Looking for information on Murtagh, Laurence, and John Grady of Ballyfaudeen and Moymore

Dear Ellen:  

many thanks for your email to the Ireland Reaching Out message board and welcome to the site!  Your family history sounds very interesting and I will look up the story about a possible murder.  Unfortunately, the Ennistymon registers before 1870 are not online, however there is a local contact who I will ask about the family name. Will you leave it with me for a week or two?  

Thanks for your interest in the Ireland Reaching Out project!  

Kind regards,  

Jane 

Dear Jane,

Thank you very much for your message and your willingness to investigate. I've been hoping there might be someone locally who had heard some kind of story. I'm about to be a bit long-winded, but to save you trouble I should add some details of the story as it was passed down, as well as what I have figured out so far so you don't go after any red herrings.

What I left out of the family legend is that James is supposed to have been killed by a British soldier for attending Mass; this was prefaced by a long explanation of the Penal Laws. From what I understand, it doesn't really make sense that this would happen in the 1870s, so I think there might have been a little embroidery involved in this tale. I've wondered whether instead he might have been involved in some incident having to do with an eviction, a dispute over firing someone or taking over a property someone else had lost, or even just participated in a meeting about land reform, which sometimes happened in a church. Or even just a personal dispute. But I haven't been able to hone in on any specific incidents around Ballingaddy or Lisdoonvarna. There was a James Grady brought into Petty Sessions in May 1880 for assaulting an officer and being involved in a riot in Kilcornan, Kilmanaheen, which is close to Ballingaddy -- the sort of thing I've been looking for. The Petty Session record gives his residence as Ennistymon, though.

There was a James Grady in Ennistymon town who was a grocer and shopkeeper. He had sons named John and James, and I think it was probably the latter who owned a public house and was charged several times with serving liquor on a Sunday. the story goes that my James was a farmer, so I believe this is someone else, and I would guess that's the person causing trouble in Kilcornan. There was also a James O'Grady involved in the so-called Crusheen Conspiracy, but I'm pretty sure that's not him -- a bit far from home. 

James is also supposed to have owned his farm, which Patrick inherited and eventually sold to a family named Brennan to pay the fare for himself, Kate, and his five younger sons to sail to Boston. I wonder if he just owned the farm implements and the animals. Anyway, a cousin who visited Clare in the 1960s said a descendant of the Brennan family still lived there. Unfortunately she didn't say where. The story she had was that it was in Lisdoonvarna (townland? or just somewhere in the parish?), that the house had 3 rooms downstairs and a loft above where all the children slept.

Patrick and family left in 1891, so I would think there'd be a good chance of locating the Brennans in the 1901 census, but no luck there. There is a Bridget Russell in Lisdoonvarna town, whose maiden name I think was Brennan, but the house doesn't seem to match up with the description. 

Although the farm is supposed to have been in Lisdoonvarna, the same family source says that Patrick's family lived with James in the 1870s, and the birth records for all the children born between 1866 and 1881 say they lived in Ballingaddy East. By the way, Patrick and Kate lived in Ballagh, Kilfenora when they were first married in 1861. In the same year a James O'Grady of Lisdoonvarna was charged in Petty Sessions for not paying for the hire of a horse. So at one time there was a James O'Grady in Lisdoonvarna. If his son's family lived with him then he must have moved to Ballingaddy. Or, they didn't live with him and moved to Lisdoonvarna after he died. 

Or the whole thing is a fabrication. The death of a James Grady was registered in Ballyvaughan in 1873, and I was sure this had to be him since it's the only record with the right name and age anywhere in the northwestern part of Clare. But this James Grady died in the workhouse in Ballyvaughan. In that case, the whole story would be a fabrication, which is also possible. Who wouldn't want their children to think that their grandfather died "a martyr to the faith" rather than in a workhouse? 

One other thing, probably not very helpful, is that James's wife was named Bridget Maloney. I realize there are dozens of Bridget Maloneys in the area in that period, and I don't know whether she outlived her husband. 

The first two daughters left for America to pave the way for the rest of the family in 1888, so that is an absolute latest date for James's death I think.

Well, sorry for such a long story but I thought it would be better for you to have as complete a picture as I do. Anything you might come up with would be most appreciated!

With best wishes,

Ellen

Dear Ellen:

Many thanks for the additional information!  I will go back to a few of the locals to see what they may have to offer by way of explanation to your oral history.  It is certainly very interesting!

As to James being a farmer, he may well have also been a shopkeeper/publican/grocer, as many of those who lived in town also had land. 

I do find references to a James O'Grady in the Petty Sessions Court Registers for Ennistymon which are available through FindMyPast, a subscription based genealogy website.  They are interesting to look at, and I note a James O'Grady who had a dog license for a white sheep dog in 1874 from Ballyphaudeen.  You might consider a short subscription to this service.

There isn't any reference of a murder of a James O'Grady from the quick search that I was able to do through the Irish Newspaper Archives as well as through Find My Past which also has some newspapers. 

There is a North Clare Historical Society and I will make contact with one of their members with the additional information that you have given to see if they can shed any light on same.

Give me several weeks to reply due to the time of the year as many people are on holidays here.

Kind regards,

Jane.

Thank you so much, Jane. It's very helpful to know that a shopkeeper might also have kept a farm. I'll look at that person a little more closely. That would fit with my impression that James and his family were relatively well off. 

I have actually looked at the Petty Session records. They really are fascinating.  I found one that certainly seems to fit: James O'Grady was sued for nonpayment of the hire of a horse, in I think 1864. His residence was listed as Lisdoonvarna, so I have some evidence that that part of the story might be right. 

I'll look forward to hearing from you again.

Ellen