Riordan Land in Ireland- Where and when?

A third cousin recently had time in the Valuation Office in Dublin, and offered to look up some of my land queries- so I gathered together some of the info I had for the Riordan (and Malone) families. Thanks Maggie! https://www.iwikiwi.com/

I knew from his marriage record that my great-grandfather Patrick Riordan was born in Curraheen, Co Limerick, about 1843 to John Riordan and Bidy Quane. I searched in several townlands called Curraheen with no luck- distinct lack of Riordans, Malones, Quanes or O'Donnells.  In the end, thanks to something I managed to find on Google, it looked like the place name had changed, and the farm was at Cullane South, Ballylanders Parish, Co Limerick, not far from Mitchelstown and Galbally. On the section I found via Griffiths, there was an old fort/tower called Carheen on the property.

 Some of the bits and pieces I found included:

1829 Tithe Applotment Book- widow Riordan is living in Curraheen in the parish of Ballylanders.                         (Also a John Quane in Knockbrack in parish of Ballylanders).

 1826- John Riordan listed as gaining lease of land at Cullane South, Ballylanders, No20.

This would seem to possibly be my 2x-great-grandfather John Riordan. Note Patrick Creagh and Jno Creagh at nearby sections (18,19) (Suspect intermarriage between families)

 On Griffiths Valuation- John Riordan has section 20 in Cullane South. A Modern overlay map shows the property is bordered by Cullane S road and Tully Rd, and is to the east of the River Ahapurca.

 1850 June 4^th- Ellen, daughter of John Riordan and Bidy Quane baptised. Last daughter in family, Bridget, born 1855.

 1871-1874- Ballylanders Evictions. New landlord, Charles Wilmot Smith, put up rents hugely. Some tenants evicted when couldn’t pay. John Riordan appears to be one of these. However, 1870 Land Act came into play, and eventually by 1874 it seems most were readmitted to their holdings. A William Creagh was the bailiff and was very unpopular. I have many DNA matches with Creagh descendants, and it seems that perhaps John Riordan’s sister might have married a Creagh, and he left for Queensland.

1877- 28 April 1877, James Riordan, the brother of Patrick Riordan, married Bridget Hanlon in church at Ballylanders.

Census 1901 James – family listed as residents of a house 12 in Cullane South
Don’t know if they have shifted from property 20, or if things have been renumbered. It's possible John Riordan bought a Creagh property when he left for Australia.
Census 1911; listed on census as living in house 10 in Cullane South.

Extract of Census Return 1916- for James Riordan Address still given as Cullane South; James Riordan’s address living with Michael O’Riordan (Michael was born in Cullane 1883.)

1916 2nd Feb, Farm transferred to son Michael Riordan (O’Riordan) on his marriage.

1921- War of Independence, death of William O’Riordan, son of James Riordan and Bridget Hanlon, James still appears to be living on farm. (Info from various sources including newspapers and military records.)

Michael – seems to have died young. His wife was forced to sell holding to pay debts – sometime between 1916 and 1931.
1931 James Riordan died

That's enough of the bits and pieces. If you are reading this and think you might be a Riordan descendant from Cullane South, I'd love to hear from you in the comments!

I also have some 'bits and pieces' about the Malone family, between nearby Ballyfeerode townland, and Ballynadrideen, Ballyhea Parish, just over the border in Co Cork. But the connections involve a lot of supposition at this stage! One day I might blog about them!

 

Fr Patrick O'Riordan (1879- 1933)

I had known for some time that there was a priest in Australia who was somehow related to our Riordan family. When Margaret Malone (née Riordan) died in July 1904 in Ireland, there was a notice inserted in the ‘New Zealand Tablet’ by her three children who were living in Charing Cross, that said she was the ‘aunt of the Rev P. Riordan, West Wyalong, N.S.W.’

And just a few years later, in 1909, it was noted that Father O’Riordan from the Diocese of Goulburn, had been on a visit to his cousin, Rev J.F. O’Donnell, Queenstown, and was on his way back to Australia. I made a half-hearted attempt to learn more about this somewhat elusive Fr (O’)Riordan, but I didn’t know his first name, and “West Wyalong” as a place didn’t seem to lead anywhere promising at the time.

