While researching, I tend to get bogged down in details. I'm aware of this, and it does slow me down, but I enjoy it and when I find what I'm seeking it reassures me I'm on the right track. Today I was looking at Daniel Welch, (or Walsh), who coincidentally married two cousins of mine who don't appear to be related to each other. Daniel first married my cousin Catherine Lawler, from Rathdowney in Queen's County, around 1846 in Ireland. About ten years later they and their two young daughters immigrated, settling in Palmyra, New York where Catherine died in August of 1865 at about the age of fifty.
Long ago I visited the parish office of Saint Anne's in Palmyra, and copied all the birth, marriage, and death register entries that seemed relevant to my family. It was in those records I had found Daniel married Ellen Hogan, another cousin of mine, in 1866. Like her husband, Ellen was born in Tipperary, to Darby and Dora Hogan. There is no indication Ellen and Daniel were acquainted in Ireland. Indeed, it was unlikely, Ellen was twenty-one years younger than Daniel.
Today I noticed their marriage record contained the names of Daniel's parents, John Walsh and Mary Quinn. Having those names enabled me to locate Daniel's baptism along with those of four of his siblings, all in the Parish of Moyne and Templetuohy in Tipperary. The address his parents gave in each case was Derafada. That's when my penchant for detail and second-guessing myself kicked in, did I have this right? How did Daniel and Catherine, living in different counties, get together? I needed to know.
I ran a search at Google Maps for Derafada with no results. A general Google search produced nothing with the exception of a few sites containing histories of unrelated families. After some thought, I tried the site called SWilson which has tons of Irish genealogy info, the Seanruad townland site, now called "The Core", Tithe Applotments, and Griffith's Valuations. None of them had anything on Derafada. Lists of Tipperary townlands were of no help, nor was Google Books. Running out of ideas, I was about to give up when I tried an image search. No Derafada came up, but something almost as good did.
This is exactly what I was hoping to find, right above the Walsh's parish, Moyne and Templetuohy, was the Lawler's parish of Rathdowney. Being familiar with Rathdowney records, I knew there was a huge gap during the decades surrounding the famine. Fortunately, the Lawler's lived right on the border of Queen's County and Tipperary. I'd had some luck finding Rathdowney relatives in Templemore records, (just above Moyne and Templetuohy), and I'd be willing to bet the Walsh family in Tipperary lived near the border as well.
The above map indicates they were practically neighbors so the mystery of how they met was solved. It also explains why I was unable to find a marriage record for Daniel and Catherine, they were likely married in the bride's home parish, the one with the missing records. I'm now confident in saying I have Daniel's parents and birthplace correct as well as his marriage to Catherine Lawler.
