Full-Text images- Jeremiah Malone

The buzz in the genealogy world is all about Full-Text images, where for some record sets on the FamilySearch website you can now search through documents for specific words or phrases. Several people told me that it was possible now to search for Irish Deeds this way, so I thought I might have a 'quick look'. 

And a 'quick look' was all it took.  Jeremiah Malone, my great-grandfather, has a reasonably distinctive name, and a record turned up for a land conveyance to him in Ballynadrideen quite easily, in 1887.  https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-CSKS-2YN?view=fullText

Jeremiah was able to purchase the land at Ballynadrideen on which he was the tenant farmer, from the vendor Standish Henry Harrison Esquire, of Castle Harrison. The purchase, for £705, was made possible with an advance to Jeremiah from the Irish Land Commission. This happened under the provisions of the purchase of Land (Ireland) Act of 1885.

There is another document for Jeremiah Malone, dated April 1904 in which Maurice Malone (his son) is described as also being a subscriber to the deed. I don’t know enough about the legalities of this, but perhaps this was part of the process of Jeremiah passing his interest in the land over to his son more fully? https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-CSKS-2S2L-7?view=fullText

At this stage in April 1904 both parents of Maurice Malone were alive, though Margaret Malone née Riordan died a few months later on 11 July 1904. Jeremiah Malone himself died two years later on 22 July 1906, with probate being granted to his son Maurice Malone. Probate applied to his Effects, £143 5s 0d, and did not mention the land. 

 I don’t understand all the complexities of the history, but in the 1870s/1880s in Ireland, there were legal moves made to help tenant farmers take ownership of their land from the large landlords who had had control of them. In 1870 a Land Act was passed that gave tenants some very basic rights including a right to compensation for improvements in case of eviction. In 1871 in Cullane, John Riordan became one of the tenant farmers facing eviction when the landlord hugely increased the rents. Cullane became a test case for the power of the new Land Act.

By the way, I tried a similar Deeds search for John or James Riordan in Ballylanders/ Cullane South- but there was a lawyer called John Riordan, so much more diligent searching will be needed to filter and find what I am sure must be there!

Family Search have made it very easy to download the full document as well as the AI-generated transcription. You can then find the url link and citation text at the end of the download.

Of course I then had to delve more deeply into this rabbit-hole, which wasn't on my Priority List for 2025 in any way! I found something about the history of the great house that was Castle Harrison on Wikipedia. It was demolished after 1956, but Wikipedia had a photo of it.

And I also then looked for an Ordnance Survey map on the National Library of Scotland's Map website. Ballynadrideen, where the Malone farm was, was quite close to Castle Harrison. (It's interesting looking at earlier maps before the railway ate into the Great House's land.

I'm unlikely to ever find my way back to Ireland now, but you never know, one of my nieces or nephews might, or perhaps a cousin's child. It would be good if someone can go back and stand on the land.

 

Perdu en Mer- Lost at Sea

I have written in a previous blog post about Captain Thomas Jean PAYN from Jersey, brother of my great-grandfather Francis Davis Payn. In January 1876, Thomas is recorded as receiving his certificate of competency as a Master in the Merchant Service. Several years later in January 1881, he is recorded as Mate when joining the ship “Gryalva” in Liverpool, and then he succeeded as Master at Benin on 4 April 1881. (Ancestry: Liverpool, England, Crew Lists 1861-1919 for Thomas J Payn; Gryalva 1881.)

Sadly, Thomas Jean lost his life at sea in 1893 while serving as a Captain, and this is recorded on a Payn family headstone, in St Martin's Parish, Jersey, as:

'comme aussi de Capt Thomas Jean Payn   
perdu en mer
dans l'année 1893
dans sa 46ème année.'   

I have previously tried searching old newspapers for more information about how Thomas John Payn died, but without success. But as is often the way with genealogy, answers to some of those lingering questions do finally emerge.

