Canadian Records, Catholic Records, Census Substitutes, Irish Records, Migration

From Ballymacegan, Lorrha, Tipperary to March Township, Carleton, Ontario

My Lahey ancestors came from Killycross Upper, Ballymacegan, Lorrha, Co. Tipperary, Ireland;1 and emigrated to March Township, Carleton Co., Ontario, Canada from the mid-1820s to the early 1830s.

And the reason why we have their townland of origin is that John Lahey, sometimes known as John Lahy the Elder, signed the McCabe List, where he gave the family’s origins as Kilnacross [Killycross], Lurrough [Lorrha], Tipperary.2

mccabe ancestry lahy john

From Ballymacegan to March: Who Else?

Who else emigrated from the townland of Ballymacegan (Lorrha, Tipperary, Ireland) to the township of March (Carleton, Ontario, Canada)? As always, the lack of Irish census records and of Irish church records (the register for the RC parish of Lorrha and Dorrha does not begin until 1829) makes it very difficult (and in many cases, unfortunately, well nigh impossible) to trace backward from Canada (or the United States, England, Australia, New Zealand, and so on), and to reconstruct early nineteenth-century Irish families. But the McCabe List, the Tithe Applotment Books, and the Canadian RC parish records (specifically, the register for Notre Dame Basilica, Ottawa) suggest (and I do mean suggest: the following should not be taken as a set of well-established facts that can be confidently added to an Ancestry family tree, or anything like that) that the Laheys were not the only family to emigrate from Ballymacegan to March.

SOMERVILLE

Anthony Somerville also signed (or rather, marked with an X) the McCabe List, where he gave his townland of origin as Ballinriken, Lurrugh [Lorrha], Tipperary.3

mccabe ancestry sommervile anthony image 133

“Ballinriken” (a phonetic spelling of the place name that Anthony Somerville reported but did not himself write) might be a rendering of Ballymacegan; or it might refer to an older place name that was officially obselete by the nineteenth century, but which local people still used. For example, in the Hearth Money Rolls for the parish of Lurha [Lorrha], Tipperary (1666-7), there is a townland called Carigin which is not found in either the Tithe Applotment Books or in Griffith’s Valuation: might Anthony Somerville’s “Ballinriken” (as heard and recorded by someone else) refer to Carigin?4

In any case, the Tithe Applotment Book for Ballymacegan, Lorrha, Tipperary (1824) records the presence of an Anthony Summerill (and also a Richard Summerill). Note that in his McCabe List petition, Anthony Somerville reports that his brothers-in-law Matthew Dayly and John Daily (yes: two different spellings for what is surely the same surname) “are known to Jonathan Harding.” There is a Jonathan Harding listed in the Tithe Applotment Book for Ballymacegan, Lorrha, Tipperary (1824), as well as an Anthony Summerill:5

Anthony Somerville (of the McCabe List, but probably also of the above Tithe Applotment Book listing) married a Mary McDonnell; and the couple had two known children born in Ireland (presumably Ballymacegan, Lorrha, Tipperary), and two known children born in March township. The children’s birth dates indicate that the family emigrated to Canada in the mid- to late-1820s.

The names Daly and Sommervile turn up in the baptismal record for Margaret Jane Killeen, daughter of Denis Killeen and Mary Ahearn. From the parish register of Notre Dame Basilica, Ottawa:6

 

Baptism of Margaret Jane Killeen (1835-1913)
Baptism of Margaret Jane Killeen, 22 October 1836

The above record reads:

October 22d 1836, baptized in Bytown Margaret Jane 13 months old, lawful child of Denis Keleine & Mary Herain Sponsors Matthew Daly & Mary Sommerville. W. Cannon, pte.

This Mary Somerville is almost certainly Mary McDonnell, wife of Anthony Somerville. Margaret Jane Killeen later served as godmother to one of the grandchildren of Anthony Somerville and Mary McDonnell: when Mary Somerville, daughter of Thomas Somerville and Elizabeth Little, was baptized on 1 October 1849, her sponsors were Patrick Burns and Margaret Jane Killeen.

And what of Margaret Jane Killeen’s godfather Matthew Daly? Is this the brother-in-law Matthew Dayly that Anthony Sommerville referenced in his McCabe list petition? Or perhaps a son or nephew of that brother-in-law?

