Mary Ann Fitzgerald

There are more than one place called Ballingarry in County Tipperary, two civil parishes i.e. Ballingarry (Slievardagh) and Ballingarry (Lower Ormond), and each of these contain a townland named Ballingarry - the first of these parishes has split townlands named Ballingarry Upper and Lower. Ballingarry (Slievardagh) also contains a town named Ballingarry so I suspect the most likely origin of your Mary Ann in this case.

The Poor Law Union and Workhouse for Ballingarry town, Ballingarry (Slievardagh) was Callan - which although based in neighbouring County Kilkenny also covered parts of Co. Tipperary. Peter Higgenbotham's website has information of the various websites of Britain and Ireland and has a listing entry for Callan. It appears that some of the old Workhouse building remain, the listing also mentions that surviving Poor Law Union & Workhouse records for Callan are held by Kilkenny County Library - it doesn't look like Admission Books survive, but Guardian Minutes do and cover from 1839 to 1922 - their website has an index to the minute books they hold, but the originals do not seem to be available online. These would definitely be worth checking if the become available online - I recently found a list of these immigrant in the Guardian Minutes for a Pool Law Union in County Wexford.

I had a search in Catholic records for any children baptised to the parents you mentioned, but nothing showed up unfortunately - possibly your Fitzgerald/Hogan family lived in a parish without records back to the 1830s

Is this your Mary Fitzgerald (NSW Gov) - RC, houseservant, entry 104 listed on the Tippoo Saib 29th July 1850 with native place 'Ballingarry, Limerick'  ?

There's another Ballingarry town and parish in County Limerick - the Pool Law Union was Croom.. I'll check the details for this..

The entry for Mary/Mary Ann Fitzgerald  on Irish Famiine Memorial database also mentions Co. Limerick  ... and parents Thomas and Mary.

Here's the entry for Croom Workhouse (Peter Higgenbotham-Workhouses),  Limerick Archives apparently hold the surviving records - the Guardian Minute Books for Croom Workhouse are available to download, but unfortunately only cover from 1852 onward... earlier books probably have not survived. I dont see any mention of Admission Books for any of the County Limerick Poor Law Unions, which list the name of those admitted with dates etc.. not that many of these seem to have survived..

The Catholic parish for Ballingarry County Limerick was also named Ballingarry or sometimes 'Ballingarry & Granagh', the register images for this parish are available on the National Library of Ireland website, and have also been indexed by FindMyPast and Ancestry. These registers cover baptisms and marriages back to 1825.

I rechecked for possible baptisms of any children to Thomas  Fitzgerald and Mary Hogan and found just one match - Hanora Fitzgerald baptised 8th January 1842 in Askeaton RC parish County Limerick - parents are Thomas Fitzgerald and Mary Hogan. See the left hand page, near the end... (NLI RC registers)

Askeaton is a town and a parish to the North of Croom and Ballingarry, about 18km (~11 miles)  three parishes away.. the Poor Law Union/Workhouse for Askeaton was Rathkeale.

Hi Shane,

Wow, thank you so much for your efforts today.  I'm really touched that someone would look up all of this information on my behalf!  I'm sure Mary Ann would have been as well. :)

Yes the Mary you mentioned- The entry for Mary/Mary Ann Fitzgerald  on Irish Famiine Memorial database also mentions Co. Limerick  ... and parents Thomas and Mary and Is this your Mary Fitzgerald (NSW Gov) - RC, houseservant, entry 104 listed on the Tippoo Saib 29th July 1850 with native place 'Ballingarry, Limerick'  ? is my Mary.

I think what has confused me more than anything is that I am not sure which Ballingarry is being referred to.  

On my ancestry profile for Mary Ann, I've saved a reference to her being born in Kiluran Townland, Ballingarry, Limerick, Ireland (information found via another person's profile of her on ancestry.com.au).  I also have another link that may help. Kath-Hodges-Thirroul - User Trees - Genealogy.com

Does this help narrow it down at all?  I apologise I didn't include all of this information in my original post.  It never occurred to me how helpful people would be on this forum! 

Thank you from a very confused (but grateful) Australian!  Have a great day.

Nikki 

Both the Famine Memorial entry and Tippoo Saib passenger list give native place for Mary Fitzgerald as 'Ballygarry, Limerick', a spelling variant of Ballingarry. As with Tipperary there are several locations in Co. Limerick named Ballingarry - a civil parish named Ballingarry (Connello Upper) which is located near the town of Croom, a   civil parish called Ballingarry (Coshlea) which is near the town of Kilmallock - both of these parishes have townlands also named Ballingarry but just one also has a town named Ballingarry .. Ballingarry (Connello Upper). When people give the place they live they often give the name of the nearest town, so I think Ballingarry (Connello Upper) is more likely. The nearest large towns would be Rathkeale to the North West and Croom to the East, Adare is a little further to the Norh.

