Loresia, contacted Ireland Reaching Out regarding her upcoming trip in early 2023. She had done a lot of research. Her intital request is outlined below;
According to Tithe records, in 1823-1833 my gggg grandfather was a farmer in Carrickadorrish until he was murdered by his son and nephew at his farm in 1839. The son that didn't murder him, my ggg grandfather, John Mulvany took over the farm until his death in 1880 at which time his son, Francis Mulvany, the brother of my gg grandmother Ellen Mulvany, had the farm until he died in 1923. I am uncertain what happened with it after. However based on the 1901 and 1911 census, Francis was listed as the landowner, and in 1911 he was listed for two properties in Carrickadorrish, one he was the landowner, and the other was owned by Hugh Mccabe. I have the Griffith Valuation record for John Mulvany but the map will not come up for the area on that site. I did find a copy of the map on MyHeritage but I have no idea how to compare it to a newer map to locate the property.
My gg grandmother, Ellen Mulvany married my gg grandfather John Cosgrove at Dunbeggan Catholic Chapel in Columbcill, Ireland. John was a laborer as was his father, James Cosgrove. I am not sure of the relationship between the Mulvanys and the Cosgroves in Carrickadorrish but I have found marriages between them going back to the early 1800's, my gggg grandfather, James Mulvany's daughter married a Cosgrove in Carrickadorrish as well.
After marrying, it appears that Ellen Mulvany and John Cosgrove settled in Ballybrien. The census report shows a Richard Gelfin was the landowner. I believe they had nine children (a couple of them dying as babies) Maria Teresa, Joseph Francis, Thomas, Michael John, Mary, Bridget, John, Ann, and Ellen. My great-grandfather was Michael John Cosgrove, as a teenager he left Granard to Sligo to attend Sligo Catholic College for a couple of years and then immediately immigrated to the US at age 17. His sisters Bridget and Ann married Flynn brothers and I know Ann stayed in Granard and is buried at Saint Mary's but I am not sure what happened to the rest of them.
My hope is to locate the land where the Mulvany's lived and perhaps even the land in Ballybrien where my great-grandfather lived as a child. Also, I of the actual church my great-grandfather was baptized. The online church records are blurry for his record but based on his sibling baptismal records, I am pretty certain he was baptized at Ardagh,
Templemichael but I am uncertain as to where this church is located. Additionally, I would like to find out as much as I can about these folks. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks,
Loresia
Note from Loresia, following meet and greet with local volunteer Paul.
I wanted to reach out to you directly and thank you for connecting me to Paul. He was a huge help and meeting up with him made my trip much more enriching. I am 50 years old, I have wanted to visit Ireland for as long as I can remember. However, I didn't want to just go to Dublin, buy a coffee mug with my family crest, kiss some stones, and say I visited the land of my ancestors...
So I spent the last 13-plus years obsessing over my great-grandfather and following his steps backward and I am so glad I did, the work paid off and I feel like I was able to visit my ancestor's homeland and give them the respect they deserve. With the help of Paul, I was able to locate the exact land my family farmed on, he also located the courthouse where a distant relative was tried and executed for murdering his father. Though I had collected much of the information myself over the years, it was so helpful to have Paul guide me around and offer information about the area that just wouldn't have been possible to find online.
Throughout my thirteen-day solo trip, I managed to not only visit the land my family farmed on, I was able to sit in the church my great great grandparents married, visit what was most likely the last church in Ireland my great grandfather attended mass at and walk the path he surely walked when he said his final goodbye to what he knew as home but most importantly, I feel like I was able to see their homeland through their eyes. When I first looked up at the Motte in Granard, I knew this was an image that my ancestors saw and that was an incredible experience.
As I figured, the Cosgroves and Mulvannies are long gone from Co. Longford so there was no reunification with some 2nd or 3rd cousins. However, Paul, the volunteer t connected me to what ended up being a distant cousin DNA match on ancestry. Not sure what the odds are of that? I feel like I left no stone unturned on my Cosgrove side, I did come back with a few more leads so I guess this obsession will not be ending soon. As you know, Irish-American ancestry is rather confusing. They often came here and married another Irish Catholic who had roots in a different county, in my case they did that for generations, I have six branches on all different parts of the island! So now I am planning to visit Co. Mayo next year to pay my respects to my Moran branch. The other branches all are due their respect but the Cosgrove trip I took will always be the most important, that was my maiden name and I am the last person in my family to carry that name, so it seemed appropriate that I would take that pilgrimage back since my great grandfather was never able to.
Thanks again, Ireland Reaching Out is a wonderful group!
