William O'Riordan- died in Lackelly Ambush, 1921

Having not grown up in Ireland, I often find it hard to understand aspects of Irish history I encounter while trying to learn more about my own family story. But then an event with a family connection happens, and suddenly I grasp a bit more.

William O’Riordan was the youngest son and child of James Riordan, farmer of Cullane, Ballylanders, and Bridget Hanlon. He was born around 1894, (though finding his birth registration has proven so far to be elusive.) A kind friend has sent me his baptism record, and he was baptised 21 July 1894 in Ballylanders, with John Quane and El Fitzgerald as sponsors. He died 2 May 1921, aged 27 years, in the Lackelly Ambush, a victim of bullets from the ‘Black and Tans’.

It was easy enough to find a family for William O’Riordan in the 1901 census, though until recently I wasn’t completely sure that it was linked with our family. I knew that Patrick Riordan my great-grandfather had a brother James, and that Patrick had come from Cullane South. In a search for James Riordan in Co Limerick in the 1901 census, there were 21 James Riordans, but only one was from the townland of Cullane South, Cullane, Ballylanders Parish.
http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/pages/1901/Limerick/Cullane/Cullane_South/1506050/

 In the 1901 census, William Riordan was the youngest in the household, aged 6, described as a scholar who could read & write. He used the English language, and his father James was the only family member who used Irish & English. There were seven family members at home in this census, the parents and five children. His older brother Patrick wasn't at home in 1901: in mid-1903 he was ordained priest at Carlow College and then left for Australia. By the time of the 1911 census, there were four family members at home, the parents, and their two adult children Bridget (29) and Michael (27). William would have been about 16 at this time, and wasn’t living at home.

The reason I finally became sure this was the family of ‘our’ James, was because of a few ‘Trove’ mentions, when I was researching the story of Fr Patrick O’Riordan in NSW, Australia. He was known to be a cousin of the Riordan family in New Zealand, as well as of two O’Donnell priest-cousins. The ‘shorter’ version of that story is here:
http://kiwinomadancestors.blogspot.com/2022/10/fr-patrick-oriordan-1879-1933.html

 In 1921 there were two accounts in ‘Trove’ of the death and funeral of Captain William O’Riordan, and he was named as a brother of Father P O’Riordan of Binalong, Australia.
The W.A. Record, Perth, (Sat 17 Dec 1921) carried an account of the procession to the Ballylanders graveyard on 24 September 1921. William O’Riordan was described as an Irish Volunteer, and he was laid to rest in the Republican plot. Some 20,000 people took part in the procession from where they had first been buried, to their permanent resting place. https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/212401323

A longer article in The Catholic Press, Sydney on 1 Dec 1921, gave more details, about how the bodies had been disinterred from a temporary resting place near Herbertstown, and High Mass was celebrated before the procession set off for Ballylanders which was 11 miles away. The chief mourners for Captain O’Riordan were said to be James O’Riordan and Mrs O’Riordan (parents), John and Michael O'Riordan (brothers) and Bridget O’Riordan (sister). https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/106253922

The Lackelly Ambush is well documented, and took place during the Irish War for Independence. William O’Riordan was part of the East Limerick Flying Column, and on 2 May 1921, he was part of a combined group surprised by members of the Green Howard Regiment of the British Army. Four IRA members were killed in the ambush. According to a video, ‘Lackelly Remembered’, Thomas Howard was killed outright, but William O’Riordan was wounded, and later beaten to death.
The bodies of the four IRA members were placed on a cart for removal to Galbally by the British, but in a battle the cart was retrieved by the IRA. The four bodies were buried first at a farm, but soon re-buried in the disused Rathjordan graveyard near Herbertstown. Several months later, during the Truce, the bodies of William O’Riordan and Thomas Howard were reburied at Ballylanders.
There is a video that explains all these events, called ‘Lackelly Remembered 1921-2021’. https://youtu.be/arFLL-M6GjA

A copy of William Riordan’s death registration is available by searching Irish civil registration. https://civilrecords.irishgenealogy.ie/churchrecords/civil-search.jsp
This states that he ‘died from effects of bullet wounds Killed instantaneously”.

