This report was conducted by the Clare Heritage
Center in Ireland and pertains to our Irish families. The surnames found on this page are as follows. I will
not be linking them to specific individuals. Please remember that
the same surname(s) are used many times, and for different
people. Use your edit menu 'find' feature if you would like to
check specific surnames:
Anglim: Boyle: Cosgrove: Cunneen: Donohue: Falsey:
Fennell: Flannery: Foran: Hanrahan: Halloran: Hickey: Kelleher:
Lyons: McInerney: McMahon: O'Keefe: Murray: Ryan: Wolf:
Our church records show that
Thomas
Fennell married Bridget Foran at Quilty
(parish of Kilmurry Ibrickane) on July 30th. 1882. The witnesses
were
Thomas
Hickey and
Jane Falsey. Eight children are on record to
union between 1884 and 1900 when our indexation ends. These were
as follows:
1-Patrick
Fennell, Feb. 2., 1884, sponsor Kate Foran:
2-John Fennell, Mar. 30, 1885, sponsor Mary Kelleher:
3-Michael Fennell, Aug. 9, 1886, sponsor Mary Halloran:
4-Michael Fennell, Sept. 14, 1889, sponsor Mary
Falsey (related to Jane Falsey?):
5-Bridget Fennell, Mar. 30, 1892, sponsors
Nicholas and Ellen
Boyle:
6-John Fennell, July 7, 1894, sponsor Mary Murray:
7-Catherine Fennell, November 11, 1896, sponsors Jas. Foran and
Bridget McInerney:
8-Thomas Fennell, July 5, 1899, sponsor Bridget
McInerney
Children not in the CHC report
were:
9-John
Fennell, July 1902, died April 11, 1983:
10-Pat Fennell, July 1903:
11-Joseph Fennell, February 1907:
It is
obvious that John (1885) and Michael (1886) died as later
children were also given these names. One also wonders about John
(1894) as he was not shown residing with his parents in the
census returns of 1901. On these returns however we see another
child, Mary, who would have been born c.1887, but whose baptism
was omitted from the church register. Patrick, the eldest,
appears to have left home by 1901 as he is also missing from the
census records.
Thomas
Fennell gave his age in 1901 as 35 and his wife Bridget was said
to be 30. It seems however that both must have been somewhat
older than the ages declared. Thomas was shown on these records
to be a 'fisherman/labourer' while Bridget's occupation was given
as 'domestic servant'.
On the
baptismal entry for your grandfather, Michael Fennell, a later
note showed that he married
Jane Cosgrove in Sept. 1911. Although we do not usually pass 1900
I consulted the civil (courthouse) records which showed that
Michael and Jane married at Quilty on Oct. 5, 1911. Quilty was
simply the address given for both parties. Michael was said to be
a fisherman, aged 22. This age agrees with the date of 1889 which
we know to have been his year of birth. Jane (a domestic) was
said to be aged 21, making c.1890 her year of birth. Jane's
father was said to be John Cosgrove, a dealer (trader). As there
were no Cosgroves in our church records for Kilmurry parish, and
no person by this name was shown there in the 1901 census, we
must assume that John Cosgrove was a travelling trader and only
arrived in Quilty sometime between 1901 and 1911.
The Cosgrove
surname was relatively uncommon in this country and only one
family, having a John as head, appears in our records at around
that time. This was the family of
John Cosgrove and
Ellen (Helen) Lyons. Although they did not have a daughter
named Jane baptized in Co. Clare, there is every reason to assume
that this is indeed your correct family, and their movements
during their period in this county would certainly be in keeping
with the supposed occupation of 'travelling traders'. Four
children appear on our records to John and Ellen between 1891 and
1896. These were baptized in four different parishes right around
Co. Clare. These children were as follows:
1-Thomas Cosgrove, Nov. 15, 1891, sponsors
Pat Wolf and
Mary Ryan:
2-Mary Ellen Cosgrove, Dec. 19, 1892, sponsors John Donohue and
Bridget McMahon:
3-James Cosgrove, May 28, 1894, sponsors Tom Anglim and
ary E. O'Keefe.
4-John Cosgrove, Jan. 1, 1896, sponsor Mrs. Hanrahan
The
first thing to do is note the geographical movement of the
Cosgrove family within Co. Clare. The accompanying parish map
will help to illustrate this. The first child on your records was
baptized in Killaloe in 1891. Killaloe is the only crossing point
into Co. Clare when approaching from the east and the Cosgrove
family likely recently arrived there. By 1892 we find them in the
townland of Oatfield, in the southern end of the O'Callaghan's
Mills parish (comprising the old civil parishes of Clonlea and
Killuran). Their next port of call was our own parish of Corofin
(Rath and Killnaboy) where we find them, presumably at Corofin
Village in 1894. They were quickly on the move again, this time
southwards to the parish of Clondegad-Kilchreest. No specific
address is given for them in this parish in 1896. They possibly
resided in other Clare parishes for short periods also prior to
arriving in Kilmurry, where they possibly stayed for the longest
period. The fact that the younger members of the Fennell family
were born in Galway might indicate that the Cosgroves had again
moved residence c.1920.
It
appears therefore that Jane Cosgrove was born just prior to her
family moving to Co. Clare. But where was she from? Fortunately
the clergyman at Killaloe noted the arrival of this new family by
entering the word Portumna on the baptismal entry in 1891.
Portumna is a town in Co. Galway approx. 25 miles from Killaloe.
Both towns are situated on the River Shannon, Portumna in the
northern end of Lough Derg and Killaloe at the southern end. It
seems likely therefore that the Cosgrove family had resided there
prior to moving to Co. Clare and perhaps Jane was born there.
Perhaps the parish priest there could examine his records for
1889-90 to see if she was. It is difficult to know, however, if
the Cosgroves were from Portumna or if it was simply another stop
on their travels.
One other piece of interesting
information to appear next to the Killaloe baptismal entry showed
that Thomas
Cosgrove later married Frances Flannery at Ennis on Feb. 8, 1933.
The family of
John
Cosgrove and Ellen (Helen) Lyons, at least at this point in time, does not
correspond with what we know about our own Cosgrove ancestors.
This, however, is not to say that there isn't some relationship
between our own family and this one. It is important to include
this family though as it might be helpful to other researchers.
View our Cosgrove Family by following the links.
to select another surname
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