Ballinahulla--Macha

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Genalogy Support

Herlihy Connections to Ballinahulla

The Herlihys I am researching and descended from are from the area in Ballincuslane that is directly across the river from Ballydesmond.  In some records the area is called “Macha” with various spellings.  One of the earlier records is the Tithes which lists Thomas Herlihy and Daniel Herlihy in Barrettsbawn.  They are also paying on Knockfadda,  I have not been able to locate either place on a map.  What is interesting about Barrettsbawn is that it is listed separately from Ballinahulla East, West and Middle.

One of my questions is:  Are Barretsbawn and Macha one and the same?

Thomas and Daniel could be the ancestors of this bunch, but it is not verified by records.

The possible siblings were born approximately 1810-1820s.  The conjectured Herlihy siblings are: John, William, Mary, Thomas, Timothy. 

I am descended from John Sheehan married Mary Herlihy Sheehan.  Some of the children’s records were found in the Albert Casey work and they are now online in IrishGenealogy.ie.  What has been confusing about these records is that Mary is recorded as Mary Sheehan in her marriage record.  She is also referred to as Mary Sheehan in the baptismal records.  My ancestor is Julia Sheehan born about 1832.  There are no records for her or her sisters’ baptims.  There are records for Denis, born 1828; Michael born 1829; Patrick born 1837; William (1842—though I wonder about this one) and John born 1845. Denis, Michael and Patrick were born in Tureengarriv.  William & John were born in Mullin.  No records were found for the females in the family:  Julia 1832, Catherine 1839 and Mary 1841. In death records here in the USA/Minnesota, all the family give Sheehan as father (but different forenames) and Herlihy as mother (different forenames). 

Julia Sheehan Whalen’s son Thomas married Mary Herlihy.  They had to get a dispensation to marry.  They were 1st cousins 1 removed.  Mary is the daughter of John Herlihy and Mary Hartnett (married Castleisland 1857).  Another Hartnett/Herlihy daughter, Hannah, had a child out of wedlock, Catherine Kelly.  Catherine Kelly’s daughter and I have a DNA match. If you look at the chart, I am Mare (by the cat) and Colette Lynch is the match to me. Kate Kelly appears in the 1901 census with her grandmother, Mary Hartnett Herlihy.

Another child of the Hartnett/Herlihy marriage is John Herlihy married (1888 in Boherbue) to Mary Galvin.  Their son Denis married his 3rd cousin, Julia Babe Herlihy, the daughter of Jer Billy Herlihy and Ellen Lane.  This caused a big rift in the family. Jer Billy is the son of William Herlihy  (born about 1810, died 1900) and Julia Keefe.

Also known to be related (but not how) is Timothy Herlihy married to Hanora Shine probably married about 1838-9.  Four known children are Daniel, John, Thomas and Patrick.  Patrick had a son known as Timmy Patsy (1877-1956) who married Julia

Finucane.  Timmy  Patsy was known as a relative to Kate Kelly Lynch (whose grandparents are John Herlihy & Mary Hartnett).

A descendant of John Herlihy & Mary Hartnett—Mary Frances Herlihy identifies another family as related.  Thomas Herlihy married Ellen “Red Nell” Sullivan in 1849.  When Mary Frances describes this relationship, it would make Thomas Herlihy the brother of her great-grandfather, John Herlihy married Hartnett.

William Herlihy (b. about 1810) married Julia O’Keefe.  They had a very large family.  His daughter Catherine married William Murphy and they are the parents of the musician Tom Billy Murphy.  William Herlihy’s son was Jer Billy.  Jer’s daughter Julia Babe married her 3rd cousin Denis Herlihy son of Johnny Jack Herlihy and Mary Galvin. This would be Mary Frances’ uncle.

So, we have indications of relationships for all these Herlihy branches, but no common ancestor.

I am also interested in the Sheehan family who resided in Tureengarriv. Ballincuslane.

They are not there in the Tithes.  John & Jeremiah appear in the Griffiths. I’m not sure if the John is my ancestor.  There is also a Mary Sheehan who is in Ballinahulla renting from William Herlihy.

When Julia Sheehan Whalen died, in her obituary it mentioned she had one sister in Ireland still living.  It is possible that this sister is Catherine Sheehan O’Connor.  In 1905, there was a Jerry Connors (sic) living with Julia’s daughter Bridget Whalen Hogan (my great grandmother).  Jeremiah later returned to Ireland.  He is in the 1911 census in Ballincuslane.  I am not sure Catherine’s children had issue. 

I have not been able to find any Sheehans doing research.  The William Sheehan who married Mary Fitzgerald did have children.  I am not 100% sure this is the William born to John Sheehan and Mary (Herlihy )Sheehan.

I'm going to attach a couple of files.                                                                         

I am attaching a family portrait of the Thomas and Mary Herlihy Whalen family with Mary's sister Hannah Herlihy (later Birkholz).  Hannah is in the hat. 

Mary (b. 1864) and Hannah (b. 1870) are the daughters of John Herlihy and Mary Hartnett.  The sisters were living in Macha, Ballinahulla at the time of their baptisms (Boherbue).

Of the sisters, Mary emigrated first--in 1889.  She was going to her brother Dan in St. Thomas, Le Sueur, Minnesota.  This is also where the Sheehans, who were descendants of John Sheehan & Mary Herlihy Sheehan Sheehan of Tureengarriv, were living.  Mary married her 1st cousin 1 removed, Thomas Whalen, son of Julia Sheehan Whalen.  

Hannah Herlihy had a child out of wedlock in 1897.  The child grew up with her grandmother in Ballinahulla and Hannah emigrated in 1902.  She also went to her brother Dan.  By 1905 she was living in Minneapolis, Minnesota and married in 1908. 

Dan reported visited his mother in Ireland several times.  His nephew John like to tell the story about friends and family in Ireland coaxing Dan to sail back to America on the Titanic. Luckily for him he declined the invitation.  

Kay