 There is a large amount of detail available online about the Lackelly Ambush. In particular, there is a huge file on the Ambush that is on the Irish Military Archives Collection.
https://www.militaryarchives.ie/collections/online-collections/military-service-pensions-collection-1916-1923/1916-1923-resources/operation/lackelly-ambush/

As part of this file, there is also a section devoted to William O’Riordan, DP6340, and largely that comprises applications made by family members for compensation. https://www.militaryarchives.ie/collections/online-collections/military-service-pensions-collection-1916-1923/1916-1923-resources/operation/lackelly-ambush/  According to the rules, none of the family members qualified for compensation, as they weren’t dependants of William at the time of his death. This even applied to his elderly parents. However, the file is well worth perusing for the amount of genealogical information contained within.

The Emly Historical Society recorded an event in 2018 when they took a guided tour to the site of the 1921 Way of Independence Ambush Site. http://emlyhistoricalsociety.ie/blog/2018/04/03/hello-world-2/ There is a photo included of the memorial that includes William O’Riordan’s name.

The final resting place of William O’Riordan is in the Republican plot in Ballylanders Cemetery. https://historicgraves.com/ladywell/li-lwbl-0204/grave

About the writer: Margaret Riordan
I am a New Zealand-born Riordan descendant, living in New Zealand, and my grandfather Martin Riordan was a first cousin of William O’Riordan.
Coincidentally, my grandfather Martin also died in 1921, just  few months after William’s death, of acute influenzal pneumonia.

NZ Cemetery Info- Summarised by Family Line

Sometime ago I started summarising NZ cemetery information for each family line. Then I stopped, and only recently discovered that I had finished all the paternal family lines, but hadn't finished any maternal ones!

So I have been quite busy in the last fortnight with summarising two of my NZ maternal lines. I finished my grandparent's family- Lalor-Payn, then got into the Payn-Scettrini maternal line. (Next I have the Scettrini-Heneberry and Lalor-Rowland lines to do.)

There are four different pieces I have done for each family. Firstly, I make a summary table of the particular family line, starting with the grandparents or great-grandparents at the top, then followed by the various children and their spouses. Next I do a table for each person/couple that has names, position of the grave in which cemetery, and a small photo of the headstone if there is one. My third part of the process involves a larger photo of each headstone, together with a transcription. There's a final section where I have put cemetery maps where they are available, and have highlighted where the family grave is.

Here are some 'excerpts' from the Payn-Scettrini tables.

It was a chance to find out the 'gaps' in my knowledge, and in some cases it was a little surprising to find some 'errors'. In FindAGrave for instance, I had managed to assign a great-aunt into the wrong cemetery- but that is fixed now.

Now I need to share the info with cousins, and especially the 'extended' cousins. And next time I am in the South Island, and more especially on the West Coast, I will have the info I need to go and visit of these family graves. I was at Karoro Cemetery in January, and was aware that my knowledge about where certain great-auntys' graves were wasn't good enough to find their last resting places.

Photograph Organisation- Begun!

Sorting out old family photographs has been on the 'to do' list for a couple of years now, and really, 2023 must be the year I get properly started on the task! In February I even wrote a piece for the local genealogy newsletter, drawing attention to a series of magazine articles in Family Tree Magazine by Ann Larkham from the UK. (This magazine is in my local library.) She was interviewed for the magazine website, and discusses why and how to treasure family photos.

There's a good summary of her five step process on her own website. I am at the first stage of this- Gather & Back-up- but at least all the family photos are now all on one table ready to be dealt with!

In January a cousin asked me if I had a copy of a group photo taken at a family reunion back in 1992 in Kumara. As part of my gathering process today, I found the photo he was wanting. I have scanned a copy, and also scanned it with a slip with all the names on. (That's a tip I read on Twitter somewhere!)
A sad thing about this photo is that only two of the ten of us in the photo are still alive. I was awfully young then- about 34!- and still with dark hair.

The table is full of photos- let the sorting and organising begin!

Direct Ancestors- one page summaries

It's my plan to write a one page summary about each of my direct ancestors, (using Ahnentafel numbering.) Some family lines I can go back further than others to find these of course. The plan is then to put the summary in a plastic sleeve with a copy of birth/baptism, marriage and death registrations where I have them. (This will alert me to gaps I need to try and fill as well.)

