1911 Census

Heather,

Thanks for your reply, glad to be able to help you. I am going down to Valentia Island for a weeks holidays with my family in mid July, my wifes dad comes from Valentia and we love going down there as it is so unspoilt and far away from the tourist hotspot of Killarney. I am going to visit the local Heritage Center in Knightstown, and they tell me that they may have photocopies of the original 1911 census returns for Valentia including the missing ones on the National Archives website. I will bring your details of the Healy family with me and see if I can a find record of your great great grandpatrents, John and Mary Healy in that census.

I have a feeling, I could be wrong, that your family of Healys came to Valentia sometime after the mid 1850s. I say this because there is no record of any family of Healys in the Tithe Applotment Books for Valentia in 1833, or in the Griffiths Valuation Survey ( Valentia 1852). It is possible however that they did not own or rent any land in Valentia during those times. They would only be recorded in those records if they were farming off land. What was your great great grandmothers ( Mary Healy ) maiden name do you know, if you knew this, then it might be possible to get a record for her Church Marriage record, and any children she had on the irishgenealogy website, which covers all church records of births, marriages and deaths in the dioseses of Kerry, of which Valencia was part of.

Irish Civil Registers ( statutory ) were not started until 1864, so if your grandmother Kate was born before then, as is likely if she went to NZ in 1879, then the only record of her birth would be on a church baptismal record.

Keep me posted,

Kevin

Heather,

Thanks for your reply, glad to be able to help you. I am going down to Valentia Island for a weeks holidays with my family in mid July, my wifes dad comes from Valentia and we love going down there as it is so unspoilt and far away from the tourist hotspot of Killarney. I am going to visit the local Heritage Center in Knightstown, and they tell me that they may have photocopies of the original 1911 census returns for Valentia including the missing ones on the National Archives website. I will bring your details of the Healy family with me and see if I can a find record of your great great grandpatrents, John and Mary Healy in that census.

I have a feeling, I could be wrong, that your family of Healys came to Valentia sometime after the mid 1850s. I say this because there is no record of any family of Healys in the Tithe Applotment Books for Valentia in 1833, or in the Griffiths Valuation Survey ( Valentia 1852). It is possible however that they did not own or rent any land in Valentia during those times. They would only be recorded in those records if they were farming off land. What was your great great grandmothers ( Mary Healy ) maiden name do you know, if you knew this, then it might be possible to get a record for her Church Marriage record, and any children she had on the irishgenealogy website, which covers all church records of births, marriages and deaths in the dioseses of Kerry, of which Valencia was part of.

Irish Civil Registers ( statutory ) were not started until 1864, so if your grandmother Kate was born before then, as is likely if she went to NZ in 1879, then the only record of her birth would be on a church baptismal record.

Keep me posted,

Kevin

Hi Kevin - It is great to speak to someone who is familiar with Valentia, I can just imagine how fond you and your wife are of the island. I like to hope that my great-grandmother found NZ not unlike the island she had left but I can say she never forgot her homeland. In her obituary in NZ paper in 1928 said she was a "native" of Valentia Island Co Kerry and spoke highly of her as she and all her family became well known in Auckland city in her nearly 50 years of residence here. She was one of three sisters that came to NZ, Ellen continued to live in NZ but Mary the eldest sister returned to Valentia and I believe married the local butcher John O'Sullivan (Sullivan) and lived many years in Knightstown. There mother's maiden name was Morley (sometimes Murley) but I believe it to be Morley as I think a brother James Morley was with the family at the time of the 1901 census. Morley shows up on the Griffiths valuation but Healy never does as as you say I do not think they were "land-holders" until the late 1800s and I think the army pension mentioned for my great-great-grandfather in the 1901 census for service in the Crimean War enabled this to happen. On my great-grandmother's marriage certificate (circa 1881 NZ) it has her mother's maiden name as Morley and her father's occupation as slate mine worker, I imagine that when the mine closed his pension enabled them to undertake from the 1880s onwards some sort if farming for an income - it is the 1901 census that first lists his son Micheal as a farmer. However they managed to make a living of some sort and the Heritage centre there did send me a Healy family tree that dates back to 1737 so it seems they did live there eking out a living by any means possible. I think many people of similar circumstances, but without an army pension for instance, did have to leave the Ireland have you read of the number, approx 1200, that left  on the ships Belgravia and Furnesia in 1883 in what was called a "free emigration" scheme. By then the three sisters had left for NZ possibly due to family finances but also as finding eligible husbands on the island would have not been easy. All those sisters were born pre the 1864 registrations though there were four younger siblings that show on records after that, any ideas you have re the baptismal records will be much appreciated. I have done as much historical reading as possible about Valentia and believe the church there may not have been built at the time of the earlier births so I am not sure of what records there may have been. Well once again it is wonderful to hear that you will look out for what might be available to me, I have not only a family interest in Valentia but have found myself caught up in the history of the island too. It does seem similar to early NZ life and it all has been, and is, a fascinating journey to be researching both.

With much appreciation - Marilyn (HeatherM)

Hi Heather,

I'm not sure if you recieved my message/email through here, but I believe we are cousins someway along the line, as John Healy of Valentia is my great-great-grandfather.

I'm currently researching my family tree and found your post. If you could send me a private message on here I can send you my email address and we may be able to help each other out with the research.

Many Thanks

Matthew

Healy's still owned their "homestead" up until the 1990s.  My greatgrandmother Nora Healy left it to William Healy I believe.

My mother corresponded with Nora up until the 1960s/70's?  My inlaws met up with a cousin of mine on the island in 1993, John OSullivan, and he gave them a tour of the slate mine, graveyard, etc.  He owned "Ring Lyne" on Valentia.  I have photos of much of this.  A German bought the homestead and rebuilt the home, a shell on the property in 1990s, and rented it for a while.  Slept 2-3 people...ha!  Once slept about 16-18 people!  Check out my Healy web page at:  http://www.angelfire.com/ma/healytree/  There is a tree page along with photos.