The first breakthrough came when I discovered an aerogramme that had been uploaded to Ancestry, sent by ‘Cousin Hilda’ Payn in 1958 from Taupo, New Zealand, to a couple getting married in Europe. Cousin Hilda was the daughter of Captain Payn, and would have been aged about 9 years old when her father died at sea. A woman called Joy had uploaded this letter, and I messaged her, and magically, she replied! During the course of several emails, Joy told me that Cousin Hilda had been in possession of a painting of her father’s boat, but left it behind with family in Jersey when she emigrated. Joy’s family had recently had this painting cleaned, and she offered to email me a photo of it. This was one of those special moments in genealogy, when suddenly a person in your family tree becomes ‘real’.

Grijalva, captained by Thomas J Payn

But I still didn’t know anything concrete about when or how Captain Payn had been lost at sea. I found a Lloyd’s shipping website but unlocking any information from it seemed beyond me, even with this excellent guide to the Merchant Navy wrecks losses and casualties from the Royal Museums Greenwich. Enter stage left, my clever genie 3^rd cousin Maggie. She happened to be in the process of researching some early shipboard immigrants to New Zealand, and I mentioned to her that my Captain Payn had been lost at sea but I hadn’t been able to find out anything much about the circumstances. By the next morning she had found two newspaper articles about the Grijalva, feared lost, under Captain Payn. (Note, the spelling of the ship varies in different sources, and potentially a search with 'Payne' would find more entries.)

The first newspaper clipping was from the Liverpool Weekly Courier, 23 December 1893, with a headline, ‘Feared loss of a Liverpool vessel and all hands’. And it read that: “Great anxiety is now felt for the safety of the Liverpool vessel Grijalva, and in many quarters she is regarded as lost with all on board.” The ship left Opobo River, West Africa, on the 20^th July for Liverpool, but nothing more had been heard of her. She was under the command of Captain Payn, and had a valuable cargo of African produce.

Modern Opobo is in the south of modern Nigeria, and presumably the old river port was somewhere in the vicinity.

The second clipping that Maggie sent me was a Lloyd’s notice, published on 1 February 1894 on the Lloyd’s list, with the Committee of Lloyd’s seeking any information. It read: “The Grijalva, Payn, of Liverpool, which sailed from Opobo for port of call, on July 20, 1893.”

Armed with Maggie's newspaper details I made a visit to my local library, hoping to perhaps learn a little more, using either the FMP or BNA websites. There were in fact many references to the Grijalva in ordinary shipping news, eg in the Exeter and Plymouth Gazette on 17 October 1891 it was recorded: "British barque, Grijalva, Payne, from Hamburg to Benin, with gin and coal."

But by late 1893- early 1894, it was clear that great fears were held. One newspaper said that the barque had 'a cargo of palm kernels in bags, and had sailed from Opobo on July 20 1893, 'and has not since been heard of.'

So, it appears that Captain Payn came to grief in the Grijalva somewhere on the sea journey from the west coast of Africa, back to Liverpool, with all hands. Most likely, the ship rests on the sea floor, one of many such ship wrecks.

I am grateful to both Joy and Maggie for the extra information they have given me about Captain Thomas John Payn. His life had a sad ending, but it is good to know more about what happened.
Margaret Riordan
May-June 2023

 

Mary Burke's Birthplace

Early on when I started delving into my family history, a trip to the local Family History centre led to the ordering of a microfilm for the Scottish parish of Inchture. It wasn’t long before I had the joy of discovering the record of the birth of Mary Burke, my great-grandmother. She was born on 21^st August 1862 at 3h30am in the Parish of Inchture in the County of Perth, in what I had interpreted for many years as Poleavie Cotter's Houses. She was the first child born to Martin Burke from Co Mayo, and Ann Philp from Fifeshire.

In the last couple of months, to help me find out more about how to research my Scottish ancestors, I have done an excellent course through Pharos Tutors, taught by Chris Paton, called Scottish Research Online. This course has really opened my eyes to the abundant riches available on the internet for researching in Scotland.

One of the topics we looked at was Maps, and I decided to use the excellent maps found on the National Library of Scotland website to try and work out more exactly where Mary Burke was born. But much searching in the OS maps only turned up Powgavie as a place near Inchture. Looking at the handwriting more closely I realised it had a "g" and her birthplace was "Polgavie" rather than Poleavie. Powgavie and Polgavie appeared to be in pretty much the same place on different maps, but there was still a difference of spelling to reconcile. You can check out a map on the Old Roads of Scotland site.

