Julia Lanihan - and various other spellings

Hello Disciple 13,

I’m not related but based on your information I found the combination baptism/birth record for the child I believe to be your James Jenkins at the free irishgenealogy.ie website’s Church Records collection. The transcription for this record shows that James was baptized in St. Catherine’s Church of Ireland, Dublin, on 29 June 1829. His parents are Thomas and Margaret Jenkins. Margaret’s maiden name is not recorded. Traditionally, Church of England, as well as Church of Ireland baptisms did not record the maiden name of the child’s mother, though there are exceptions to this tradition, while most Catholic baptisms did record the maiden name of the child’s mother, while there are also exceptions to this tradition as you will see later.

At the time of the baptism the Jenkins were living in Ransford Street, Dublin. Below is the transcription of the baptism record from the irishgenealogy.ie website:

Area - DUBLIN (COI) , Parish/Church/Congregation - ST. CATHERINE
Baptism of JAMES JENKINS of RANSFORD ST on 29 June 1829

Name JAMES JENKINS
Date of Birth 29 June 1829
Address RANSFORD ST
Father THOS JENKINS
Mother MARGT JENKINS

Further details in the record

About the record
Book Number: N/R
Page: N/R
Entry Number: N/R
Record_Identifier: DU-CI-BA-60964
Image Filename: d-117-2-2-013
____

Attached to the above transcription is a copy of the original St. Catherine’s baptism for James Jenkins. The copy of the original baptism, in turn, is attached to this reply, and gives the further information that James was born on the 20 Inst, which stands for the 20th Instant, meaning the 20th of June. The name of the clergyman who baptized James is difficult to read, but it looks like his name was M H Mason.

The baptism record shows that the Jenkins family had been living in Ransford Street at the time of the baptism. This is probably a reference to the present day Rainsford Street. St. Catherine’s Church is located in Thomas Street. A Google Map shows that Rainsford Street and Thomas Street in the West Dublin Liberties, join one another. Rainsford Street is near the Guinness Brewery. See the Google Map at: https://is.gd/JWAjDe

For a Google Street View of the cobbled Rainsford Street, go to: https://is.gd/lN2kk3

The next Google Street View shows the junction of Rainsford Street and Thomas Street: https://is.gd/BX5wy4

Yet a third Google Street View shows St. Catherine’s Church of Ireland in Thomas Street: https://is.gd/ZV1SK2

For more information about St. Catherine’s Church see the Wikipedia article at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St_Catherine%27s_Church,_Dublin_(Church_o…

For architectural details about St. Catherine’s Church of Ireland and for a slide show of the exterior of the church, go to the National Inventory of Architectural Heritage/Buildings of Ireland website link at: https://is.gd/TlE7GZ

For a Buildings of Ireland map of St. Catherine’s Church of Ireland in Thomas Street, Dublin, see: http://webgis.buildingsofireland.ie/HistoricEnvironment/?REG_NO=50080611

Going to an Ordnance Survey Map of Dublin from the 1837 to 1842 time period, you can view the location of Rainsford Street, Thomas Street, and St. Catherine’s Church. The map comes from the GeoHive website link at: http://bit.ly/2LLoV9a

Make sure you close the menu to view the full map.

I next looked for the marriage record for Thomas Jenkins and Margaret at the irishgenealogy.ie website but didn’t find it. The marriage record would have recorded Margaret’s maiden name, but I did find the St. Catherine’s baptism record for another of their sons named John, who was baptized on 18 February 1827. At the time of the baptism, the Jenkins’ family residence was 146 Thomas Street. The transcription follows:

Area - DUBLIN (COI), Parish/Church/Congregation - ST. CATHERINE
Baptism of JOHN JENKINS of 146 THOS ST on 18 February 1827

Name JOHN JENKINS
Date of Birth 26 January 1827
Address 146 THOS ST
Father THOS JENKINS
Mother MARGT JENKINS

Further details in the record

About the record

Book Number: N/R
Page: NR
Entry Number: N/R
Record_Identifier: DU-CI-BA-60506
Image Filename: d-117-2-2-005
____

Attached to this reply is a copy of the original baptism record for John Jenkins, showing he was born on 26 January1827.

Concerning Julia Lanihan/Lenihan. Etc., I’m not clear on whether she was Protestant or Catholic. If Protestant, you would have to know which parish in Kildare she was born in. There are a few Church of Ireland parishes in County Kildare that have parish registers that predate 1835.