Enter, stage left, a recent comment on Twitter by Andrew Redfern, @anmireoz, about researching priests in Australia. He sent me a link to a site listing deceased clergy in Australia. There were just two O’Riordan priests, one was in Goulburn Diocese, and he was named Patrick, a familiar family name.

Andrew then sent me a Trove link to the 1933 death notice for Fr Patrick O’Riordan. He was from Ireland, and was an ‘outstanding horseman’, so presumably came from a rural background as you would expect for our Riordan family.

I still couldn’t be sure this was ‘our’ priest- the places Binalong and Grenfell mentioned in his death notice didn’t relate to what I already knew about him. But it was promising.

As a first step, I thought it might be prudent to also look at things from the other end of the story, in Ireland. I assumed that Patrick was probably from Ballylanders, the same place in Co Limerick that my great-grandfather Patrick came from. From what I knew of the family, it also seemed likely that his father might be called James. And it didn’t take long, using a Civil Records search on IrishGenealogy.ie, to find a possible birth:- Patrick Riordan, born 7 June 1879  in Cullane, Ballylanders, to James Riordan and Bridget Hanlon.

 Going backwards in time again I found the marriage for James and Bridget in April 1877, and John Riordan, a farmer, was listed as James’ father. This made it quite likely that James was the brother of our great-grandfather Patrick. The couple married in Ballylanders, and their residence was in Cullane. Bridget wasn’t quite the girl next door- but nearly. In Griffiths’ Valuations, John Riordan had a farm in Cullane South, while Michael Hanlon had a farm in Cullane Middle.
The first child born to James and Bridget was John, born in April 1878. (However, he must have died young, as another John was born and received the same name in 1891.) Patrick was the second child, born in 1879, followed by Bridget (1881), Michael (1883), Margaret(c1889), John (1891), and the youngest child I found was William (c1894).

I was fairly satisfied now that I was following up on the right priest as part of my own family and not barking up the wrong genealogical tree, so I started finding out more about Fr Patrick O’Riordan in Australia, in the diocese of Goulburn.

There was a notice in the Advocate (Melbourne) about Ordinations on June 21st 1903 at St Patrick’s College, Carlow, for Australian Dioceses. Rev Patrick O’Riordan was listed as ordained for the diocese of Goulburn.
One of the first queries I had in my mind was about Wyalong, where I knew he was in 1904 when Margaret Malone, his aunt, died. The ‘New Zealand Tablet’ helped me out again with a report in February 1904 that “The Rev Father O’Riordan, who arrived in Sydney at Christmas from Carlow College, has been appointed curate in the Wyalong Parish.”

Priests are relatively easy to research in old newspapers because of the role they had in local people’s lives. In October 1904, a Mr Hartigan of West Wyalong died and we read that “…as he breathed his last the Rev Fathers P. F. O’Shea and P. O’Riordan were present in his room reciting the prayers for the dying.” Then we are told: “When the funeral reached the cemetery hundreds of persons congregated around the grave, whilst the Rev Fathers P. F. O’Shea and P. O’Riordan performed the obsequies.”

However, as it turned out, Fr O’Riordan was in West Wyalong for barely a year before he was moved at short notice to SS Peter and Paul’s Cathedral in Goulburn. The writer noted that though he had only been stationed in Wyalong for twelve months, “…he created a very good impression there, and though there were only two days in which to arrange for recognitions, he received no less than four presentations.”

An interesting recording of his change of address from Binalong to Goulburn was an official notification from the Registrar’s General Department in Feb 1905 since he was an Officiating Minister.

After just under two years though, in late November 2006, Fr O’Riordan was on the move again, leaving Goulburn Cathedral to take up the position of Diocesan Inspector of Schools, clearly a prestigious role.
The Administrator said that “…they had never said good-bye to a priest with more genuine sorrow, for no more genial priest had ever come into the Bishop’s House.” Father Clearly spoke about how he knew Father O’Riordan perhaps better than anyone in Goulburn as he had known him in Carlow College, and “though a very young man, an adult in ability and knowledge,” and that “he had always been able, too, to take his place in the college sports.”

