The Duggans of Ballinhassig

So I went down the road.

I didn't opt for a full frontal assault, an unannounced knock on the door.  As I was leaving my Ballinhassig B&B on Friday to head off to the O'Mahony Clan Gathering in Macroom, about 50 km away, I asked Bernadette, the lovely proprietress of Ardfield Farms B&B, if she thought that going up to Corley Duggan's door and knocking unannounced was a good idea.  She said that Corley had a nephew who lived right down the road, and perhaps talking to the nephew first might ease the way through Corley's door.  She got the telephone number for the nephew -- Con Duggan -- from her husband and gave it to me.

Most of the rest of the weekend was taken up with the activities of the Clan Gathering (perhaps I will do a separate blog post on that), other than a quick side trip to one of my favorite spots -- the ruins of the O'Mahony castle at Three Castle Head on Mizen Peninsula.  I think this is one of the most beautiful places in the world, but, of course, I'm probably prejudiced.

I finally screwed up my courage on Sunday morning, and called Con Duggan, hoping to maybe set up a meeting with him on Monday or Tuesday, after the Clan Gathering was completed.  Con was very cordial on the phone, but said it would only be convenient for him to meet on Sunday, so I would have to choose between the O'Mahony clan and meeting with the Duggans.  I headed off to Ballinhassig.

Con met me at his house with his father, Liam, and we drove on over to see Liam's sister, Finora, who lives across the road from the old Duggan homestead.

Liam and Finola are the children of Cornelius and Margaret, along with Corley (Cornelius) and Denis, who is buried with his parents.

They could remember back to the generation of their Grandfather, also a Cornelius, who was born in about 1857.  There were seven children in that generation:  Cornelius, Hannah, Lena, Mary, Denis, Catharine (Katie), and William.  Lena and Mary became nuns.  

One of the sons of either Denis or William was Thomas F. Duggan, who became a priest.  Father Duggan served as a military chaplain in the British Army in both WWI and WWII.  He was captured by the Germans on 22 March 1918, and was held as a POW until war's end.  In WWII, he again volunteered at age 50, and served with the Durham Light Infantry Regiment (DLI).  At the battle of Dunkirk, during actions around Carvin-Lens, Father Duggan set up an un-official Regimental Aid post in the main street which he manned all day with no regard for his personal safety despite accurate German shelling in the immediate area. On May 31st elements of 8DLI set up a joint regimental aid post. German shelling was heavy and accurate and casualties mounted steadily throughout the shelling. Father Duggan made repeated journeys carrying the wounded into the cellars of the nearby chateau. Father Duggan’s humor, coolness and courage did wonders for the morale of the Durhams as he carried on despite the ferocity of the German bombardment.  For his efforts on this day, he was awarded the Military Cross.  Father Duggan was honored in Cork in 1977 when the Cork County Council named a new bridge at Kinsale the Archdeacon Duggan Bridge.

The inability of Liam and Finola to remember any information past their grandfather was disappointing, but at the same time, encouraging, since the Christian names, which tended to repeat themselves from Irish generation to generation, were similar.  The grandfather's generation had a Catharine and a Denis, and my great great grandmother's generation had a Catharine and Denis also.  

Con then asked me if I wanted to go meet Corley, and see the house where the Duggans had lived for eight generations.  How could I say no?

Other than the roof, which was probably made of thatch in the early 1800s, the exterior of the house is as it was for eight generations.  The interior was no so changed either.

And in the middle of it all sat Corley.

He was a pleasant old man, perhaps a bit absent-minded, a bit unfocused at times, but not nearly the crotchety ogre I had been led to expect. There was a shotgun, however, within easy reach, so I still think the uninvited knock might have been a mistake.  Corley never married and had lived in that house his whole life.  In his youth, he was an excellent horseman, and for many years had run the hounds in the local foxhunt.  The hounds were still about, as their baying made clear when we first approached the house.

Corley confirmed that the adjacent property had been occupied by a Mahony family for many years, but that family had died off.  He remembered that the last of the Mahonys to live there was a Denis Mahony.

So, are these Duggans the descendants of the family of my Great Great Grandmother Catharine?  Was Catharine born in the very house that Corley Duggan occupies today?  Did the family of Cornelius Mahony live in the house next door, and did the two of them meet, fall in love, and head off to America together for a new life?  The evidence seems to point in that direction, but all the evidence is still not in.

So my search continues, but I am honored to have met the Duggans of Ballinhassig, and would be proud to call them my family.