According to a book by Brian Mitchell called, “A Guide To Irish Parish Registers,” there are 13 Church of Ireland parishes in County Kildare that have parish registers that begin before 1835. These parishes, and the dates their registers commence are:

Ballysax, 1830
Castlecarbery, 1814
Athy, 1669
Donaghmore, 1720
Harristown, 1666
Kilcullen, 1778
Kildare, 1801
Kildrought or Celbridge, 1777
Kill, 1814
Lackagh, 1830
Leixlip, 1669
Naas, 1679
Timolin, 1812
____

Up to about half of the Church of Ireland parish registers were destroyed in the Public Record Office’s Four Courts fire in Dublin during the Irish Civil War in 1922. Catholic records were not housed at the Four Courts, and so, contrary to popular belief, were not destroyed in the fire. For more information about what records were destroyed in the fire, go to the Genealogy-toolkit.com link at: https://www.irish-genealogy-toolkit.com/irish-records-burned.html

Many of the Church of Ireland parish registers that did survive are held today by the Representative Church Body in Dublin. For more information go to the Representative Church Body’s Genealogy link at: https://www.ireland.anglican.org/about/genealogy

I’ve seen many baptism and marriage records over the years where the one of the spouses or one of the parents had been Catholic, and one had been Protestant. In fact, I just finished a genealogical research project where two Catholic baptism records had shown that the father was Protestant and the mother Catholic.

The Julia Lenehan baptism you found in County KIldare may or may not be your ancestor. You would really have to know where in Kildare she was born, and her mother’s maiden name to find out if you are researching the correct line. In many cases dealing with Irish research, knowing where a child was born and baptized and the maiden name of the child’s mother is not available. This is the case of my own ancestry where I know the name of my great grandfather’s father, and only the first name of his mother. I have not been able to pinpoint a baptism record for him after 30 years of research.

I did find the Catholic baptism transcription for the Julia Lenehan you mentioned in your query to Ireland Reaching Out. The transcription comes from the Find My Past (FMP) website, showing that Julia was baptized in the Ballymore Eustace Catholic Parish, County Kildare, on 25 May 1826. Her parents are Daniel and Mary Lenehan. I suspect in this instance, Mary’s maiden name was not Lenehan. You can view the FMP transcription at: https://www.findmypast.com/transcript?id=IRE%2FPRS%2FBAP%2F2698801

Attached to the transcription is a copy of the original baptism record for Julia, held by the National Library of Ireland. You can view the Ballymore Eustace register for Julia’s baptism at: https://registers.nli.ie//registers/vtls000633343#page/3/mode/1up

You can enlarge the baptism register 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.

Julia’s baptism is the 7th entry up from the bottom of the page. The names of her godparents appear to be Margt Byrne and a person whose last name is Scully.

I next found the FMP baptism record of a child who may be Julia’s younger brother. This child is Thomas Lenehan. He was baptized in the Ballymore Eustace Catholic Parish on 8 November 1829. His parents are Daniel Lenehan and Mary Walsh. You can view the FMP transcription of the baptism at: https://www.findmypast.com/transcript?id=IRE%2FPRS%2FBAP%2F2699179

You can access a copy of the original baptism record for Thomas at the following link: https://registers.nli.ie//registers/vtls000633343#page/14/mode/1up

There are two facing pages to the register. Thomas’s baptism is the first entry on the left-hand page. The godparents are Jno (John) Kennedy and Hanna Byrne.

Have you come across the surnames Walsh or Byrne in any of your research dealing with records in the UK? In the baptism records for both Julia and Thomas Lenehan, the name Byrne is recorded as one of the godparents, which means it’s possible the Byrne family may have been related to either Daniel Lenehan or Mary Walsh.

Again, this Julia Lenehan in the 1826 Ballymore Eustace baptism record may or may not be the Julia in your direct line.

The Ballymore Eustace Catholic Parish, while centered in County Kildare, also extends south/southeast in County Wicklow. You can read more about the townland of Ballymore Eustace, also known as just Ballymore, at the Wikipedia article: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ballymore_Eustace

To view an Ordnance Survey Map for Ballymore Eustace from the 1837 to 1842 time period, go to the GeoHive link at: http://bit.ly/35jJG3O

Kind Regards,

Dave Boylan

Good Evening Dave,

Thank you so much for your assistance. Your reply has clarified bits of information I had about James Jenkins and given me far more. All the links are brilliant and I'm especially looking forward to seeing Rainsford Street on Google maps. To visit Ireland is now  a must. 

I didn't know Julia had a recorded brother. I'm taking this to be 'my' Julia unless something else turns up in the future. 

This short post does not fully express my appreciation of your help, it is amazing! Now I feel I can visit Dublin with a purpose, which will be in 2020. When I've finished following links Kildare here I come!

Kind Regards, 

Patricia 

Ps As yet I haven't come across any Walsh or Byrne or even Kennedy, but hopefully I will as it's all proof of the correct Julia. Anything further I'll post.

Hello Patricia,

Many thanks for writing back and for your kind words.

Best of Luck with your research. Dublin is a fantastic city!

Dave