However, despite the high hopes everyone had for him as he began the Diocesan role as Inspector of Schools, it seems that as quite a young man, Fr O’Riordan developed some serious health issues. These resulted in him leaving the diocesan role for a parish priest position at Binalong in 1910. He also made several visits to relatives in New Zealand. In 1909 we saw earlier that he spent time with his cousin Fr JF O’Donnell in Queenstown. In early June 1910 the NZ Tablet recorded that in Christchurch he “was a visitor at the Cathedral Presbytery last week, and on Sunday was in Darfield, where relatives reside.”

On June 13 1910 he “was the guest of Dean O’Donnell in Ashburton for a few days, prior to his departure for Sydney.” In the Intercolonial column of the New Zealand Tablet in September 1910 it spoke of him being obliged to give up the inspector of schools role ‘owing to ill health’.
However, his stay in the Binalong Parish was to be a long and fruitful one. 

Father O’Riordan was reported to have arrived in the parish of Binalong by late September 1910, and the people of the parish were reported to be delighted with his appointment. He came with an excellent reputation from his work as a diocesan inspector. His ill-health continued though, and he had a ‘serious operation at the Lewishham Hospital’ in 1912, before returning to his parish on October 24th.

Probably because of his continuing ill-health, he was recorded as having another visit to New Zealand in 1913. In April 1913 he celebrated Mass at St Joseph’s Cathedral in Dunedin. One might assume he had spent more time with his cousin Fr JF O’Donnell in Queenstown as he recuperated, and Queenstown has a beautiful stone church that was built under the direction of Fr O’Donnell. 

However, despite his poor health, he was instrumental in organising the building of a new church for Binalong Parish, which was opened in early June 1913. Burrowa News covered the event- “Grand Religious Function at Binalong”- with a detailed description of proceedings.

There was a procession to the front door of the Church, then Dr Gallagher, the Bishop of Goulburn gave a brief address. He explained that he had been invited to Sydney for a ceremony there, but had written to explain that arrangements had already been made to open the Church at Binalong the same day. He also said that “the ceremonies had previously been arranged for November, but had to be postponed on account of the temporary illness of Father O’Riordan (parish priest). He (Dr Gallagher) was pleased to know that Father O’Riordan was well again, and able to attend to his duties.” During the following High Mass, Fr O’Riordan was the Master of Ceremonies, and at its conclusion he told the people the costs of the new church and asked for contributions to reduce down the debt. 

Photo of Binalong Church by Ian Lamont, from www.churchhistories.net.au

Following the opening and blessing of the church, there was a banquet at which Fr O’Riordan presided. The final toast was proposed to him, The Pastor, by Mr J. F. Shine (Burrows). He said that “he wished to congratulate the people of Binalong on their important undertakings on behalf of religion, but still a great deal of the success was due to the great organising power and zeal of their Pastor (Fr O’Riordan).” Fr O’Riordan then “briefly responded, and said that he had received hearty assistance and co operation from the people in whatever movements he had undertaken.”

The newspaper account ended with comments about how all classes of the community had mingled to build the church, and that there was an absence of sectarian animus. I found this last paragraph interesting as similar things were said about the way Fr O’Donnell, who was Fr O’Riordan’s cousin, also worked with the whole community building the church in Queenstown, NZ, that was opened in 1898.

There was a description of the new Binalong church in the Yass Courier. “The building is of bluestone (quarried not more than 150 yards from the site), with freestone buttresses, fibro-cement roof with terra cotta ridging, the whole being surmounted by two freestone crosses carved by Mr Dave Larkham. The stonework of the church will bear close inspection, as the whole of the joints are accurately lined up. The inside fittings include a choir gallery of polished redwood, and seats of polished kauri. Lead lights have been fitted to all windows, the memorial windows being beautifully executed.” It was noted that the St Patrick’s Statue in the church was gifted by Fr O’Riordan.

In 1921 a stark reminder of Fr O’Riordan’s Irish family and origins appeared in the news. His brother William had been killed at Lackelly during a British ambush during the War of Independence, and he was reburied in the Republican plot in the Ballylanders graveyard. A more detailed account of the huge funeral procession was carried in The Catholic Press, where the chief mourners were listed as James O’Riordan and Mrs O’Riordan (parents), John and Michael O’Riordan (brothers), and Bridget O’Riordan (sister).


No doubt much more can be uncovered about Fr O’Riordan’s time in Binalong Parish in the pages of Trove, but I will leave that to another researcher, and will now turn to his large farewell function from the parish in May 1928.

