Mulvihills of Listowel/Moyvane early 1800's

Very interesting!  My gg-grandmother was Johanna Mulvihill from Listowel.  However, I know so little about her. Too little to be certain of any kind of connection.  Still ... it's an intriguing possibility.  The date for your gg-grandfather Daniel's sister's birth is certainly within a range of dates that would have been possible for my gg-grandmother.

Unfortunately, I don't know her parents names or any of her siblings names or exactly what townland they lived in. Only her name, and that she was from the Listowel area, and that she married Michael Sullivan (sadly, a VERY common name in that area).  Also I don't know what their marriage date was.  I have tried looking in the online Kerry RC Church records, but have not (so far) had an luck. Perhaps I need to revist that.

In any case, my great-grandfather was also named Michael Sullivan. He was born around 1844.  He had a younger brother named Patrick, born about 1846.  According to family lore, they emigrated to the USA (ending up in upstate NY) when they were very young (around 14/12).  Apparently their father died and Johanna remarried.  I don't know the name of her second husband, however.  It's even possible that it was Mulvihill.  All I know is that Mulvihill was the name provided for her on the death cert for my great-grandfather Michael.  So it could be her maiden name or it could be her 2nd married name. 

What a shame that you are hitting roadblocks in your search.The online Kerry RC Church records were paydirt for me! I didn't even think my ancesters were from Kerry, but when I heard that the Kerry records were online, I just entered the names of my GGG Grandparents out of curiousity. Bang! Up came their marriage record!  To be sure, I then cross-referenced by entering their childrens' names. Bang! They were all there, with James and Catherine listed as parents. It was so exciting for me, to finally know where they were from.

As you've no doubt discovered, there seem to be hundreds of repeated given names in the Mulvihill clan: Joannas, Honoras, Patricks, James, Catherines, Thomas's, Michaels etc.... and these given names appear just as popular with the rest of the population ... enough to make your head spin :) It's tricky keeping everybody straight in your own family line.

If your GG Grandmother, Johanna, lived in the Listowel area during that time period, it is surprising that a marriage record doesn't show up between her and Micael, if they were married and had children before emigrating. Did you try putting in the children's names? If there are birth records for Michael and Patrick - their parents names will be shown. Keep hunting!  Best of luck!

Thank you for your encouragement!  It is a shame that I am so close and yet so far.  I simply didn't get enough info from the elders before they passed on.  No one did.  I have tried everything I can think of to find those records: using the children's names for sure, and all kinds of other permutations on that theme;  In fact I tried again yesterday after I replied to your message.  Once again I found nothing.  I have had some luck with the online records with OTHER Irish ancestors from Kerry, but the Sullivan connection in Listowel remains shrouded in darkness.

I think a big part of the problem is that the only 2 names I know for sure--Michael Sullivan and Patrick Sullivan (my great-grandfather & his brother)--are 2 of the most common names in Co. Kerry.  The names given on the death cert for Michael's parents could easily be incorrect.  I've often found that my Irish ancestors went by more than just one 1st name.  They may have been baptised under one name, but actually "went by" another.  That was even true for my mother and several of her siblings.  So perhaps Johanna's first name was not really Johanna on her baptismal record.  And perhaps Mulvihill was her 2nd married name (rather than her maiden name).  In many of the death certs I found for my Irish ancestors, the informant would put the married name (rather than maiden name).  It was as if they didn't understand what maiden name meant (or just didn't know it).  So I was thrilled when I found that in this case a maiden name was actually provided.  But later I learned from a distant cousin that gg-grandfather Michael Sullivan died and Johanna remarried (which is why my g-grandfather and his brother had to leave).  So then I had my doubts about the name Mulvihill being her maiden name.  It might be, but there's no way of knowing for sure.  Anyone who might have had that info died well over 50 years ago.

I think the only way to get past this brick wall is to either be lucky enough to unearth papers that distant cousins might have; or find documentation in the US that might give more detail about Michael's parents and/or his actual townland of origin.  Maybe ship records, or military records, or the like. We don't know if he was born in the town of Listowel or in a rural area near the town.  Probably the latter.  But being able to narrow down the location would be extremely helpful.  Unfortunately, we run into the same issues with the US documentation--Michael Sullivan is just too common a name.

So perhaps a miracle?

It's possible that your relatives actually came from Moyvane, also known as Newtownsandes, which is very near Listowel. The lady in Listowel with whom I have booked a B&B for my upcoming trip told me she knows lots of Mulvihills in Moyvane. She didn't mention knowing any in Listowel. However, on the Kerry records site, your queries should pick up those villages under the Listowel parish.  On a previous trip to Ireland, I also came across Mulvihills in Killorglan and Glenbiegh - still in Kerry - fairly close to Listowel. At the time I did not know my relatives were from Listowel - and we passed right by!

