildare Catholic parishes, but came up empty. I also looked for the marriage and baptisms in other counties, but again without success.

I next wanted to see if perhaps I could find Mary Dunn in any other records. I knew from previous experience that the government in Ireland conducted a property record, in what has become known as the Tithe Applotment Books, whereby a survey was taken of those leasing or owning over an acre of agricultural land. The tithe applotments took place in Ireland between 1823 and 1837. The beginning date of the tithe applotments occurred only a year after Thomas Dunn was transported.

For more comprehensive information about the Tithe Applotmment Books, go to the following National Archives of Ireland (NAI) links:

http://titheapplotmentbooks.nationalarchives.ie/search/tab/home.jsp

http://titheapplotmentbooks.nationalarchives.ie/search/tab/about.jsp

http://titheapplotmentbooks.nationalarchives.ie/search/tab/aboutmore.jsp

After reading about the scope of the Tithe Applotments you can see why the majority of farmers were not happy paying tithes to the Church of England, as most of the farmers in Ireland at that time were Catholic farmers.

I looked for Mary Dunn in the Tithe Applotment Books at the NAI search engine at: http://titheapplotmentbooks.nationalarchives.ie/search/tab/aboutmore.jsp

Along with her name at the search engine I selected from the dropdown box her county of residence (Kildare), and her parish of residence (Kilcock). I didn’t type in a town, such as Kilcock, as I didn’t know if the Dunns had resided in Kilcock itself, or in a nearby town. I then clicked on “Search,” and Mary Dunn’s name appeared in an index, showing she was recorded as having agricultural holdings in the townland of Boycetown. You can see the tithe index for Mary at the NAI link at: https://is.gd/81jmvd

The tithe record for Boycetown was compiled in 1833.

By clicking on Mary’s first or last name, you’ll then be linked to a copy of the original tithe record for her in Boycetown. You can view the tithe record at: https://is.gd/UN4tCb

Once at the copy of the original tithe page, enlarge it and you’ll see that the left margin of the page includes the number of the occupier, beginning with the number 66, which is the entry for James Rickard. Mary is down the page a bit at number 72. Compared to many of the other occupiers in Boycetown, Mary did not lease a lot of agricultural land. Her holdings came to 1 Acre, 2 Roods, and 111 Perches. The person who enumerated this holding wrote that Mary’s land was “Arable,” as was most of the land noted on the page.

I found Mary Dunn in the Tithe Applotment Books early in the research. I believe it was a day later that I came across Michael’s Worthington’s family tree, where I found that he also found Mary Dunn in the Tithe Applotment Books.

Jane, this Mary Dunn could have been Thomas’s wife. He and his family may have lived in Boycetown when Thomas was transported. Thomas and Mary’s children may have also been born in Boycetown. This is circumstantial evidence however, based solely on the Tithe Applotment Books entry for Mary. Maybe Michael will have more information about Boycetown, as he is much more knowledgeable about the Dunn and Corrigan genealogy than I am.

A Google Map shows that Boycetown, by the shortest route, is only 1.7 miles northwest of Kilcock. See the map at: https://is.gd/ERYw3I

For a Google Street View of Boycetown, go to: https://is.gd/VOV9JF

For Google Street View of Kilcock, go to: https://is.gd/noo9HD

On the right-hand side of the Kilcock Street View is the Grand Canal, at one time called the “Royal Canal,” which connects Dublin with the River Shannon. See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_Canal_(Ireland)

I also found the townland of Boycetown on an Ordnance Survey Map from the 1837 to 1841 time period at the GeoHive website. You can view the map at: http://bit.ly/2LErCKD

On the Ordnance Survey Map you’ll see that the Royal Canal frames the eastern section of Boycetown.

On another Ordnance Survey Map of Boycetown from the 1888 to 1913 time period, you’ll see there is now a Catholic Church in Boycetown, called St. Patrick’s, situated in the lower right corner of the map. There is a cemetery there as well. This map can be viewed at: http://bit.ly/2LGBl31

For an enlarged view of St. Patrick’s Church and the cemetery go to the Ordnance Survey Map at; http://bit.ly/2LEIAbB

Just to the east of the church and cemetery are the tracks for the Great Western Railway.

If you go back to the Ordnance Survey Map of Boycetown from the 1837 to 1841 time period, you’ll see that St. Patrick’s Church and cemetery are not there. This indicates the church was built after 1841, and so would not be the church where Thomas and Mary were married and where their children were baptized.

But, on the 1837 to 1841 Ordnance Survey Map for Kilcock , you’ll see the location of two chapels, each labeled as, “R.C. Chapel.”

One of the chapels is just north of the canal between the “Distillery” to the north, and the “Post Office” just south near the canal.

The other R.C. Chapel is northeast of town, just to the right of the thick yellow marker and the red line on the map. This chapel, as far as I can determine is called the Little Chapel of the Assumption. The website for the Little Chapel of the Assumption places the location of the chapel in Kilcock, but the National Inventory of Architectural Heritage/Buildings of Ireland, places the chapel just over the border in Newtown, County Meath.