During the actions around Carvin-Lens a French Major was directing a platoon of 8DLI into positions near Carvin when he and the platoon saw a vehicle in no mans land , just ahead of the German positions, where the vehicle ran into a ditch . Shortly afterwards two Khaki clad figures emerged - they were Padre Duggan and his batman Pte Deveney.The French major was not impressed that the vehicle had been out in no mans land however Padre Duggan, much to the DLI`s amusement lectured the French Major in rudimentary French, and delivered in his best Irish manner regarding his duty as a British officer and the use of Army vehicles under his command ! which left the French Major storming off and muttering to himself that all English soldiers were mad! Duggan set about setting up an un-official Regimental Aid post in the main street which he manned all day with no regard for his personal safety despite accurate German shelling in the immediate area On May 31st elements of 8DLI, (DLI and some stragglers from 11DLI set up a joint regimental aid post. German shelling was heavy and accurate and casualties mounted steadily throughout the shelling Padre Duggan and Cpl H .Fletcher made repeated journeys carrying the wounded into the cellars of the nearby chateau the Padres humour,coolness and courage did wonders for the morale of the Durhams as he carried on regardless despite the ferocity of the German bombardment.. (Cited from: http://www.militarian.com/threads/father-tom-duggan-chaplain.8507/)

he became a P.O.W on the 22nd of March 1918 during the German spring offensive and was interned as a prisoner in Mainz until the Armistice. (Cited from: http://www.militarian.com/threads/father-tom-duggan-chaplain.8507/)

he became a P.O.W on the 22nd of March 1918 during the German spring offensive and was interned as a prisoner in Mainz until the Armistice. (Cited from: http://www.militarian.com/threads/father-tom-duggan-chaplain.8507/)

he became a P.O.W on the 22nd of March 1918 during the German spring offensive and was interned as a prisoner in Mainz until the Armistice. (Cited from: http://www.militarian.com/threads/father-tom-duggan-chaplain.8507/)

he became a P.O.W on the 22nd of March 1918 during the German spring offensive and was interned as a prisoner in Mainz until the Armistice. (Cited from: http://www.militarian.com/threads/father-tom-duggan-chaplain.8507/)

Breakthrough?

I woke up Wednesday morning scared and frustrated.  I was scared because after a full day in Ballinhassig wandering around the graveyards, I wasn't any closer to finding that additional information that would confirm that my ancestors came from here.  I was frustrated because I knew the next step would necessarily involve trying to talk to people, and approaching and talking to strangers is not one of my strengths.

I first called Seamus Casey.  Seamus and his wife run a B&B on the outskirts of Ballinhassig, and I had originally been in contact with him trying to book a reservation at their B&B.  Unfortunately, they had no room, but when I told Seamus why I was coming to Ballinghassig, he graciously offered to talk with me when I got here.  We made an appointment to meet at his place at 8pm.

Then, at breakfast, Bernadette, the proprietress of the Ardfield Farm B&B, asked me how things were going, and I told her that I needed to talk to people who had lived in the area for a long time.  She suggested that I talk to Willie O'Mahony, saying her was one of the oldest O'Mahonys in the area and could perhaps provide me with some family history.   She said he lived somewhere up close to the Goggins Hill Church where I had been the day before.

I drove up to the Goggins Hill Church and saw three guys doing some work in the graveyard around the church, so I went up to them and told them I was hoping to talk to Willie and asked them if they knew where I could find him. Unfortunately, it seemed there was a slight problem with talking to Willie O'Mahony:

The three men then pointed to a house a few doors away, and told me that Willie's brother Dermot lived there.  I screwed up my courage, walked up to the door, and rang the bell.  Dermot answered.

He was most gracious.  He invited me in, and told me what he knew of his family history, but said I really needed to talk to his second cousin Teddy, who lived in Bandon, a town about 15 kilometers to the west.  He called Teddy, and Teddy agreed to meet me at the hotel in downtown Bandon.  I drove on over and soon was having a very pleasant dinner with Teddy and his wife at the hotel.  Teddy had a pretty detailed family tree going back about four generations which he gave to me.  Unfortunately, the family tree made it pretty clear that his branch of the O'Mahony tree was different from mine.  His O'Mahonys were from Bandon, and they came over to Ballinhassig about 1900 when Jerry O'Mahony married Margaret Murphy, whose family had a farm on Goggins Hill.  Another dead end, although spending time with Dermot and Teddy and his wife was a much more enjoyable dead end that the solitary internet searches I had engaged in.

I got back to Ballinhassig just in time for my 8pm appointment with Seamus.  We had a pleasant chat for about a half an hour, and he told me what he knew of the various O'Mahony and Duggan families that still lived in the area.  He said I  must talk with John O'Sullivan, whom he described as "the Ballinhassig historian".  I asked if he could call John to help me make an appointment.  He said he didn't have the number, but would give me directions to his house, and I should just go and knock on his door.