Although the page is my own design, I got an idea for doing something like this from a presentation given by Fiona Brooker of Memories in Time. 

I have been working on collecting that BDM information for my great grandmother, Johanna Scettrini (who married Francis Davis Payn.) It was only late last year that I finally got Johanna's birth registration printout from Australia. The Scettrini name is so often misspelled in so many different ways, but I happened to see a "Groamina Leetrini" spelling on an Ancestry index, and lo and behold, it was her.
Then in the past few weeks, I ordered a printout of her death registration. I was preparing a talk about cemetery listings for a local genealogy event at the library when I realised Johanna was missing from the index of the Hokitika Cemetery burials where I expected to find her. For a while I had dreadful thoughts that she might by lying in a pauper's grave in Greymouth, though family all thought she was in Hokitika Cemetery with her husband Frank. But the printout of her death registration arrived and confirmed she was buried in Hokitika as we all thought. (Now I am in the process of trying to get her name added to the index.)

So Johanna then became the first person I wrote a one page summary about, and her bdm info is neatly filed with the summary. She has the Ahnentafel Number 15.

Any bets on how long it will take me to finish this task??! I have also written one about her father as well now, Giuseppe (Joseph) Scettrini, (Ahnentafel Number 30).

Kumara Sketch Map

In January 2023 I spent time on the West Coast, and in particular, exploring around Kumara, Larrikins and Goldsborough where my Payn, Scettrini, and some of my Lalor ancestors lived.

I am a great mixer-upper of left and right, and whenever I had visited Kumara, I always found myself confused about directions. Cycling along parts of the West Coast Cycle Trail though, helped me put everything into the right place in my mind. Hopefully this sketch map will help me recall the lay of the land for any future trip.

 On the Cycle Trail, I emerged into Kumara from the Greymouth end, and found myself within a short distance from where my Lalor grandparents, and my Uncle Jack, lived. It reminded me that my Uncle Jack had told me once that the old Tramway had passed nearby- and I know that at least part of the cycle route traverses it.

Uncle Jack told me there used to be two Payn-Scettrini houses up at the top of Boundary Rd, and I knew that my Scettrini 2x-great-grandfather lived up there: family photos show him there as an old man. Now there is one house up the top there, fully renovated. Next door it is hard to tell if any of the old house is left, as there is a lot of bush on the section.

 I took the liberty of wandering through part of this second section though, and found myself coming out onto the Larrikins part of the cycle trail! That was a lightbulb moment of how things fitted together in the landscape. 

Next day when I cycled the Larrikins part of the route, from the old Theatre Royal Hotel up to the road leading to Callaghans and Goldsborough, I recognised when I was passing the back of the two Scettrini sections.

According to family stories, Scettrini sisters Johanna (Payn) and Nellie (Baretta) used to live up on Boundary Rd next door to each other. There is an architect’s sign outside the renovated house.  One of my cousins, a Baretta descendant, grew up in Kumara and has told me that Ellen Baretta née Scettrini lived in the house that is still standing.

Somehow I had also been confused as I knew that “Payn’s Track” near where Frank Payn was goldmining was on the other side of the main road, and I had thought that was Larrikins too. A more careful re-reading of some of the material the West Coast Historical Museum prepared for our Payn-Scettrini family reunion in the early 90s showed me he was in fact mining later in a different place from Larrikins. I had walked Payn’s Track on a previous West Coast visit- I must re-walk it next time I am in Kumara.

Next I took the road that led me to Goldsborough and Stafford. I am grateful to various people on the West Coast South Island history FB group, who helped me with information before my trip south. It helped me clarify where Larrikins was, and also where Big Dam was, near Goldsborough, the first place where the Scettrini family lived before they moved to Kumara.

I had hoped I might perhaps walk or even drive up a road I could see on a map for Big Dam Hill. But when I arrived I discovered there was current mining activity up there, and access wasn’t possible. At least I now have a clear idea of where it was in relation to the main Goldsborough settlement. It shouldn’t be surprising that Giuseppe Scettrini, from a mountain village in Ticino, should choose to live in such a wild and hilly place.