The National Inventory of Architectural Heritage/Buildings of Ireland link describing the architecture of the Little Chapel of the Assumption can be viewed at: https://is.gd/QU28P0

The Buildings of Ireland site notes that the chapel was constructed in 1820.

I don’t know which of the two chapels near the center of Kilcock the Dunn family may have attended. By the time the Ordnance Survey Map from 1888 to 1913 was printed, the chapel between the distillery and the post is no longer there. It would have been located in the New Road, just off Harbour Street. See the map at: http://bit.ly/2LHDtHG

This same map however, shows that the R.C. Church northeast of “The Square,” is still there. I believe this is the Little Chapel of the Assumption.

A Google Map shows that the “Little Chapel” is indeed just over the border in County Meath, the diving line being the Rye Water: https://is.gd/BLrOIQ

For Google Street View of the Little Chapel of the Assumption, see: https://is.gd/JCwXIg

The Catholic Church in Kilcock today is St. Coca’s, located in 2 Church Street, Commons East. But, according to the Buildings of Ireland website, this church was constructed circa 1865. See: https://is.gd/cEZGEo

Jane, I hope I am not being tedious by giving you too many details about where the Dunn’s may have attended church, but being as you are going to visit Kilcock shortly, I figured that you’d like as much details as possible.

To see if you can find out more about the two R.C. Chapels that existed in and near Kilcock as shown on the Ordnance Survey Map from the 1837 to 1841 time period, you can contact the Kilcock Library’s Local studies Department. Information about the Local studies Department can be found at: http://www.kildare.ie/Library/KildareCollectionsandResearchServices/Loc…

When you go to Kilcock, you may also want to consider taking the short trip to Boycetown, as I think Boycetown may be the place where your Dunn family had actually lived at one time.

Speaking of which, I found a Dunn in another record living in Boycetown. This is Richard Dunn who is recorded in Boycetown in an Irish property tax record known as Griffiths Valuation. Griffiths Valuation was enumerated in the 32 counties of Ireland between 1847 and 1864. The valuation for the Parish of Kilcock, County Kildare was completed by the year 1850.

Unlike a census, Griffiths Valuation did not enumerate individual members of a family, such as husband, wife, and children in a household residence. Those named in the valuation were individuals who paid to lease property, such as land, houses, and outbuildings. Each person who paid to lease the property was called an “Occupier.” The other person listed in Griffiths Valuation was the person who owned the property, or who worked as the middleman for the owner. This person was called the “Immediate Lessor.”

You can access Griffiths Valuation transcriptions and original copies for free at the askaboutireland website link at: http://www.askaboutireland.ie/griffith-valuation/index.xml

Below is the transcription from the askaboutireland website for Richard Dunn:

No. and Letters of Reference to Map: 3
Civil Parish: Kilcock
Townland: Boycetown
Occupier: Richard Dunn
Immediate Lessor: Daniel Healy
Description of Tenement: House, offices, and land
Area of Land: 3 Acres, 2 roods, 3 Perches
Rateable Annual Valuation of Land: 3 Pounds, 15 Shillings
Rateable Annual Valuation of Buildings: 3 Pounds
Total Annual Valuation of Rateable Property: 6 Pounds, 15 Shillings
____

Griffiths Valuation shows that Richard Dunn leased a house, offices and over 3 acres of land from an Immediate Lessor named Daniel Healy. The land was valued at 3 Pounds and 15 Shillings, while the house and offices were worth 3 Pounds. The total valuation for the property was 6 Pounds and 15 Shillings. Richard would have been required to pay a percentage of the total value of the lease toward the tax.

An “office” in a Griffiths Valuation record could pertain to outbuildings such as barns, stables, blacksmith shops, piggeries, etc. The Reference to Map number (3) at the beginning of the valuation records is a location number delineating where Richard’s property was located in Boycetown on an Ordnance Survey Map from the time period. This Ordnance Survey Map accompanying Griffiths Valuation is basically the same as the Ordnance Survey Map from GeoHive, with the difference that the maps from GeoHive do not contain property locations numbers or letters. The Griffiths Valuation Map for Richard’s lease can be accessed from the index for him at the Ask About Ireland website. These maps are not the easiest to decipher because of the sheer number of map reference numbers they contain, but I believe I managed to find Map reference 3 for Richard’s lease. However, I have been unable to save or link these maps from Ask About Ireland to share with others. But I found the same area for Richard’s lease on the Ordnance Survey Map for Boycetown from the GeoHive website. Access the map at: http://bit.ly/2LAo5No

On the map you’ll see a label for the “Allen Br,” that is, the Allen Bridge crossing what was then known as the Royal Canal. To the right of the bridge is a large plot of land. The initials OSI cover a part of this land. This is where Map reference 3 is situated on the Griffiths Valuation Map.