When you speak of death certificates, are you speaking of those issued in the US? I'm asking, because I have hit a brick wall trying to find death or burial records for my GGG grandparents. I recently read somewhere that, at that time, it was generally just baptisms and marriages that were recorded. So it will be a lot of tromping through cemetaries for me next summer. 

Yes, I was speaking of death certificates in the US.  In the online church records you wouldn't have much luck with that (as you read).  But I would think that once the Irish civil records started being kept (mid 1860s?), the records of deaths should have been a little more consistent.  But I haven't tried very hard to find those yet.  I will be doing some cemetery tromping on my next trip as well!   I had 3 great-grandparents who were born in Kerry (and emigrated in the 1850s), and, luckily, I have managed to track down townlands for 2 of them ... and I'm hoping to explore those areas when I go next fall.  I have other Irish ancestors from other areas in Ireland, but on this trip I'm planning on focusing my efforts on the Kerry folks. So it would be so great to be able to kill three birds with one stone (so to speak!).  That's why I'm still hoping for some kind of breakthrough on my Sullivan/Mulvihills in the next 6 months or so.

This has been a really helpful exchange because it's made me realize how little I really do know about them, and that I may have to go back to square one and figure out some other plan of attack.

Best of luck with your research!  I'll be very interested to hear how it goes!

Hi, I'm Kevin Sullivan of Chicago. I am searching for information about my grandmother Nellie (Ellen) Mulvihill of Listowell/Moyvane/New Town Sands. She was born in May 5,1870 to Daniel Mulvihill and Bridget (Conway) Mulvihill. I suspect that she immigrated around 1890. In America, she married my grandfather Eugene O'Sullivan who had immagrated from Ballybunion. I know that Nellie had siblings, but we lost track many years ago.

Any help would be appreciated.

Sincerely,

Kevin 

--------------------------------------------------------

Name: Ellen

Gender: Female

Christening Date:

Christening Place: 328, TARBERT NO 1, KERRY, IRE

Birth Date: 05 May 1870

Birthplace: Tarbert No 1, Kerry, Ire

Death Date:

Name Note:

Race:

Father's Name: Daniel Mulvihill

Father's Birthplace:

Father's Age:

Mother's Name: Bridget Conway

Mother's Birthplace:

Mother's Age:

Indexing Project (Batch) Number: C70142-1

System Origin: Ireland-VR

GS Film number: 101209

Reference ID: 2:2CTNLZ8

Hi again Kevin, I guess you have seen the 10 baptisms on irishgenealogy.ie for your Daniel & Bridget's children. All listed for the townland of Leitrim, Roman Catholic Parish of Moyvane.You may also find them in the Civil records which might give you additional information. All those records are free. Then add 20 yrs to each birthdate and look for Civil marriage records with father Daniel and residence Leitrim. There are 15 people by the name Mulvihill still living in Leitrim in 1901  in the Census. (also free) There is a Daniel age 75 listed there with wife Bridget

http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/pages/1901/Kerry/Leitrim/Leitrim__West/1424327/

. If you make a list of the godparents of the children, they may also give you clues as to the parents of Daniel & Bridget. Unfortunately in a quick search, I couldn't find either a church record or a Civil Record for their marriage.

Hi Susan and CS in my American searches I have found names like Mulvihill mangled in records and of course the name Johannah can be listed as Hannah or even Joe. Have you tried using stevemorse.org to search for passenger records? Sometimes you can be lucky. Have you found any obituaries for anyone in the family? American Newspaper searches can throw up surprising information. A list of those who attended the funeral can be very helpful. Who were their neighbours in the American Census? Sometimes, finding the neighbours homeplace gives us the homeplace of the family we are searching for. The American draft cards can be very useful too, or passport applications.

Re the graveyards Kerry, your best bet is to phone the local churches and ask them about burial places as even someone like myself who lives in Kerry would not neccessarily know all the graveyards. The date of death may give you clues as the church people can sometimes say if the person was buried before such and such a date they would probably be in X graveyard. Bear in mind though that many families could not afford headstones.... and sometimes married women were buried with their own families and not their  husbands family.

Wishing you lots of luck in your searches and hope these tips help.

Martine

Thanks Martine,

This is Kevin Sullivan.

Thanks for the information. How did you find out about the children for Daniel and Bridget?

Your help in this is really appreciated.

Sincerely