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!

 

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!