I can pin point this plot of land more precisely on the Ordnance Survey Map for Boycetown from the 1888 to 1913 time period at: http://bit.ly/2LFhgKh

In the center of this map you’ll see the plot of land labeled with the number “2-016.” This is the land that I believe Richard Dunn had leased in Boycetown, which is right on the border with the town of Kilcock.

Jane, if you think the Richard Dunn in Griffiths Valuation was related to Thomas and Mary Dunn, you can visit the Valuation Office, Abbey Street Lower, when you are in Dublin, to see if they can confirm the location of Richard’s property in Boycetown on the Griffiths Valuation Ordnance Survey Map, Reference Number 3.

Information about genealogical services offered by the Valuation Office can be found at: https://www.valoff.ie/en/archive-research/genealogy/

If you do go to the Valuation Office you may also want to enquire about the Revision Books for Boycetown to see if the Dunn property changed hands over the years.

The house and land that Richard Dunn leased may be the same house and land that Mary Dunn occupied as recorded in the Tithe Applotment Books in 1833.

Going back to Michael Worthington’s, “Ancestors of Jacob Worthington,” Family Tree, you’ll see that Michael’s records show that Thomas Dunn was born in Trim, County Meath in 1798. This information is based on New South Wales Convict Registers, which you can access from links on Michael’s family tree. Thomas’s parents were John Dunn and Margaret Casey. Michael’s records shows that John Dunn was born in 1765 and died in 1809. Margaret Casey was born in 1766 and died in 1821.

I looked for the marriage transcription for John Dunn and Margaret Casey at the Find My Past website. I did find a marriage transcription for a John Dunn and Margaret Casey in County Meath, in the Killine Catholic Parish, but this marriage didn’t take place until 1833, and so could not be Thomas’s parents.

Michael’s family tree also shows that 55 year old “Widowed Mother,” Margaret Dunn, her 25 year old son John, and her 27 year old daughter Catherine Dunn, were recorded in the 1821 Ireland census living in the townland of Rathnally, Civil Parish of Kilcooley, County Meath. John’s occupation is “Labourer,” while Catherine is recorded as his “Sister.”

I’ve attached the 1821 census for the Dunn family to this reply.

In addition Michael has information that Thomas Dunn’s first wife, Mary Corrigan Dunn was born in 1800 (no parents listed), and had died on 11 December 1879, but no death record for this information. If you write to him you can ask where he found information about Mary’s death.

I looked for Mary Dunn’s death record at the irishgenealogy.ie website, where you can access copies of original Ireland death records from 1878 to 1968, but I didn’t find a death record for her anywhere in Ireland for 11 December 1879.

You can contact Michael Worthington through his family tree at Ancestry.com. He may be able to give you more information about the records he found concerning the Dunn, Corrigan and related families in Ireland and Australia.

With Kind Regards,

Dave

Dear Dave, I don't know how to thank you enough for all the time and effort you have put into researching my family tree on my behalf; you have gone way beyond what I expected and I can only imagine how many hours this must have taken you. I am very, very grateful and thank you from the bottom of my heart. Funnily enough, Michael Worthington is my brother-in-law so I know Michael has done a lot of research into our family tree but I am not a member of Ancestry. I will definitely access our family tree and see what else he has. I know in talking to him once before about what he had found out, we realised he had some incorrect information (long story, won't go into it!) so I feel that the work you have done through accessing primary documents is independent verification of some of what Michael might have on the Ancestry.  And armed with all this information I will make the most of my visit to Kilcock and chase up some of the buildings you have mentioned. 

I'm not sure when I'll be in Kilcock, it will be either within a few days of arriving or a few days before we leave. We'll be in Ireland for a month and are doing quite a bit of touring around, following my family history and also my husband's to some extent. I have a very deep sense of my Irish heritage even though they all came out in the early 1800s (though not all were convicts!) and having all this information will bring so much more to the story, so thank you again.

Best wishes, and kind regards

Jane 

You're welcome Jane and many thanks for your kind words.

I hope you have a fantastic trip to Ireland. I'm sure it's going to be an experience you will never forget.

May the road rise to meet you!

God Bless,

Dave

Dear Dave, I am leaving for Ireland in 36 hours and was wondering if you think it would be possible to meet up for half an hour or so?  You've done so much work on my behalf that if there was a chance to say hello and a thank you face to face, that would be lovely.  However, I will quite understand if you're not available.  I'm not sure how I could contact you as I will only have the IPad and I've had trouble accessing Ireland Reaching Out on that.  If you'd like to contact me, our home email is mickandjane@optusnet.com.au and I know I will be able to access that from our ipad. I could potentially be in Kilcock on Monday (26th) or later in our trip not long before we come home, which would be around 17th/18th September.  If I hear from you, I'll hear from you and there's absolutely no pressure. 

Kind regards

Jane