Well, of course, Margaret Jane Killeen’s godfather might be another Matthew Daly, from another parish and county altogether. But interestingly enough, just nine days after Margaret Jane Killeen was baptized, her eldest known sibling Ellen Killeen (abt. 1818-1882) married a Matthew Daly in the presence of two Somervilles (here Summervilles):7

Marriage of Matthew Daly and Ellen Killeen, 31 October 1836
Marriage of Matthew Daly and Ellen Killeen, 31 October 1836

The above record reads:

October 31 1836, Married by me after three Publications at the Parochial Mass at Bytown, Matthew Daly of Huntly, to Ellen Keileine of March, and gave them the nuptial benediction in presence of Samuel Summerville, Mary Summerville & several others. W. Cannon.

Samuel was the eldest known son of Anthony Somerville and Mary McDonnell. The Mary Somerville listed here presumably refers to Mary McDonnell, wife of Anthony Somerville and godmother to Margaret Jane Killeen.

FAHEY

John Lahey’s sister Margaret Lahey married a John Fahey. The couple had five known children born in Ireland (presumably at or near Ballymacegan, Lorrha, Tipperary), and two known children born in Canada (March township, Carleton Co., Ontario). The name Fahy appears in the Tithe Applotment Book for Ballymacegan.

KENNEDY

John Lahey’s brother William Lahey married an Ann Kennedy. The couple had two known children born in Ireland (presumably at or near Ballymacegan, Lorrha, Tipperary). William Lahey died in March township in 1827, shortly after arriving in Canada. His widow Ann Kennedy then married the above-named John Fahey, widower of the above-named Margaret Lahey. John Fahey and Ann Kennedy had a son Michael Fahey, whose Fahey-Lahey half-siblings were first cousins to his Lahey-Kennedy half-siblings. And Bob’s yer uncle. The name Kennedy appears in the Tithe Applotment Book for Ballymacegan.

LOUGHNANE

Much more speculatively (as in, if the above is conjectural, the following is downright speculation), there is a Jas. [James] Loughnane listed in the Tithe Applotment Book for Ballymacegan; and a Loughnane/Lochnan did emigrate from Ireland (probably Co. Tipperary, possibly Ballymacegan?) to March Township. Simon Loughnane/Lochnan (abt. 1811-1903) was in March township by 1834, when he married Margaret Hickey (on 23 November 1834). On 28 September 1852, Mary Lochnan, daughter of Simon Lochnan and Margaret Hickey, married James Fahey, son of John Fahey and Margaret Lahey (and half-brother of the above-named Michael Fahey, son of John Fahey and Ann Kennedy).

  1. Killycross Upper and Killycross Lower were sub-townland denominations within the townland of Ballymacegan.
  2. Emigration, Original Correspondence, 1817–1857 and 1872–1896, CO 384, War and Colonial Department and Colonial Office: Emigration Original Correspondence, The National Archives of the United Kingdom, Kew, Surrey, England; database, Ancestry.ca (http://www.ancestry.ca/: accessed 16 April 2015), Canada, Immigration and Settlement Correspondence and Lists, 1817-1896, 1817-1851, Volume 22: North American Emigration Societies; Individuals, 1829, John Lahy, Ireland, Fulnaerass (Kilnacross), Sipperary (Tipperary), image 90 of 135.
  3.  Emigration, Original Correspondence, 1817–1857 and 1872–1896, CO 384, War and Colonial Department and Colonial Office: Emigration Original Correspondence, The National Archives of the United Kingdom, Kew, Surrey, England; database, Ancestry.ca (http://www.ancestry.ca/: accessed 16 April 2015), Canada, Immigration and Settlement Correspondence and Lists, 1817-1896, 1817-1851, Volume 22: North American Emigration Societies; Individuals, 1829, Anthony Somnserirlle (Sommerville), Ireland, Ballinriken, Sipperary (Tipperary), image 133 of 135.
  4.  Thomas Laffan, Tipperary’s Families: Being the Hearth Money Records for 1665-6-7 (Dublin: James Duffy & Co., 1911), p. 189.
  5. Tithe Applotment Book for Ballymacegan, Lorrha, Tipperary, The Tithe Applotment Books, 1823-1837, database, National Library of Ireland (http://titheapplotmentbooks.nationalarchives.ie/search/tab/home.jsp/: accessed 16 April 2015).
  6. Notre Dame d’Ottawa (Ottawa, Carleton), Baptisms, marriages, burials 1836-1840, p. 15, B. Margaret Jane Keleine (Killeen), database: FamilySearch.org (http://www.familysearch.org/: accessed 13 April 2015), Ontario, Roman Catholic Church Records, 1760-1923.

  7.  Notre Dame d’Ottawa (Ottawa, Carleton), Baptisms, marriages, burials 1836-1840, p. 16, M. Matthew Daly-Ellen Kelleine (Killeen) marriage, database: FamilySearch.org (http://www.familysearch.org/: accessed 13 April 2015), Ontario, Roman Catholic Church Records, 1760-1923.