Donnelly/Kerrisk

Hi Helen,

Could you please post your message on the Killarney parish page (Tiernaboul): http://www.irelandxo.com/group/killarney-kerry

Kerrisk is an unusual surname. I did a search on the Irish Times ancestor page. You can information about the frequency of the name in the mid-19th century and any other variant spellings of the name here: http://www.irishtimes.com/ancestor/surname/index.cfm?fuseaction=Go.&UserID= As you can see, they were found exclusively in County Kerry.

There are Roman Catholic church records available for Killeentierna. These date from 1801 for baptismal records and 1803 for marriage records. You can find these at the Church of Latter Day Saints, film 0883740 item 4, 0883818 item 18. If you have any difficulty, you could try writing to the parish priest for more assistance. http://www.dioceseofkerry.ie/parish.php?parish=Killentierna

You could try checking the land records called the Tithe Applotment Books (1823-38). Microfilm copies of the books for all of Ireland are available at the National Archives of Ireland (NAI) http://www.nationalarchives.ie/genealogy1/genealogy-records/tithe-applotment-books-and-the-primary-griffith-valuation/ or the Church of Latter Day Saints (LDS). The Tithe Applotment List might be of use to you, or at least interesting for you. These lists constitute the only nationwide survey for the period, and are valuable because the heaviest burden of the tithes to the Established Church, the Church of Ireland, fell on the poorest, for whom few other records survive. The information in the Tithes is quite basic, typically consisting of townland name, landholder's name, area of land and tithes payable. Many Books also record the landlord's name and an assessment of the economic productivity of the land. the tax payable was based on the average price of wheat and oats over the seven years up to 1823, and was levied at a different rate depending on the quality of land. For Parishes where the registers do not begin until after 1850, this information can be useful, as they are often the only surviving early records. They can provide valuable circumstantial evidence, especially where a holding passed from father to son in the period between the Tithe survey and Griffith's Valuation.

Here are some books you could take a look at:

Barrington, T.J., 'Discovering Kerr', 1976

Denny, H.A., 'A Handbook of Co. Kerry Family History etc', 1923.

Farrell, Noel, 'Killarney family roots book: exploring family origins in Killarney', 2000.

O'Connor, Michael, 'A Guide to Tracing your Kerry Ancestors', 1994.

Don't forget to consider checking estate records. Landlord: John Viscount Crosbie: 1805-12 rent ledger. Includes Killeentierna. National Library of Ireland (NLI), Ms. 5033.

Landlord: F.T. Fitzmaurice: sets of rentals 1742-86. Major tenants only. Includes Killeentierna. NLI Pos. 176-7 (Paris Archives Nationales).

Landlord: Richard Townsend Herbert: Account book 1709. National Archives of Ireland (NAI), M.1854. Includes Killeentierna and Killarney.

Landlord: Herbert: Rent rolls, 1760, 1761. NAI M.1864. Includes Killeentierna and Killarney.

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)

Hi Joan,

Thanks for the reply.

I know some of the towns are in Killarney, that's were my 3x great grandfather Daniel(Coolcaslig) was born but they moved to Beenathuane which I believe is in Killeentierna.

Daniel returned to Tiernaboul and married Nora Foran. Their daughter Julia married Daniel Courtney, some of their children were born in Tiernaboul, some right in Killarney(New St., Gas Lane).

Julia Healy, husband Daniel Courtney, their children and her father Daniel Healy all came to the US, settled in Worcester, MA. The last child of Julia Healy Courtney born in Ireland was Johanna in 1881. They arrived in the US when Johanna was an infant in 1881.

I'm trying to find more information on Daniel Healy's siblings. Brother Bartholomew born in Coolcaslig may have had a daughter  Ellen who married Charles Neil in Boherbue. I can't find a wife for Bartholomew. I believe Ellen Healy Neil might be related,  the above mentioned Johanna Courtney's godfather was Charles Neil.

Other than the possible Neil connection I have been unable to find out about any siblings for the whole Donnelly/Healy family. As a matter of fact I can't find out what happened to the siblings of Daniel Courtney(Denis/Julia Donoghue) either.

At this point in my research I am looking for cousins of my direct line. They didn't just pick Worcester out of a hat, there had to be some relative there.

Regards,

Helen

Hi Helen,

Beenathuane (different spellings found), is indeed in Killeentierna. I have found through my own research of that parish that townland names are sometimes applied loosely. For example, in baptismal records a family may have successive children recorded as living at different neighbouring locations over time, while in fact, the family did not move residence at all. Also I discovered that, while a particular family may be known as either Kerrisk or Healy, both are one and the same i.e. interchangable!

Church records, available free online, as suggested earlier, are very helpful.

Good luck.

Helen

Thanks for the reply Helen.

I didn't know that a family could record the births in another town without having moved. I know that Daniel Kerrisk my ggg grandfather never appears in records for Beenathuane. I've looked in House and Tenure Books and he resided in Teernaboul. Maybe he was born in Coolcaslagh, married in Teernaboul and only lived in those 2 locations. I was also told some women went to their home towns to their mothers or a trusted mid-wife for births of children, it makes sense.

There seem to be a fair number of Kerrisks in Killeentierna. I know there were lots of Kerrisks on my Baptism records, difficult to guess who they were since the events occurred in the early part of the 1800's.

I appreciate your input.

Regards,

Helen

Hi Helen.

It wasn't so much that they could register in another townland as much as, I imagine, the person filling in the Register writing the name of the general area he knew the family to be from. That has been my own experience of addresses on church records for Killeentierna parish. Also, surnames can have different spellings, again, this would be due to the person recording the baptism or possibly it could be explained by difficulty with the legibility of the script for the person transcribing the original records for the online data base. Basically, what I am saying is, don't be immediately put off by discrepencies in records.

Good luck.

Helen