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Ireland (Historical Counties) => Ireland => Wexford => Topic started by: PastyMan on Sunday 26 September 10 22:57 BST (UK)
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My first post - I am seeking information about Great-Grandfather Francis Ryan "from Wexford".
He was born 1831-1833, going by ages in the 1861 and 1871 UK Censuses.
His parents were Thomas Ryan and Ann Neale/O'Neill - uncertain of her spellings.
He fetched up in the Isles of Scilly and then West Cornwall. Died July 1905 here in Plymouth, "age 73".
His children's names may have been family names: Annie, Johanna, Patrick, Thomas, Mary Quigley, Catherine Jane.
Obviously, any information would be gratefully received - Keith Patrick
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Since the date of Francis birth is before civil registration you will need a few more details to start a search for his details - his family religion and where in Wexford they lived, i.e. parish, townland or town. Wexford can refer to the county or town.
see: Introduction to Irish Records (http://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php/topic,442233.0.html)
Shane
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Shane - Thanks for your reply. I know "Wexford" covers a lot of ground, that is why it is in quotation marks, we just don't know where in Wexford - I used to wonder if he just sailed "from Wexford". We know he was staunch RC because there were problems with his son, Patrick, my grandfather, following him around the streets of Penzance in his old age when he was saying the Rosary. Patrick followed, "mimicking", according to family lore.
I have just been kindly given some "steers" on the Cork board where Thoms Ryans and O'Neills were in the same Wexford townland/parish, so that's already better than I got to when I gave up in 1981! In those days I was writing to parish priests and local newspapers - now we have the web!
Thanks again - Keith
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The main difficultly in not knowing a definite location is that not many rural RC parishes have records for the 1830s or earlier...
Shane
update : Wexford RC Parishes (http://www.irishtimes.com/ancestor/browse/counties/rcmaps/wexfordrc.htm) (Irish Times)
Click on the parishes to see dates covered and locations of the various records.
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I thought that might be the case - so our royal lineage may not be proved after all! Nevertheless, we will keep trying, you never know .....
PS - Nice web site :)
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I'd say your best bet is to keep an eye out for Wexford RC parish records online, hopefully they will be added to either the IFHF or RootsIreland website at some stage. With the confirmed parents names you have it should be possible to confirm, or rule out, any matches on a full county search.
Shane
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Many thanks for your good advice - I just hope this task is one that I don't have to leave to my own descendants!
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Hi there, was just 'browsing' and came across your post, my gt grandfather was a Thomas Ryan m Elizabeth ? and their firstborn son was my grandfather, James (1902). They were from Balleycarney, County Wexford (Enniscorthy). I don't really think there is a connection, except they had a daughter called Frances. I am struggling to get past Thomas and have one or two maybe's for my gt gt grandfather Ryan. Good luck with your search
Mandy
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Thanks for the info. You never know, maybe Elizabeth ? was a first or second wife and here we are, cousins! I'm just waiting to find more records online as mentioned in a a post above. Or, a lucky "strike" via a reply like yours!
Keith
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Hi I'm the same still awaiting Wexford parish records online with bated breath!!! I would love it if we had the same connection, its been a very lonely road researching my Ryan, Lyons and O'Neill family! My father was Thomas Patrick Ryan oh and by a coincence, my gt grandmother was Margaret O'Neill(1888)! (but she was married to John (Jack) Lyons)
Mandy
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Even more interesting! O'Neill as well. We know absolutely nothing in that direction. We had a lot of Hickey connections, mainly in Athy, Co. Kildare where my parents took me in the 1960's, twice. We knew nothing of our Ryan roots in Ireland other than "he came from Wexford" - county or town would have been nice!
The funny thing is that my wife's mother came from Enniscorthy, Co. Wexford so we really should get back there - one of my wife's sisters lives there and would make an excellent vase for staying and looking. Its a bit of a treck from Plymouth, Devon, although we have done it for the occasional family visit.