Fr O’Riordan was acknowledged as having been Parish Priest for nearly 18 years at Binalong before receiving a ‘promotion’ to take charge of the larger Queanbeyan parish. Mr Browne in proposing a toast spoke of Fr O’Riordan “who by a tolerant spirit and co-operation, had endeared himself to all sections of the community.” The speaker spoke of Fr O’Riordan carrying out the duties of church and also of the town and district, in such areas as sporting bodies, and the debating club.  Rev Rose, the Church of England minister, spoke of the wonderful disposition of Fr O’Riordan, and of the broad-minded outlook he took on all matters. Fr O’Riordan was the first visitor he had had when he came to Binalong.

When Fr O’Riordan rose to respond to the many speeches, he “was given a great ovation, it being some minutes before he was heard to say how much he appreciated the great reception given him, and said he found it difficult to fittingly express his thanks for the highly flattering remarks passed by the various speakers and for the handsome present received.”

Fr O’Riordan was at Queanbeyan from 1928 until late 1931, when he was appointed to Grenfell, where he was acting administrator during the illness of the incumbent priest. (One might assume that perhaps Fr O’Riordan himself was already suffering with the illness that was to prove terminal in 1933.) In February 1932 there was yet another large farewell gathering. Fr O’Riordan “stated that he had learnt at Queanbeyan what genuine charity meant.”

When Fr Riordan died in 1933 at Grenfell Parish, his death was not unexpected. He had known his illness was terminal for more than nine months before his death.

The Solemn Requiem Mass was celebrated in St Patrick’s, Binalong, and it was in the cemetery there that he was buried, as was his wish, under the shade of a pine tree he had planted 18 years ago.

It was reported that his mother and a sister, both living in Ireland, survived him.

A Binalong correspondent wrote:
“This loved priest and friend of the people fittingly was laid to rest under the sheltering branches of a spreading pine, which stands as a living monument beside his grave,” and  “The Rev Father O’Riordan was a great lover of the beautiful in tree and flower. The church grounds at Binalong bear ample testimony in their leafy growth to the pleasure his artistic nature found in that handiwork of the great Creator.” 

Headstone photo from Billion Graves website

Please leave a comment if you would like to know more about the sources etc used for this blog post. If you happen to come across this blog, and know where I could find a photo of Fr Patrick O'Riordan, please let me know in the comments!

Malone family of Ballinadrideen

My grandmother, Margaret Malone, was born in the townland of Ballinadrideen, not far south of Charleville, in Co Cork.

Her parents were Jeremiah Malone and Margaret Riordan.

Jeremiah Malone was born about 1826, in Co Cork.

Margaret Riordan was baptised on 12 June 1843 in Ballylanders Parish, Co Limerick, named as Peggy on her baptism record. Her parents were John Riordan and Bridget Quane. She is a sibling of Patrick Riordan who farmed at Charing Cross in Canterbury, NZ.

Jeremiah and Margaret had eight children we know of: Bridget (1868), John (1869), Maurice (1871), Mary (1874), Margaret (1876), Patrick (1877), Nano (1879),  and Jeremiah (1882). Bridget, Margaret and Patrick all emigrated to New Zealand.

In the 1901 census, Jeremiah and Margaret were both still living, and five of their children were still at home, unmarried, in Ballinadrideen. Jeremiah is described as a farmer.

In the longer version of the census, we see that all except the younger two children spoke both Irish and English.

In the New Zealand Tablet, 6 October 1904, there is a death notice for Margaret Malone in Ballinadrideen. It was inserted by her ‘loving son and daughters, Patrick, Bridget and Maggie Malone, Charing Cross.” (Although the date of death appears to be July 11th here, on civil registration it is said to be 27th June.) She was aged 60.

Jeremiah Malone died just over two years later, on 22 July 1906, aged 80.  Probate was granted to Maurice Malone (his son), for a sum of Effects, £143, 5s.

DNA test done

Finally I decided to get a DNA test done. I had my reservations for a long time- around privacy, around 'unexpected outcomes' and what I might have to do about them... but in the end I went to a few lectures about DNA in genealogy and how it was a new tool that offered many benefits. And I went ahead and did a DNA test with Ancestry who have the biggest database of matches. Thanks to Michelle Patient and also to Fiona Brooker who delivered the lectures I attended, including such informative material. And also to the Feilding group of NZSG who organised the day-long workshop with Michelle that I attended, and to Auckland Libraries who had Fiona and Michelle speaking at their weekend genealogy expo. Interestingly, in both places, I seemed to be among the minority who hadn't had their DNA tested.

