Visiting Co. Kerry: local advice sought!

[piedstilt]

Hi all,

My husband and I will be visiting Ireland in June this year.  Very exciting!

My Irish roots are terribly distant (gg-grandfather went to Australia in 1833; g-grandfather to NZ 1880s) and although their family is reasonably well documented I'm not holding out too many hopes of finding any graves, etc. However, there is one lead I'd dearly love to follow up.

Ggg-grandmother Charlotte Morphy (nee Gallwey) was born c1785 in Killarney and died in 1839 at Mount Prospect, Co. Kerry. I can't find any modern reference to Mount Prospect - and I'm not even sure if it was the name of a place or perhaps the name of a property (I think they were reasonably well off). Does anyone have any ideas? And if someone died at Mount Prospect where would they be buried?

Any other general advice about good local sources of information would be more than welcome.

Many thanks,

Ros

[Christopher]

Hiya Ros,

The Tralee accommodation listings show Mount Prospect Farmhouse, Caherbreagh, Tralee (0044 6671 22672) Would that be the place   Unfortunately there is no website The Farmhouses in Co. Kerry website show
that the guest house end of the business is run by Mrs Maureen O'Connor and is open Mid May to October.

All the Best, Chris

[piedstilt]

Hi Chris,

Thanks for that address - I had spotted that and it is worth checking out! We are staying in Killarney (rather briefly, unfortunately) so I thought I'd head straight for the local library to see if they can shed some light.

thanks for your interest,

Ros

[trailite]

Hi all,

My husband and I will be visiting Ireland in June this year.  Very exciting!

My Irish roots are terribly distant (gg-grandfather went to Australia in 1833; g-grandfather to NZ 1880s) and although their family is reasonably well documented I'm not holding out too many hopes of finding any graves, etc. However, there is one lead I'd dearly love to follow up.

Ggg-grandmother Charlotte Morphy (nee Gallwey) was born c1785 in Killarney and died in 1839 at Mount Prospect, Co. Kerry. I can't find any modern reference to Mount Prospect -

Unfortunately I am reading your request a bit late. (for your trip to Kerry) in June.
If it helps, yes, there is/was a house named
Mount Prospect.
It is in Castleisland, which is a few miles from Killarney.
The house was also known as
Ballinvariscal House.
The address is Nohaval Castleisland.
located 5 km west from Castleisland.
It is still standing and inhabited.
The Lehihan Family bought the property in the early 1900s and still reside there.

[Christopher]

Hello Ros,

Did you have a good time in Kerry? Have you made further progress with your research?

Chris

[piedstilt]

Hi Trailite and Chris,

Thanks both for your messages. Yes, we have been to Kerry and back and had a wonderful time.

My best genealogical 'find' was the ruin of Dunloe Castle, where my gx4 grandmother (Maria Mahony,  mother of Charlotte Gallwey) was born in 1758. Took some great photos (and a great deal of ribbing about the 'ancestral castle' from my travelling companions).

We tried and tried to find Mount Prospect House! Came to the conclusion that it was probably no longer called that but still had absolutely no luck. We went to Castleisland, where we gave a lift to an old farmer who was hitchhiking into town. Although we could barely understand each other he made it very clear that he simply didn't believe that my husband's family farm was over 5000 acres (kept asking new questions about the '500-acre farm' ...) We then went on to Tralee, again with no luck. Picked up a few vague directions but after driving round and round all that area we eventually gave up. Thanks for the up-to-date info Trailite. We'll just  have to come back!

The most amusing moment was when we checked into our backpackers' hostel in Killarney and the girl behind the desk (who looked vaguely familiar) said 'I went to school with your daughter!' She turned out to be a check-out person from our local supermarket in Christchurch! 

Loved Ireland - will do our best to get back one day.

Cheers,

Ros

[Christopher]

Ros,

There's a RootsChat meet in Dublin next year so even if you can't make it back to Ireland so soon tell all your friends all about your trip to Ireland and how much you enjoyed it as well as telling them about RootsChat and the meet. If the membership continues its rapid rise and we have a good Dublin meet in 2007 we will aim at one in 2008 and then 2009 and so on. There's nothing like spreading the word. Hopefully there will be a meet in Ireland the next time you come so that the Irish members of RootsChat may have the pleaure of saying "Hello, Ros. How are you? We are delighted to meet you" as they shake your hand.

Chris

[piedstilt]

Hi Chris,

I'd love to come to Dublin next year, but the budget wo't have recovered by then

Hope it all goes well!

Ros

[Christopher]

Thanks for your Good Wishes, Ros.

I realise the budget wont allow you to come back so soon but at this end we'll do our best to make sure there is a Meet in Ireland when you are able to come. Sure now we might even plan a welcoming party to meet you at the airport.

Chris