Keith
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My first post - I am seeking information about Great-Grandfather Francis Ryan "from Wexford".
He was born 1831-1833, going by ages in the 1861 and 1871 UK Censuses.
Well, if you have census information then you have key information which you are not telling us - his occupation.
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Thanks for the reminder .....
1861 - at Tresco, Isles of Scilly, Agricultural labourer
1871 - at Penzance, Cornwall, Porter (family sources - waggoneer).
Keith
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Thanks for the reminder .....
1861 - at Tresco, Isles of Scilly, Agricultural labourer
1871 - at Penzance, Cornwall, Porter (family sources - waggoneer).
Keith
Well the "agricultural labourer" bit definitely points to rural origins and away from the towns. Also, was the Corrnwall connection associated with the mines? There seems to have been a connection between south Co. Wexford and work in Cornish mines, so might point to a rural south Co. Wexford origin?
Any idea why he was in the Scilly Isles? - seems like an unlikely haven for a Wexford labourer.
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There was never any mining connection that we know of in the story of Francis Ryan.
It was said among the previous generation that he came from farming stock but was not the eldest son, so had to leave. Not sure if his father, Thomas Ryan, was actually "a farmer" because somewhere along the line he has been described as a labourer, as was gt. grandfather Francis.
It is also said (1) that he sailed into Scilly on a steamer. There are also family stories that he was a boatman for a large estate, possibly near Rathcormac "where he had relatives". This is 4 miles from Fermoy, Co. Cork.
Also said (2) that he sailed in, in answer to a recuiting drive for lanourers on the islands. Either way, he "sailed in".
He was in the service of a Capt. Frank Tregarthen on the steamer The Little Western for a while (serving the Scilly Isles), so he had ship/boat experience, tying up with the river boatman story about before he left Ireland.
We don't know how he came to be in West Cornwall in the first place - it was post-famine. He married an islander (Susannah Prideaux). One of their children, Annie Jenkin Ryan, married a Thomas Hickey (from Kilberry, Athy, Co. Kildare), also settled in Penzance, West Cornwall, as an engineer in a quarry and who subsequently went to sea. His influence was such that three sons of his wife's brother, my grandfather, Patrick, incl. my father, all went to sea as careers.
We do know that he was "kicked off" the island of Tresco where he worked for the Governor for digging his own potatoes before digging the Governor's crop - memories of the famine? He had also agitated for more pay for the labourers.
Thanks for your interest.
Keith
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Hello PastyMan,
I realise you started this thread nearly 7 years ago but I have just come across it. Frances Ryan's wife Susannah Prideaux was the younger sister of my husband's great grandfather Richard Ellis Prideaux. If you need/want any more information about your Prideaux ancestors please let me know.
Leigh
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Hello Leigh
As you noted, 7 years ago. I did my family enquiries in 1980-1982 (37 years ago!)and very little since, although I thought I would try this computer approach 7 years ago. I have a cousin who is "the keeper of the flame" these days so she might come in on this thread.
I'm not sure what the practice is on here but I have some information on a web page about Susannah garnered from old family members now passed on. I have a few snippets, a memorial card, a sketch plan and plot numbers for her grave in Penzance e.g. .....
Susannah Ryan 41 Yrs Buried 8th Sept. 1875 23-M-3 RC (from the Cemetery Office, Penzance).
My real quest is regarding Susannah's husband, Francis Ryan. Any detail further to .....
b. 1831 or 1833 (according to one census), Co. Wexford
d. 5 July 1905, age 73, Plymouth
Father: Thomas Ryan, b. 1790-1800?, labourer
Mother: Anne Neil / Neale (spellings?), m. 1820s?
I presume you have these details .....
m. Susanah Prideaux, 19 May 1862, St Mary's Church, Penzance
He was 29, she was 25.
Their children
Annie Jenkins, Johanna, Patrick, Thomas John Prideaux, Mary Quigley, Catherine Jane (Jenny)
Regards - Keith (almost 72)