At one of the courses I went to, patientgenie talked about the importance of building a 'wide tree', so while I waited for my test kit to arrive from overseas, then make its journey to Dublin and through the testing process, I built a wide tree. The 'wideness', including as many siblings of my grandparents, grt-grandparents etc as I knew, was to show some instant benefits once I got my results and my DNA matches, and I recommend it. (Though I have to admit I built it quickly, and might have relied on a few too many Ancestry 'hints', so definitely have to re-check it all soon!!)

It came as quite a surprise to see how many DNA matches I had- 308 at fourth cousin level or closer. And though I was certain that my parents were truly my real DNA parents, I was glad to find matches in all lines of my tree that were what I had expected.

Some matches were easier to identify with family lines than others. Because I had built a good tree and linked it to my DNA, ThruLines even helped place quite a few matches in the relevant parts of the tree.

The first, and so far only, contact that has come from someone else, came from this 'wide' tree. Her husband was descended from a sibling of my 2X grt-grandfather- so our common ancestors are our 3X great-grandparents. That makes her husband my 4th cousin once removed, and we share 25cM and 3 segments of DNA. I was astounded to realise that distant cousins like that could still share enough DNA to show clear connections. She has done a lot of research on our family lines, and we were able to share info to build our knowledge about "Cousin Hilda" who had come from Jersey as a single woman to join Payn family here in New Zealand.

Cousin Hilda Payn

I looked at my DNA list and decided on a few people I would message. There were a couple of surnames I recognised as being likely 3rd cousins on the Riordan side in Christchurch. I have already had a reply from one. It turns out the circle has fully turned for him, and he has been living in Ireland for the last 20 years, not all that far from Ballylanders, where the Riordan farm was. (He is going to explore!)

I was lucky to have one maternal first cousin and one paternal first cousin who had tested. So by looking at shared matches with one or other of them, I could divide my matches down maternal/paternal lines quite easily.

I decided to go on a hunt for paternal Riordan matches that might have a link to Ballylanders. It had taken me almost a year to pinpoint the likely origin of our "Curraheen" as being Ballylanders, but I was still only about 98% sure I hadn't barked up a wrong genealogical tree of similar names. However, in the process of my long search, I had some familiarity with other local surnames. I messaged a few likely looking suspects. Bingo- the Creagh on the adjoining farm has quite a few DNA matches with us. An O'Donnell match replied and was able to helpfully push back my tree by one generation by telling me the common Quane ancestors we shared.

 This is info I got from Griffiths. I've drawn around farm #20, the Riordan one. You might just manage to see the Carheen fort in the top right corner of the farm. (Farms #11 and #12  are Quain ones.) Next to it are farms #18 and #19, which are Creagh farms. I wasn't surprised to find Creagh matches, and I feel I have now confirmed that Ballylanders is in fact our parish of origin.

So what next? I am delighted with my paternal finds so far, but in a sense they were easy enough, as I was able to bring all my genealogical knowledge about the family to examine the matches. It is a different story with my maternal Lalor line though. I know only that my Lalor 2x-grt-grandparents were John Lalor and Mary (maiden surname unknown,) and that they were from Co Kilkenny somewhere. It seems like I will have to be much more systematic when searching my matches for likely Lalor connections. I will plod away, and am hopeful that DNA will eventually help me through the Lalor brickwall!

First success with Griffiths- Riordan

I am still quite an 'accidental' genealogist. I had looked at pages of Griffiths Valuations before, but they had never made any sense to me. However, armed with "Cullane South" townland and "Ballylanders Parish"  from the 1841 census extract for Patrick's older brother James, I decided to look for a map of the area.

Google was again my friend. It led me to a really useful website by John Grenham to look at Ballylanders Parish. 

When I clicked on Cullane South, it took me to a Griffiths Valuations page.  Clicking on occupants led to list of names. John Riordan was there on the second page. These valuations were done from about 1847 to 1860s or so, so this would be my great-grandfather Patrick's father John. There is also a "Quain" listed in Cullane South. There was a number in the left hand column by John Riordan's name- 20 with an a.