So, at 9pm at night, I did.

John's daughter answered the door and escorted me into the front room where John was sitting.  He explained apologetically that he had had an artificial knee put in awhile ago, but it became infected, so they had to take it back out.  So he was sitting there without a knee until the infection went away at which point he would get a new artificial knee.  His eyes gleamed as I told him why I was there, and his level of enthusiasm matched mine as I went through all the various pieces of information and research I had.

Then he started to tell me about what he knew.  Ballinhassig has changed dramatically over the last 25 years or so.  It was originally just a sleepy little farming town for many hundreds of years, but its proximity to Cork City has been transforming it into a suburban bedroom community.  The old farmsteads and pasture land are now interspersed with sleek, modern suburban houses, and drivers like me inching along the little one-and-a-half lane farm roads savoring the journey become little more than road kill for speeding SUVs craving the destination.

Many of the old families, John O'Sullivan explained, had either moved away or died off.  He knew histories behind most of the folks buried in the various Ballinhassig graveyards (he had done a grave-by-grave inventory of the three graveyards), and the more we talked and exchanged information, the more he started to focus in on one family -- the Duggan family.  There was a grave for this Duggan family in the Ballyheedy graveyard:

The Cornelius Duggan here had a father named Cornelius and a grandfather named Cornelius.  He also has a son named Cornelius, who is still alive.  The Duggan family has occupied the same plot of land on Goggins Hill since at least the late 1840s, perhaps longer.  Griffith's Valuation, which from 1847 to 1864  documented which families lived on which pieces of land throughout Ireland, documented in 1851 a Denis Duggan living on the same plot of land that Cornelius (Corly) Duggan currently occupies today.  On the marriage document that I have for Cornelius Mahony and Catherine Duggan in 1838, Denis Duggan is listed as one of the witnesses.

John O'Sullivan is certain that at some point there was a Mahony family occupying the plot of land right next to the Duggan plot; he says there are no longer any members of that family in Ballinhassig, having either died off or moved away.  Griffith's Valuation lists a James Mahony occupying a plot very close to the Duggan plot, but perhaps more importantly, the plot right next to the Duggan plot is listed as unoccupied in the Valuation.  Would this have been the place where the family of Cornelius Mahony lived before they left Ireland for the United States?

Below is a graphic of the Grifith's Valuation information showing the locations of the Duggan house, the James Mahony house, and the vacant house that was perhaps previously used by Mahonys.

Next is a present day map showing the same locations. I've also circled the B&B that I have been staying at:

Here are some pictures I took from the road. The first  is the house which currently sits on the property next to the Duggan land, the place where the Mahonys most likely lived (though not, obviously, in this house).

This is the roof of the Duggan place:

Now comes the tricky part.  I was warned from several sources to be VERY careful about approaching Corly Duggan.  He was variously described as "addled", "paranoid", "churned", and "not all there".  So, will my fervent desire to meet a relative from Ireland overcome the worry that he may not be so glad to meet me?  Corly Duggan, my potential Irish relative, lives right down this road.  The question is, will I walk down the road to meet him?

The Graveyards of Ballinhassig

The search for one's ancestors almost inevitably leads one through a graveyard or two.  One of my first breakthroughs in my search came in a graveyard in Brooklyn, so it was natural to start my search in Ballinhassig by visiting the local graveyards.

The information to be gleaned from graveyards is scant:  name, date of death, perhaps age, perhaps date of birth, perhaps the names of immediate relations if they are also buried in the same place.  It is information that can hopefully be put together with other pieces to fill out a story or answer a question.   For example, when I found the grave of my great great grandfather Cornelius in Brooklyn, the date of death on the tombstone allowed me to determine which of the three death certificates for a Cornelius Mahoney I had uncovered was actually his. 

There are three graveyards in Ballinhassig.  The first and oldest is the Ballinaboy Cemetery, located just on the outskirts of the Ballinhassig village.

This one proved to be something of a disappointment.  I had thought that the older tombstones might yield interesting information, but the simple fact was that time and the elements had pretty much erased all the information on the old tombstones, so I got nothing of value from this graveyard other than a short walk through a thoroughly-misted past.

I then went to the Goggins Hill church and graveyard.

I thought this would be a good possibility since the church had been built in 1821.