Next, in the Ordnance Survey Name Books- Perthshire, 1859- 1862  I discovered that there was a relevant note that explained it: ‘It would appear from a correspondence with the Examiner Corpl Webster that there is some attempt made to distinguish the farm name above from the name Powgavie as applied to the houses about the little harbour or creek, but as this is only a difference in spelling the same name, I think it is better spell it alike in both cases.'

Both the old (1792) and New (1842) Statistical Accounts refer to a settlement where there is a harbour used for import and export, called Polgovie (1792)and Powgavie (1842).

Ordnance Survey Map showing Powgavie in the Parish of Inchture.
https://maps.nls.uk/geo/explore/#zoom=14&lat=56.42512&lon=-3.15471&layers=1&b=1
NLS OS One Inch 1885-1900 Outline, with transparency overlay with modern map.

 
So it seems that Polgeavie and Powgavie are pretty much the same place. And today there are even self-catering cottages there that have been converted from farm houses into modern holiday homes. 

Whether these are the same cottages where Mary Burke was born would require a lot more research. It seems that some of the cotter’s accommodation of the time was very primitive, and was sometimes just a draughty lean-to on the end of the farm buildings. But she must have been born somewhere very close by. Maybe someone of the younger generation will go there one day and explore to find out more.

Ann PHILP- from Scotland

Ann Philp is my one great-great-grandparent from Scotland. She was born around 1840, in Ceres, Fife, (estimated from the 1851 census), though we have not been able to find her baptism entry.




She married Martin Burke, (originally from Co Mayo in Ireland), in February 1861, in Perth, with her residence at the time given as Abernethy. Her parents are named on her marriage entry as Thomas Philp, ploughman, and Isabella Philp, whose maiden name was Nicholson. From the 1851 census we find that Thomas Philp was born in Strathmiglo, and Isabella Nicholson was born in Ceres.

(copied from microfilm in FHC)

 Ann was the sixth child in a family that had 10 children that we know of, some of whom we know were born in Ceres, Fife, others in Dunbog, Fife, and the youngest, Fanny (Euphemia) was born in Abernethy. Ann was said to be 11 in the 1851 census, and a scholar. When her mother Isabella died in Abernethy in 1855, Ann was listed amongst her children, and was said to be 15.

By the time of the 1861 census, Ann had married Martin Burke. However, rather than appearing in the Burke household in the census, she is listed as being in Abernethy with her father Thomas, as housekeeper at the Balvaird Cot House. Her youngest sister Euphemia is also there, aged 12, as well as another female child, Isabella Forrester aged 10. (I don’t know how/if Isabella fits into the family at this stage.)

The following year, on 21 August 1862, Ann Philp became a mother, with her firstborn child being Mary Burke, my great-grandmother. The young family were living in the Parish of Inchture at this time.

Mary Burke was just a young child when the family of three embarked for Canterbury in New Zealand, and they arrived in the port of Lyttelton on the ship Mermaid, in February 1864. From the newspaper account of the voyage we read that:- During the voyage the passengers had the benefit of fine weather nearly all the way out, and, in their own language, “there was scarce one evening but they could dance on deck.” 

Ann gave birth to two more children in New Zealand. Ann Burke was born in December 1864, and a son Thomas was born in 1866.

The family were living in Burnham when Ann Philp died in March 1895, aged 53 years old. Her death entry says she died of cancer of the liver. However, her brother-in-law John Burke died just two months earlier of a cause also said to be cancer of the liver, so we must wonder whether in fact there was some infectious cause.

Ann was buried in the Darfield Catholic Cemetery in a group of four family graves, near her daughter Mary, her brother-in-law John Burke, and Mary’s husband Patrick Riordan. The four graves are amongst the oldest in the cemetery.

I’d like to acknowledge the help Maggie Gaffney (third cousin) has given me in my research about the Philp family, especially by sharing the 1851 census and the 1855 death entry for Isabella Philp nee Nicholson.

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.

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.