 

Accentuate the Positive Geneameme 2022

For the first time, I am participating in GeniAus end-of-year blogging challenge, so here goes! 

1: I was happy to go back to my local genealogy branch meetings after a Covid absence. (I was really looking forward to going to the Lower North Island Irish Research Day as well, but managed to end up in isolation with Covid when it was on!) 

2: In 2022 I was particularly proud of writing about Fr Patrick O’Riordan who served as a priest in NSW- my first cousin twice removed. I had seen him mentioned in a newspaper when he visited another priest-cousin in New Zealand, but hadn’t managed to find out much about him. Suddenly, one bit of information from Andrew Redfern, a fellow Twitter-er, broke open the floodgates of information! 

5: A new genealogy book that sparked my interest was Chris Paton’s “Tracing your Scottish family history on the internet”, and I hope to delve into this more in 2023. 

6: A geneasurprise I received was this beautiful photo of my maternal grandmother, Rose Payn, that my cousin sent to me. I think she is probably a bridesmaid for one of her sisters in this photo, around 1912 or so.

7: In 2022 I finally met a third cousin from a Scettrini line that I hadn't had any contact with. 

8: Locating the birthplace of my great-grandmother Mary Burke in a rural area near Abernethy, Perthshire, Scotland, gave me great joy. Doing a Pharos course by Chris Paton gave me the confidence to use maps from the National Library of Scotland effectively, and led to this discovery. 

11: An informative newspaper article I found was one that told me Fr O’Riordan’s brother was killed in an ambush in 1921 in Ireland. This led to more research and discovering a military archive that contained a huge amount of information about his family, when they applied (unsuccessfully) for compensation after his death.

12: I was pleased I could contribute to my local genealogy branch by taking over as editor of the monthly newsletter. I am thankful to the long-time editor who thought to ask me to do this, and had faith that I could do it. 

14: I got a thrill from opening someone’s eyes to the joy of genealogy when I was able to go from an Irish marriage entry a friend had obtained from an old family Bible, to a whole heap more information about her family in Ireland. 

20: Another positive I would like to share is that I finally worked out how to search on Trove effectively, by using Advanced Search. This has helped me find the information I wanted, instead of being overwhelmed by 1000s of results! 

Thanks GeniAus for setting this opportunity up.

Reorganising Files- BurkeNZ

I am in the process of reorganising all my genealogy files. They were already organised to a certain extent, with an elaborate numbering/lettering system that only I could follow, and it meant I couldn't always find information I knew I had that was buried in folders somewhere. Also it was tricky to work out where to file new information. A few months ago I worked out a system for one family line where I used dates and categories within family folders/files. It seemed to work quite well so now I have extended it. I have just spent some of the weekend hours reorganising my Burke-Burton information.

My great-grandmother, Mary Burke, was born in Perthshire, Scotland, in 1862, to an Irish father who had left Co Mayo at the time of the Famine, and a Scottish mother from Fifeshire. She emigrated as a toddler to New Zealand with her parents Martin Burke and Ann Philp, arriving in February1864 in Lyttelton. Her sister Ann was born in NZ in December that year, and a brother Thomas was born two years later in 1866. Mary married Patrick Riordan from Charing Cross, Canterbury, NZ in 1882 as a young woman.
Both her brother and sister married members of the Burton family from Redwoodtown, Blenheim. The Burtons had emigrated from Galbally in Ireland with quite a few Irish-born children in 1876. Ann Burke married Francis Burton in 1888, and Thomas Burke married Nora Burton, one of the youngest Burtons and a New Zealand born member of the family, in 1899. 

Annie Burke and Francis Burton, Marriage notice

Thomas Burke and Nora Burton

 

 

This double lot of Burke-Burton lines has been a bit confusing for me at times, and I have met third cousins who seem a bit dubious that I can be related to them! I am of course cousins with everyone descended from the Burke marriages with Francis and Nora Burton, but then there are a whole lot of other members of the Burton family I am not genetically related to. Hopefully, having reorganised all my files,  my mind is now clear about how everyone fits in.