Hallinans of Kilshanny

Hi Pat:  It is nice to hear from you again!  I have discovered a lady in the area who appears to have some good local knowledge.  Will you leave it with me and let me contact her?  In the meantime, Peter Beirne at the Local Studies Centre might have more information on the graveyards and you can also check the Clare Library website.  

Hope that this is of some help.  

All the best,

Jane.

Hi Jane,

Thank you very much!!   Did I tell you that we went to Ennis Friary and they had the records of a gravestone of a which said: "This family Vault was re-----by Thomas Hallinan of Ennis merchant 1773  May the souls of the faithful rest in peace Amen".  The Curator then got another book which had about each of the people pertaining to the gravestones and it said.................... "The Hallinan family can be traced back to 1735 when John Hallinan became a freeman.  Thomas Hallinan achieved his freedom in 1740, and in 1788, either he or another Thomas Hallinan was a grocer, dealer in hardware, and haberdasher in High Street." 

This may not be the same family, but I find it interesting, as the names John and Thomas continue to be through the family, and as I mentioned before, my father mentioned Ennis, even though he had no idea where it all was!!   Could it be that our Thomas was actually born in Ennis and then matchmake with Honora Cooney as there seems to be a 16 year age difference between them.

Also, could you give me the address of Peter Beirne from the Local Studies Centre?

Many thanks,

Pat

Hi Pat:

I didn't know about the gravestone and that is very interesting.  Whether or not they are the same family, who knows? 

As to Peter's address:  Local Studies Centre, The Manse, Harmony Row, Ennis, County Clare.

I will get back to you once I have heard back.

All the best

Jane.

Thanks Jane.  I will get in touch with Peter.

Kind regards,

Pat

Hi Jane,

Peter Beirne has got in touch with me with some very interesting information.  I will copy it here.

As you see, in the 1855 valuations, Thomas Hallinan is listed in this townland in Kilshanny, as is a Daniel Cooney.

I suspect that the Hallinans and the Cooneys were tenants on the Stratford estate in Kilshanny, an estate owned by the Wingfields, sons of the Viscount Powerscourt.

Details of the Stratford estate in Clare are given in chapter nine of Desmond Norton, “Landlords, tenants, famine: the business of a land agency in the 1840s” (Dublin, 2006)

and in Desmond Norton, ‘Progress and distress on the Stratford estate in Clare during the Eighteen Forties in “The Other Clare,” volume 26, 2002, at pages 50 – 57.

There were ejectments, or civil evictions from the Stratford estate in the 1840s, with correspondence from the land agents for the estate (Stewart & Kincaid, in Dublin) writing on 28 April 1843 that ‘notice to quit’ had been served on Corbit [Corbett], Blackwell and Hallinan; no further details are provided as regards these three surnames or the particular land denominations they occupied in 1843.

As well as evictions from land holdings on the Stratford estate, the land agents also assisted impoverished tenants to emigrate. Giving evidence before a parliamentary committee on 21 June 1847, Joseph Kincaid (of Stewart & Kincaid, land agents, Dublin) referred in testimony to ‘nine or ten tenants’ from the Wingfield Stratford Estate in County Limerick whom Stewart & Kincaid assisted to emigrate. It is known that tenants from the Clare estate in Kilshanny were also given the funds to emigrate to North America and in the case of a Kilshanny family named Reidy (rendered as Riedy in the contemporary correspondence) to Van Diemen’s Land. (See Norton’s book, noted above, chapter ten covering the Limerick estate, and the “Report of the Select Committee of the House of Lords on colonization from Ireland together with minutes of evidence, Session 1847”, at pages 158 and 520.)

This seems to tie in.  My cousin has now found information:   Under the Vemer-Wingfield papers for Smithstown Mountain is a Maurice Hallinan and payments made in 1786. The rents were due to the Rt Honble Lord Visct. Powerscourt by the tenants to his Lordships Estate in the County of Clare.

Also in the IRO Chronicles, there is a story of a Joseph Hynnes and Mary Halloran from County Clare.  Could that be a connection??

Kind regards,

Pat 

That is great information, Pat and thank you for sharing. The Chronicles that you refer to could be a connection. If you would like to collaborate with the profile author, you can let me know.

 All the best,  

Jane 

Hi Jane,

Yes, I think that might be a good try.  I know it is a long shot, but you never know!!!

Many thanks,

Pat