James LALOR - parentage?

James Lalor, my great-grandfather, died in 1916 at South Beach, near Greymouth, and was said to be 78 at the time. (This puts his birth at around 1838.) His parents were named as John Lalor and Mary Lalor (with her maiden surname not filled in), and he was said to have been born in Kilkenny, Ireland. (Place of birth was not recorded on marriage documents in 1871 when he married Catherine Rowland.)

Many trees on Ancestry have details entered for his parents, sometimes with the father as James Fintan Lalor, sometimes with the mother as Mary Gorman, but nearly always the people mentioned live in Co Laois, not Kilkenny. Most of these trees appear to have copied from each other, and I have never seen a suitable source on any of them linking our James Lalor with these parents.

Our James Lalor was proudly from Kilkenny- it is even mentioned on his headstone in Karoro Cemetery. It was also mentioned in his obituary.

Some people claim that James Fintan Lalor is the father of our James. James Fintan Lalor is from a famous family in Co Laois, and was the father of Peter Fintan Lalor of Eureka Stockade fame in the Victorian goldfields days. Read more about this Lalor family in this Ballarat genealogy document: https://www.ballaratgenealogy.org.au/index.php/research?view=article&id=212:genealogy-of-the-lalor-family&catid=14

In an article in the Free Lance in 1901, James Lalor is interviewed as a parliamentary messenger, and it is mentioned here again that he ‘belonged to Kilkenny’. The article mentions that he “was in Bendigo when the Eureka riots took place in Ballarat”, and that the Peter Lalor who figured there so prominently was a “distant relation of Mr James Lalor”. This ‘distant’ cousin label would rule out James Fintan Lalor, Peter Lalor’s father, being the father of our James.

If you look on Griffiths Valuations for Kilkenny, there are many John Lalors listed, and possibly one of these is the father of our James Lalor. However, I have never seen any more precise location than ‘Kilkenny’ listed for him, so it is not easily possible to find his father.

Despite various parents being named on Ancestry trees for our James Lalor, I haven’t seen any credible Kilkenny sources to support any of them, and for now, I will continue to only write his parents as John and Mary Lalor, with her maiden name unknown.

 

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1. Obituary. Greymouth Evening Star, 5 October 1916. Papers Past.

2. Entre Nous, The Free Lance, Saturday November 16 1901. Papers Past.

Lalor-Rowland family- South Beach

It looks like I might well end up at home with time on my hands as coronavirus spreads. I am going to use at least some of the time to make some of my genealogy info more "user friendly" for others. I'm starting with my maternal-paternal line- the Lalor-Rowland family, who lived at South Beach near Greymouth.

Here's a pic of the introductory page, before I get into more detailed info. (There are a couple of pics on the title page, so it's not as bland as this seems...)

Trip Prep!

ADDENDUM- POSTSCRIPT!
Well the best laid plans of mice and men and all that.... the world is in pandemic, and my trip is not to be. Hopefully, in a few years when I retire I can do this...

I've been having a stay-cation these hols as I save for my trip over to Europe. Quite a few of the things I'll be doing have a family history reason behind them, and I have organised some 'paperwork' to take with me.

For a few places that my family came from, I can find the family address quite precisely. But for most others, it is just a 'general area' that I'll be visiting. But either way, I am really looking forward to this exploration, and recording some of it for others in the family.

Here is a bit of a (vaguely) chronological outline of where I hope this genealogical journey will take me.

-Italy- Florence- to visit the WW2 grave of Robert Clarence Fleming, my maternal first cousin once removed.
-Switzerland- Ticino- to explore Corippo, Val Verzasca, the place of my Scettrini forebears.
- France- to visit the war graves and battle places of two great-uncles who died in WW1- James Riordan and John Francis Payn.
-Jersey, St Martin- where my Payn-Mourant ancestors come from.

 

-Scotland, Perth and Fifeshire.  Perth is where my Burke/Flynn family came to when they left behind the Famine in Ireland. Fifeshire is where the Philp family came from, particularly from Strathmiglo, though they moved around. I wonder what will be at 134 High St in Perth now. I am sure it would have been a tenement then, with dozens of children playing in the street nearby.

 And then I finally reach Ireland in late June, home of the bulk of my ancestry. There are many places to go...

Strabane, Co Tyrone- for my Arbuckle family, many of whom ended up making their home in Australia.

Ballyporeen, Co Tipperary, for my Heneberry origins. (Again many other descendants are in Australia.)

Kilkenny- not sure exactly which area, but possibly near the northern end of the City of Kilkenny, for the family of James Lalor.

Cullane South, Ballylanders Parish, Co Limerick. This is where my Riordans hail from. I have found maps from Griffiths which I think pinpoint their farm, and I am looking forward to visiting the area.

Ballinadrideen, south of Charleville, where my Malone grandmother came from. 

Co Mayo- Derrycraff, Aghagower- the origin of my Burke/Flinn ancestors. 

Jeremiah Malone, Ballinadrideen, my great-grandfather

So, that's the plan!