RootsChat.Com

At the risk of being wildly off-based, I'm going to guess these are devanagari letters, so some kind of Sanskrit or Hindi term perhaps? In the photograph, the letters are oriented "upside down." Any Hindi-speakers in the village who might help you out? As you say, it is a lovely object indeed.

Regina

Greetings from the U.S. I'm sure folks in Cavan will be able to help in more detail, but a couple of basics: Crosserlough is a Parish, and Drummlonan is a Townland within the Parish of Crosserlough. If you look at the Griffiths Valuation of the 1840s, there are 48 McGivneys listed: 28 live in Crosserlough, 10 live in the Parish of Denn (which borders Crosserlough), and 4 live in the Parish of Lavey (which borders Denn). So the McGivneys stuck together, and that should give you hope in tracing your Mary Ann.
The U.S. angle to all this is that a McGivney was one of the most significant figures in the nineteenth century American Catholic Church: Fr. Michael McGivney founded the Knights of Columbus, and the cause for his canonization was opened a few years ago in Rome. (For what it's worth, he seems genuinely to have been a holy man.) His father Patrick McGivney (b. 1825) emigrated from Cavan in 1849, and lived in Waterbury, Connecticut where he married Mary Lynch (likewise from Cavan). They had 12 children, seven of whom survived to adulthood. The first official biography of Fr. McGivney was published in 2006 ("Parish Priest: Father Michael McGivney and American Catholicism"), and steers clear of naming the Cavan parishes his parents came from. So I do not know if there is lingering uncertainty there. Fr. McGivney's youngest brother, John, became a priest himself, and ended up as the Parish priest to my family, baptizing my father and uncles.
So we have reason to be grateful to the McGivney clan! Again, best of luck with your Mary Ann.

I have an 1862 baptismal record (for Edmund Dooling) from the Parish of Ardfert listing "Lisadigue" as the Townland. But that does not correspond to any of the Ardfert townlands in the Griffiths Valuation -- Liscahane and Listrim, yes, but no "Lisadigue".
Any thoughts or illuminations? Thanks!

Thanks, Christopher, for the enlightening information on the transcribers. I plan on being grateful when a solid lead materializes online, and undaunted when nothing turns up.

charismayo

Dear RevMother,

Greetings from an American Plunkett. When I started this research, of course I hoped I would learn that we were related to St. Oliver (and the Vatican had mislaid our invitation to his canonization), or to the Dunsanys (who had mislaid our invitation to tea), but now I am very happy just to know where we came from: Kilbride Parish, County Cavan. My great-great-grandparents, George Plunkett and Catherine Cooke Plunkett somehow managed to keep the family going through the Famine. My great-grandfather, Hugh, was born in 1852; a younger son, he was sent to America while still a teenager, to New Haven, Connecticut, to live with relatives of his mother. The Plunkett men in my family are marked by intelligence, courage, and a spirit of gentleness.

In my research so far, I have not come across an "Edward," but the geographical wellspring is indeed the area where Cavan, Meath, and Westmeath come together. (I would take a look at the 1796 Flax-growers Lists, and even the 1821 census, which survives for some townships in that area, to see if you can find some Edwards.)

If you haven't read it, "In the Blood" by Geraldine Plunkett Dillon is, well, hard to describe. She was the sister of Joseph Mary Plunkett, and this is a family memoir. The problem is that her mother (not a Plunkett!) was a seriously malicious person, and although Geraldine has a terrific, vivid style, it makes for troubling reading. The best chapter, and well worth the slog through all the Edwardian-era dysfunction, is her account of life in Galway in the years immediately after the 1916 Rising -- the clandestine organizing, the arrival of the Black and Tans -- all first-hand accounts. Riveting.

Best wishes,
charismayo