Going back to the first page listing for Griffiths, there was a "maps view" icon. Section 20 was quickly apparent on the Cullane South map.

The maps are incredibly useful because there is a slider that lets you overlay a modern map, and have varying levels of the old/modern maps. So the Riordan farm lies right on a bend on the modern Cullane/Tully road- in fact the farm is bisected by it. I reckon I could find it if I went back to Ireland with a car one day! On the map you could also see that Glenroe/Darragh- where the O'Donnell priest/cousins came from, was right next to Cullane South.

Riordan Quane family via James

There was a time, not so many years ago, when I thought that my Irish family history would remain unknown- but in recent years more and more documents are being digitised and are now accessible from the other end of the world.

Last night. Christmas Eve, I was fiddling around, and made yet another fortuitous combo of words in a Google search. Bingo! Thanks National Archives of Ireland! It led to a census abstract from 1916, that seems pretty certain to have been made by Patrick's older brother James to prove his age for the pension. Down the side of this document, it also has a list of names that must be his siblings. I haven't been able to get Patrick's birth entry- it was too early for the microfilm online from Ballylanders Parish- but his name is listed in the siblings, as are the names of Ellen and Bridget who I had found on the register. It also lists John who came to New Zealand and Margaret who was my great-grandmother via her Malone marriage. The only one I wasn't aware of before was Mary...

Oh- and for some reason I had to use Safari to access this document properly on my Mac- in case that affects some of the rest of you...

Riordan- where is Curraheen?

Curraheen-Riordan connection
aka where exactly in Ireland did Patrick Riordan come from?

The New Zealand death entry for my great-grandfather Patrick Riordan in 1911 stated that he was born in “Curraheen”.

Now that various Irish records have become more freely available online, I have been dipping into the Catholic Parish registers. I had begun searching for Riordans in the Kildimo/Adare parish region in Co Limerick where there was a townland of Curraheen, not far from the River Shannon, but was not finding many likely looking names in this area. Also it seemed a bit distant from other known places for the family in Ballyhea (Malone), Charleville, Glenroe (O’Donnell) which were all further south near the border of Co Limerick and Co Cork.

To check whether I might have transcribed “Curraheen” incorrectly from the register in my original search (back in the early 90s), I paid for a digital image of Patrick’s death entry from the official RGO register. Definitely Curraheen. And his mother’s surname was definitely Quane.
Today I changed tack from searching Irish parish registers, and plugged ‘Riordan, Curraheen’ into Google.

Bingo! In the online 1829 tithe applotment books, I found a ‘widow Riordan’ living in Curraheen, in the parish of Ballylanders.(Also found a John Quane in Knockbrack, in the parish of Ballylanders, on the same page.)
(Ballinlanders was the spelling used in the applotment books, but Ballylanders was the spelling on the parish registers.)

A check on the parish map on the National Library of Ireland website showed that Ballylanders parish adjoins Glenroe parish, where Dean James Joseph O’Donnell, Patrick’s first cousin, came from.

 

So I returned to the National Library of Ireland website to look again at the Catholic Parish registers, this time looking for Ballylanders Parish. Unfortunately, the entries in the register of baptisms only start in 1849, and it seems that Patrick Riordan was born around 1847. But I soon found that I was finding plenty of familiar names in the register- lots of Quanes, and O’Donnells, as well as Riordans. On 16 Dec 1849 there was a “Bidy Riordan” who was a sponsor for a baptism. I wondered if this might be Patrick’s mother.

Then finally I found an entry that made it seem almost certain I was looking in the correct register. On June 4th 1850, Ellen, daughter of John Riordan and Bidy Quane, was baptised. One of the sponsors was Dan Quane. Ellen would seem to be a sister for Patrick Riordan, out great-grandfather.

It seems that I have quite likely found the “Curraheen’ that Patrick Riordan hails from, in the parish of Ballylanders, in the diocese of Cashel and Emily, Co Limerick. I have read that it is possible to trace births prior to 1849 in this parish but accessing the records is expensive. But I will search further in this online parish register later to see if I can discover other siblings for Patrick Riordan.

27 May 2017
Sidenote: Funnily enough, I have maternal ancestors (Heneberry/ Cronage) from the same diocese, just over the border in Co Tipperary, in Ballyporeen.