Yet, strangely, even though the church itself is very old, virtually all the tombstones in the graveyard surrounding it date from the 20th century.  I don't know whether the older graves had been supplanted by the newer ones or whether they didn't start the cemetery until long after the church was built.  The relatively newer graves, while not providing anything of real value for my search, did provide some interesting hints.  There were a number of 20th Century O'Mahonys and Duggans buried here, as well as one Duggan nee O'Keeffe -- O'Keeffe being another surname that has cropped up in my searches (my guess is that Cornelius had a sister who married a Daniel O'Keeffe, and their son, Daniel JA O'Keeffe emigrated to the US and settled in San Francisco).

Finally, I stopped by the Ballyheada Cemetery, located around the Church of the Sacred Heart.

It was pretty much more of the same: mostly 20th century tombstones, but with a significant number of Duggans, O'Mahonys and O'Keeffes among them.  One particular set of tombstones stood out.

O'Mahonys buried right next to Duggans.  Perhaps even more interesting is the fact that both gravesites show evidence of someone having visited them fairly recently.

I need to find and talk to the folks who are leaving the flowers.

Ballinhassig

I am here!

After a three hour delay in Atlanta, a seven hour flight to Dublin, two hours of standing in various lines at the Dublin airport for passports and vehicles, and a five hour drive (punctuated by a two hour nap along the side of the road) to County Cork, I arrived at the Ardfield Farm Bed and Breakfast in Ballinhassig.  The photo is the view from the front of the B&B.  Perhaps somewhere out there in those green, rolling pastures, Cornelius Mahoney and Catherine Duggan began their courtship.

Today, I have planned a number of activities.  I have already taken a quick vehicle reconnaissance trip around the area, and have spotted several old graveyards I plan to visit today.  I also scoped out a number of local pubs where I hope to hoist a few and perhaps meet some local folk who may be able to provide me some information.  I did have dinner last night in one of the pubs, but since Ireland was playing Sweden in the European Soccer Championships, there weren't any local folk particularly interested in talking genealogy. I do have a contact I spoke to on the phone who may be able to put me in touch with some families who have lived in this area for a long time.

Anyway,  I'm off on my adventures, and will report on them this evening.
 

The Journey Begins

It has been a long while  since I posted on  this blog.  Not that I've been remiss in my geneologic research.  Far from it.  It's just that the research has slowed down, and "life" has happened: children graduating, selling and buying a new house, moving, traveling hither and yon for work and play.

Now, I'm on my way to Ireland.  My research has come up with a possible location that my ancestors came from:  the town of Ballinhassig in County Cork.  I have several bits and pieces of evidence that points me there.  I found a marriage record for a Cornelius Mahony and Catherine Duggan (my gg grandmother's name) there in 1838 (http://churchrecords.irishgenealogy.ie/churchrecords/details/3bf4290040802), which would more or less coincide with their departure for the US and birth of their first child Margaret in 1841. There is also a baptismal record for Catherine Duggan from Ballinhassig in 1816 (http://churchrecords.irishgenealogy.ie/churchrecords/details/3562470151928) which is within the range of when my gg grandmother was born. Finally, from dna testing , I have a close match with a family of McCarthys who have Ballinhassig connections, but unfortunately, the present-day descendants don't have any information I can use to make any connections.  So now, I'm headed to Ballinhassig to try to find the final piece of evidence that confirms this is where my family is  from.

I will also be going to the annual O'Mahony clan gathering at Kinneigh Round Tower in Castletown Kinneigh Co. Cork later in the week.

I'm excited and a bit scared, scared that this trip will end up as another of the many  dead ends I've hit in my search for my roots.  But like they say, it's not  the destination, it's the journey.

Let the journey begin.

My Cousin Scott

I was now again at one of those research lulls, no new leads to follow up, no new information to track down, no clues to whet the appetite.  Then, out of the blue, I received the following email:

Aug 31 3:32 AM GMT

Hi, My name is Scott Glanzrock and I found your tree as a potential link to mine through Cornelius Mahoney, my great-great-great grandfather. I am logged in under a cousin and a resaerch partner for another branch of my family. If you would like to contact me, please email me at_________. I cannot message you on my free membership because it won’t let me find you. I am interested in collaboration about the Mahoneys, as well as the Lanigans. It appears that we are cousins. My great grandmother was Kathleen (or Catherine) R Mahoney. Jeremiah Mahoney and Catherine Lanigan were her parents. I am hoping to hear from you. Thanks, Scott

Scott was a descendent of one of my grandfather's sisters, Kathleen.  I vaguely remembered the name Kathleen Dooley from the cache of material for my Aunt Virginia's shoebox, and went back to look through it.  Sure enough, one of the funeral cards there was for Kathleen:

 I sent Scott a copy of the funeral card, as well as a copy of the picture of Jeremiah Mahoney and Mary (Lanigan) Mahoney, our common ancestors, that I had. 