Incidentally the name in brackets after the civil parish name is the barony, which is used to differentiate between parishes of the same name within the one county...

In some cases people used the name of the Catholic parish as their native place - the Catholic Parish for Ballingarry (Connello Upper) is also called Ballingarry, and the parish church was in the town - so Ballingarry parish church, Ballingarry town, Ballingarry (Connello Upper), County Limerick - it can get a little complicated with these overlapping placenames!

I've attached a map of the Catholic Chapels for Ballingarry RC Parish, Co. Limerick - not far to the North is the town of Askeaton the centre of the parish where that Fitzgerald/Hogan baptism was based, and to the north east Croom, where the workhouse for the areas was based.

The other Ballingarry civil parish in Co. Limerick - Ballingarry (Coshlea), was part of a parish Union called  Knocklong or 'Knocklong and Glenbrohane'

I had a look for a townland named 'Kiluran Townland, Ballingarry, Limerick' - no matches in either of the Ballingarry parishes in County Limerick - I'll check to see if possibly it's a local name for a crossroads or village. Do you know what the source for this was ?

There are several similar placenames in the mid-west, but none that I've been able to locate in County Limerick e.g. '​Killurane ' in County Tipperary, 'Killuran' in County Clare.  

I dont see Convent road, Ballingarry - but there was a Convent just to the west of the town Sr. Mary's, 'Sisters of Mercy', so possibly a local name. The convent only appears on the later maps late 1800s - it's not shown on the earlier c1840s map, on these there's a house called Echo Lodge at the location
 

I checked into the workhouses and Poor Law Unions in the area and Croom appears to have been ones established later, with Croom officially setup at the end of March 1850 - so not long before the ship departed in early April. 1850. The nearby Unions of Newcastle and Rathkeale previously covered the area - this might account for the Croom Guardian Minute books only starting in 1852. The Limerick Archives website has copies of the Newcastle West Union Board of Guardian Minute Books from 1848, I'll have a look though these for any mention of The Earl Grey Scheme..

I dont think there was a workhouse in Ballingarry, either Newcastle or Rathkeale would have covered the area in the early years, i.e. from 1838, and later the one in Croom would have covered the area - there might have been some sort of temporary accommodation or infirmary for the Poor Law Union at the peak of the famine, which normally would have been close to the workhouse, so either in Croom, Newcastle or Rathkeale.

I'll have further look though the outstanding items, and report back...

Hi Shane,

My apologies for the late reply- it's been one of those weeks at work and once home it's been too cold in my office to sit at the pc (yes even Australia gets cold occasionally- negative 3.5 this morning!!) 

 I had a look for a townland named 'Kiluran Townland, Ballingarry, Limerick' - no matches in either of the Ballingarry parishes in County Limerick - I'll check to see if possibly it's a local name for a crossroads or village. Do you know what the source for this was??  No I don't unfortunately, I tried contacting the lady who created the page once but she never got back to me.  I think I might have to take the townland reference with a grain of salt until I can find some evidence otherwise. 

The reference to Ballingarry (Connello Upper) sounds quite likely to me?  My DNA profile links me to East Limerick/East Clare and North Tipperary, plus North Munster, but that doesn't really help considering 1) Ireland is quite a small country 2) There are variations on Ballingarry in both Limerick/Tipperary 3)  I have many Irish ancestors from different branches of my tree! 

It really feels like it's going to be very difficult to find out anything diffinitive, doesn't it? 

Anyway, I will take another look this coming weekend and see if I can dig up anything else.  Once more, THANK YOU for your time and assistance.  It is hugely appreciated.  Mary Ann has come to mean a great deal to me, which is I guess a little odd considering how long ago she lived, but the thought of a 16 year old girl travelling all that way with no family, has really touched me. :) 

Cheers,  Nikki

PS. There might be some hope- a friend of mine is visiting the Hyde Park Barracks, which is where she would have lived once she arrived in Australia, next week, and she is going to see if she can find her records... perhaps these will help!

Hi Again Shane,

I think I have figured it out- that's if the information on the Kath-Hodges site is correct.  The site refers to Mary Ann's mother, Mary Hogan, being from Lismota, half a mile from Ballingarry.  When I look up Ballingarry Connello Upper, one of the townships is Lissamota.  What do you think?

Cheers,

Nikki