10-10-2008, 08:00 PM
I knew that Patrick Keyes (b. abt. 1787); his wife Honora Phelan (b. abt. 1782) had arrived in Canada between 1825 and 1830 and settled in St. Columban. They had four children with them ? all born in Ireland. But I had limited information about where they had come from in Ireland. There were only two clues?
1. Honora Phelan seemed to have been closely related to Patrick Phelan, who was the priest that arranged for the Irish immigrants to settle in St. Columban. Patrick Phelan later became a Bishop of Kingston, Ontario. The records seemed to indicate that Patrick was born in Ballyragget; Diocese of Ossory; Kilkenny; Ireland. So Honora and perhaps Patrick might have been born in the same area.
2. In the original deed for a property purchase in St. Columban by Patrick Keyes, he had indicated that he was late of Kilkenny
So it appeared that the search should start in the County of Kilkenny and perhaps around Ballyragget. We discovered that Ballyragget was part of greater district called Castlecomer. Within the area of Castlecomer were a number of small villages including one called the Village of Castlecomer. We eventually found a few Keyes tombstones in the village of Clough (or Clogh) ? another of the small villages in the general ?township? of Castlecomer
There is a site that you might want to check about Kilkenny at:
http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~irlkik/
And, under maps and homeowners from 1640, you will see both Blanchfields & Walshes lived in the County.
We visited 3 cemeteries in the area ? Balleyragget; the village of Castlecomer and Clough. I took pictures of any names that sounded familiar from St. Columban. I did find one of the Walsh and another of the Blanchfields. I?ll try to attach these two images. I think both were taken in the cemetery in the village of Castlecomer, in the ?township? also called Castlecomer. This particular cemetery is quite large so I didn?t take pictures of every tombstone and there could easily have been other Walshes and/or Blanchfields.
A question for you is do you remember where you got the information about the ship in 1825 called ?Ocean??
Thanks
Fergus
1. Honora Phelan seemed to have been closely related to Patrick Phelan, who was the priest that arranged for the Irish immigrants to settle in St. Columban. Patrick Phelan later became a Bishop of Kingston, Ontario. The records seemed to indicate that Patrick was born in Ballyragget; Diocese of Ossory; Kilkenny; Ireland. So Honora and perhaps Patrick might have been born in the same area.
2. In the original deed for a property purchase in St. Columban by Patrick Keyes, he had indicated that he was late of Kilkenny
So it appeared that the search should start in the County of Kilkenny and perhaps around Ballyragget. We discovered that Ballyragget was part of greater district called Castlecomer. Within the area of Castlecomer were a number of small villages including one called the Village of Castlecomer. We eventually found a few Keyes tombstones in the village of Clough (or Clogh) ? another of the small villages in the general ?township? of Castlecomer
There is a site that you might want to check about Kilkenny at:
http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~irlkik/
And, under maps and homeowners from 1640, you will see both Blanchfields & Walshes lived in the County.
We visited 3 cemeteries in the area ? Balleyragget; the village of Castlecomer and Clough. I took pictures of any names that sounded familiar from St. Columban. I did find one of the Walsh and another of the Blanchfields. I?ll try to attach these two images. I think both were taken in the cemetery in the village of Castlecomer, in the ?township? also called Castlecomer. This particular cemetery is quite large so I didn?t take pictures of every tombstone and there could easily have been other Walshes and/or Blanchfields.
A question for you is do you remember where you got the information about the ship in 1825 called ?Ocean??
Thanks
Fergus