As we began to correspond, it became clear that Scott and I had been traveling many of the same roads independent of each other.  But, let Scott tell his own story:

My Irish-Catholic Family History in Brooklyn

I grew up knowing that my grandfather, Joseph Michael Dooley was born in Brooklyn, his parents were Frank Dooley and Catherine Mahoney, and he had a sister Kathleen Dooley and a brother Jerry Dooley. However, I did not know anything about Frank Dooley and Catherine Mahoney and where their parents came from, or where they were born. When I was at a family gathering, I spoke of my interests in family history with my cousins, children of Jerry Dooley. John Dooley, Jerry’s son told me that my great-grandmother was actually Kathleen Regina Mahoney, while Frank Dooley, Jerry’s other son told me to research two additional names: Lanigan and Joyce.

As I initiated finding out about my roots in Brooklyn, I looked for a connection between the names. Through ancestry.com and other family history sites, I had found a Kathleen Mahoney in the census, whose parents were Jeremiah Mahoney and Mary A Lanigan. Thus, it seemed to me that Jeremiah Mahoney and Mary A Lanigan could be my great-great grandparents. When speaking with John Dooley again, he believed that Lanigan was the maiden name of Kathleen Regina Mahoney’s mother.

My next step was to travel to the NYC Municipal Archives to look for records. I knew that I could not easily find death records on Frank Dooley or Kathleen Regina Mahoney because they likely died after 1950. (My mother knew her grandfather and she was born in 1950) Death records after 1950 are held in the Department of Health and must be ordered and findings will be mailed in 6 to 8 weeks. Therefore, I was forced to search on Jeremiah Mahoney and Mary Lanigan before I was even sure that they were my great-grandmother’s parents.

I found the death records for Jeremiah Mahoney and Mary Lanigan which listed each of their parents and showed that they were both buried at Holy Cross Cemetery. When I went to Holy Cross Cemetery, I began looking for the grave of Jeremiah Mahoney and Mary Lanigan. It was actually easy to find and the grand stone clearly showed that I found it which also included Jeremiah’s sister, brother and father. (Where was his mother?) Meanwhile, I was not sure, but really hoping that this was my family.

My next mission was to see if there were a Frank J Dooley buried in a plot with a Kathleen R (Mahoney) Dooley. With common names as Dooley and Mahoney you cannot be sure that different people with same names got married. However, with exact middle initials, there is less of a chance that I would find the wrong people. I was given the plot where Frank J Dooley and Kathleen R Dooley were buried. This plot was a little more difficult to find, but another stone marked the location. Again, I am still unsure if this was my great-grandparents.

When I went back into the cemetery office, I asked them if there were more people buried in the plot where Frank J Dooley and Kathleen R Dooley were buried. They provided about a dozen names, most with the last name Meehan and a few with the last name Dooley. I decided that I must return to the NYC Municipal Archives to research the new findings.

However, before I left I wanted to search for a plot owned by a Jeremiah Mahoney, where a Catherine Mahoney and Edward Mahoney were buried. I believed that this Catherine could have been Jeremiah’s mother, but I did not know why she would be in a different plot and I could not find her in the 1880 census. Regardless, I could not be sure of the plot because there was about 6 -12 inches of snow on the ground, and I did not find a stone.

After searching the census and returned to the archives, I developed a theory that Michael Dooley and Ellen Meehan Dooley were the parents of Frank J Dooley, and the other Meehans were Ellen’s parents and her siblings. Of course, I obtained all the pertinent records, still without knowing if I had truly found my Frank J Dooley and my Kathleen R Mahoney.

On the last day of my trip, I went to the Department of Health to place my order. Although it seemed like everyone in Manhattan needed to go there that day, I decided to wait in line, as it turned out, close to three hours. And about two months later, the death records arrived in the mail. I was very excited with the long wait, and I was nervous because I could not imagine that after all this research, I could be completely off. After all this time, my trip was meaningfully complete, the death records confirmed that I found the plot of my great-grandparents Frank J Dooley and Kathleen Regina Mahoney. And now begins the search from Brooklyn to Ireland……..

Nothing eases the burden of a long, arduous trip than having a companion to share the load.  Scott and I had found one another along the road, and found we shared a passion and a dogged determination to find our way back to our ancestors' home in Ireland.  And we also found that even though we had been traveling many of the same roads, each of us had picked up bits and pieces of information that the other had not.  As we began to share information and pool our research, the picture began to get clearer, and the goal seemed ever more closer.