Sullivan

Hello there,

I'm certainly not an expert but I do know that Caher is near Castlegregory on the Dingle peninsula while Caherciveen(sp?) is on the Iveragh Peninsula probably better known as the Ring of Kerry which is further south than Caher.

Many Kerry parish records are online...don't know if they apply to your family but check out www.irishgenealogy.ie

Ed O'Connor

Thank you, Ed, for both pieces of information! !  Ireland Reaching Out does not list a Parish of Cahersiveen for some reason, and that is why I went with the similar "Caher".  Of all my ancestors, the only parish I know is "Cahirciveen" (which obviously has several variations) because that is listed on a gravestone of ancestor.  From an internet search I see that there is still a church in Cahersiveen, but for some reason it is not listed on Ireland Reaching Out as yet.

Hi there,

I think you might be confusing the civil parish with the Roman Catholic parish (diocese). Cahersiveen is in the civil parish of Caher, while there is a diocese called Cahirciveen.

RC church records for Cahirciveen start from 1846. These can be checked at the National Library of Ireland, Pos. 4285.

You could also check for information in the land records called the Tithe Applotment Books (1823-38) or the earlier Griffith's Valuation (1848-64). Griffith's is freely available here: www.askaboutireland.com

Hopefully, someone from the local community will be able to help you further.

Please make sure you link anyone else in your family who is interested in their Irish heritage to our site - and indeed anyone else you know of Irish heritage.

Kind regards,

Sinead Cooney

Genealogist (Ireland XO)

Cahericiveen is also the Poor Law Union - and area encompassing several parishes - I know Dromod, Caherdaniel which was Kilorglin and the actual townland of Cehericiveen.  That threw us for a while because it was said we were from Cahericiveen.  Turned out it was either side of the parish lines between Caherdaniel and Dromod.

When I find that map I'll send it. it's on the work computer or a stick.   In the meantime I've attaxhed a page from a book by Mary Shea that has sonme place and people names in the area - the rest of the book contains more - Sullivan, Moriarty and the like.  Also we have a Griffiths page identifying Caher as a civil parish on a page with Dromod. Only one attachment - system limit

Tom Sullivan

Norwich, CT

Thanks, Tom, for the info.  I see you are in Norwich, CT.  I am actually down the road in New Haven, CT.  All of my ancestors emigrated to New Haven.  I am the last remnant of the family in New Haven.  I was born and raised there and never left.  Are you descended from any Sullivan who may have been from New Haven, which is to say, is it possible we share ancestry?  Sadly, the only information I have of origination is a tombstone inscription "Born in Parish of Caherciveen County Kerry Ireland".  I will list my email here in the event that is allowed by this website: t.cwill@hotmail.com

Best regards,

Tom Williams

That was a quick reply!  I'll gather some info and send an email today.  And yes, some family went to New Haven.  Of course, until I found out my g grandmother's mother was a Sullivan - it had been a much smaller family group.

Colchester was the start in 1852 due to the Haywood Rubber Co. needing workers - they sent a ship, it collected willing workers from the area around Cahericiveen to Kenmare and my great great grandmother's brother Michael was one of them.  

As a child we used to visit my dad's aunt Kate in New Haven in the 60's.  I was too young to remember everyone, or exactly where.

Talking about Cahericiveen is like talking about New Haven - how many neighborhoods are there?   If I'm in New Haven telling someone where I'm from - it could be Foxon or Prospect Hill or Westwood - but, if I'm in New York and someone asks - I'm from New Haven.

Once I understood that concept in my own town where we have post offices in Taftville, Occum, Yantic and Norwichtown and the parishes are named for the saints and not political divisions - I got it.

Now, I'm a Sullivan - everyone is related somehow.  There are about three dozen named "Sept's" in the clan, the most ancient is Macguillacuddy - and Shugrue were the native tribe when the Gaels arrived.  Cumba/Coombies were the front line troops in the army and other's were named for different things, places and deeds.  The three main divisions are Mor, Beara and Macguillacudddy or just "Mack".

Let's see if we can find the tie - if it's after 1830 it'll be there - but before that there were a mass of unexplained fires in various churches and laws against catholics writing and having headstones and all sorts of fun stuff.

You are welcome to take a look at what I have on ancestry - username sullivtr.  If you have a Michael Patrick Sullivan married to a Margaret Shea - that is the most recent tie found in New Haven, daughter married a Ford, Bernard I believe and I know thier grand-daughter is my third cousin.  But - there are others - family followed family and cousins helped each other as they could..

And to mix thing up further - there are family "Branches" and I'm working on finding those in Kerry - an author of the O'Sullivan Baera clan in Cork did a wonderful job listing some - mostly in Cork, Riobard O'Dwyer - but Kerry has some others he didn't list - so far I've found O'Sullivan Laurence, O'Sullivan Duileach and O'Sullivan Casur in Kerry records.

Tsully

There is a Caher Civil Parish & Townland Map at http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~irlker/caher1.html. For any other Kerry Civil Parishes, see http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~irlker/civparlist.html#dna.