RootsChat.Com
Ireland (Historical Counties) => Ireland => Wexford => Topic started by: KarenCassidy on Wednesday 01 January 14 21:28 GMT (UK)
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Myself and Anne Kelly Devereux are embarking on a project to produce a book or booklet about Gorey Workhouse . So we are looking for any family stories you might want to share. If you know of any records we might overlook please feel free to point us in the right direction. It's our first attempt at such a project. We want to remember those who lived there and leave a lasting mark of them.
Any hints and help welcome.
Thank you in advance.
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Hi Karen, I am not sure where you live; but if you live in Gorey, Co. Wexford ;D, I suggest you start with looking @ some of the "Historic Gorey" Books by Michael Fitzpatrick. They should be available in the local library. Michael did a number of articles and pages in his books. I think one book was Historic Gorey 3 "The Famine Years". In one of the books is an extract of the workhouse dead records etc.
Another idea may be the old "Link" magazines which published historical articles. I have two ancestors who died in the workhouse (but it may have been the fever hospital attached to it as well). Good luck; I will look it up on FB. Gerard
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http://www.workhouse.org.uk
http://www.proni.gov.uk
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http://www.workhouse.org.uk
http://www.proni.gov.uk
The PRONI website covers mainly Northern Ireland records and a search with the word 'Gorey' brings up 0 results. For Wexford documents the place to try would be the National Archives in Dublin-
http://www.nationalarchives.ie/
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Hi Karen, I am not sure where you live; but if you live in Gorey, Co. Wexford ;D, I suggest you start with looking @ some of the "Historic Gorey" Books by Michael Fitzpatrick. They should be available in the local library. Michael did a number of articles and pages in his books. I think one book was Historic Gorey 3 "The Famine Years". In one of the books is an extract of the workhouse dead records etc.
Another idea may be the old "Link" magazines which published historical articles. I have two ancestors who died in the workhouse (but it may have been the fever hospital attached to it as well). Good luck; I will look it up on FB. Gerard
Thanks
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http://www.workhouse.org.uk
http://www.proni.gov.uk
Thanks
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http://www.workhouse.org.uk
http://www.proni.gov.uk
The PRONI website covers mainly Northern Ireland records and a search with the word 'Gorey' brings up 0 results. For Wexford documents the place to try would be the National Archives in Dublin-
http://www.nationalarchives.ie/
Thanks
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The people /immates in workhouses throughout Ireland were recorded by their initials only on census
P M could be Patrick Murphy making family research difficult
Have you found out where Gorey Workhouse Dead were buried ?
Good luck with the project.
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The people /immates in workhouses throughout Ireland were recorded by their initials only on census
P M could be Patrick Murphy making family research difficult
Have you found out where Gorey Workhouse Dead were buried ?
Good luck with the project.
They were mostly buried in the workhouse graveyard with only a stone marker . No names . If you would like more details check out our Facebook page and Anne who lives locally can give you directions. In the Gorey workhouse I think they gave mostly the full names in the census.
Some of the dead were buried in St Michaels Cemetery in Gorey.
I hope that helps. We haven't gotten too far yet with the project it's a slow burner.
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... In the Gorey workhouse I think they gave mostly the full names in the census.
Initials certainly used in 1911 returns-
www.census.nationalarchives.ie/pages/1911/Wexford/Gorey_Rural/Ramstown__Lower/684965
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Hi Karen,
The following has valuable information on Gorey Workhouse.
Dr. Aidan Breen
"The history and administration of the gorey poor law society 1840-49: a case-study in the operations of the irish poor law"
The Past: The Organ of the Uí Cinsealaigh Historical Society Year: 2007
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The Board of Guardians of Workhouse would have held meetings.
Books containing minutes may still exist.
Your County library should be able to advise.
Definitely worth finding out.
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Aidan's sources were as follows:
(a) Those relating to Gorey Union
Primary: (i) The Minutes of the Board of Guardians of the Gorey Poor Law Union 1840-49. Nine volumes
Secondary: (ii) Link, a biannual Parish Newsletter: series 'Window on the Past: Gorey through the famine years', M. Fitzpatrick, vol. 3 (no. 2) to vol. 5 (no. 2).
His general sources were House of Commons Papers and other books.
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Patrick I haven't been on here for a while. We are going through the minutes ourselves. I hadn't come across the article - do you know where I could access it?
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You can read the article online at the following link:
http://www.jstor.org/stable/25520133?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents
Regards
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Sadly Aidan passed away one or two years ago. Aidan states in note 1 at the end of the paper that this is a much shorted version of a project completed in 1980 in part fulfillment of the requirements of a final year specialist honours history course for a BA honours degree with the open University (UK). He subsequently obtained his doctorate degree at TCD, and spent several decades researching and publishing about medieval Irish history. The original project report from 1980 referred to above might exist in the papers he left behind. His papers might also include copies of the Link magazine referred to, and photocopies of other relevant material. I don't know who might have his papers now. His brother Ray lives in Gorey, and maybe his nieces and nephews also. One of them might be able to direct you to where his papers are, and whether there are any useful material among them. They might also have anecdotes from Aidan relevant to the workhouse.
I hope this helps a bit, and I look forward to you completing the book.
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Patrick thank you so much - Anne lives in Gorey and knows most people around the town - and sure if she doesn't know them she knows Michael Fitzpatrick who would definitely have known him. Thank you so much.
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Another idea occurred to me. At the Ordnance Survey website URL below, you will find a map of Gorey made some time before the famine. At that time Gorey was just a little bit more than a crossroads. The map shows the "Site of Intended Work House" so the workhouse had not been built yet at the time.
http://maps.osi.ie/publicviewer/#V2,714569,658801,10,7
The map also shows a fever hospital on the Courtown Road. That hospital must have also played a major role in caring from those dying from fever in the famine times, see this link.
http://www.historyireland.com/18th-19th-century-history/epidemic-diseases-of-the-great-famine/
It might be an idea to include something on the fever hospital in the book or booklet also.
By the way, what is your facebook page?
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The facebook page is Gorey Workhouse Project - I had understood the hospital and workhouse were hand in hand unless there is another hospital at the time? Anne would be better on this side of things as she is a local - I am from Dublin. Because I think the hospital gate was right next to were the Workhouse graveyard is.
I will look for you joining the page and look forward to sharing with you.
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Hi Karen,
I checked on the osi.ie map, and on a more recent map (Historic 25") it shows the fever hospital on the south side of the workhouse and the graveyard on the north side. On that map there is no fever hospital on the Courtown Road. I presume therefore that at some stage the fever hospital was moved adjacent to the workhouse.
Regards