A Glimpse of the Past

      

     The dearth of new Irish genealogy records continues, so I continue to seek out new avenues of research.  Today I did some simple searches using terms like Goldengarden, Donohill, Churchfield, etc... along with the word, history, to see what the search engine could uncover.  The results did not disappoint.

     For instance, as we all know there are no extant Irish censuses before 1901 however, statistics from earlier censuses do survive at Google Books.  The earliest mentioning my little corner of Tipperary,  (the townlands of Churchfield, Donohill, and Goldengarden), was the 1871 census that appears in a bound British document, "Accounts and Papers of the House of Commons, Vol. 87".  Fortunately, also included were statistics from 1841-1861.  It began -- Goldengarden contained a little over 330 acres; in 1841 there were 24 houses in the townland with a population of 161.  The 1851 statistics revealed a much different scene, only 14 houses and 103 people, a drop in population of 58 persons and 10 fewer houses.  Of course between 1841 and 1851 a catastrophic event occurred-- the famine, but this had the stench of a clearance.  Between the years 1851 and 1861, a further 16 souls and 3 more houses vanished.  At least half of the departed 16 that decade were my ancestors Cornelius Ryan, his wife Alice O'Dwyer, and most of their children who decamped for New York in the summer of 1860.  There was one more statistic for the year 1871 only, the status of the remaining houses.  It noted that of the 11 left in Goldengarden all were inhabited, with residents numbering 86.  Where an increase in the population over those forty years would have been expected there was instead a decrease of 75.

     Churchfield, where Cornelius and Alice lived at the time of their marriage, and where their first child was born, was surprisingly the opposite.  A much smaller townland of 108 acres, it's population nearly doubled, from 28 in 1841 to 54 in 1851 and the houses increased from 4 to 7.  There were 53 inhabitants in 1861, and 57 in 1871.  To what could the population jump during the famine years be attributed?  Here was another possibility for research.  

     Also among the search results was a link to the Library Ireland site which contained, The Book of Tipperary, published in 1889 with a mention of my Uncle Andrew Dwyer, a farmer in Churchfield   Another hit was, The Schools Collection, found at  https://www.duchas.ie/en/cbes.  This project's goal is to digitize Ireland's folklore for future generations using manuscripts, photographs, and of course, The Schools Collection, which dates to the late 1930's.  That collection was a compilation of folklore as set down by schoolchildren in the Irish Free State who heard the tales they recorded from older community members, parents, and grandparents.  One of the essays written at Anacarty School, referred to Goldengarden and was titled, Fairy Forts, immediately piquing my interest.  

     The fort in this case was located on "Cooney's land".  That name was familiar to me, the Cooney families were a few names from my ancestor Connor Ryan in the Valuation records of Goldengarden.  The essay went on to impart the information that, "people never interfere with forts in the parish as they believe in the existence of  the good people."  It further discussed the forts being frequented by the Banshee who in that location especially laments the deaths of  the Ryan Whips, Kellys, and Briens.  Ryan Whips?  After a search, the only hits for that phrase were the original essay, a description of a wrestling move, and a porn site.  That perplexed me, so I consulted Dara at Black Raven Genealogy who graciously searched for and found a reference to a Ryan family who were whip makers and referred to as the Ryan Whips.  Thank you, Dara.

     The Schools Collection is a wonderful resource, it and the entire folklore collection, which is searchable, is probably the closest we will get to understanding what our Irish ancestor's thoughts and daily lives were like.  I wish collecting had begun decades earlier, though I understand citizens were busy with other things, like expelling an occupying army from their country.  As the past recedes further with every passing day, it's well worth a backward glance at the words of our ancestors through this important site.