Do you need help in Athy, Co Kildare

[Celtic Damsel]

  hey and happy seasons greetings from the Damsel, hav'nt been on for a while due to work demands I have been chasing my own tail for months now ! Just thought I would pop in and tell anyone interested in Athy that this week the Local Photographic Society have launched their 2008 images of Athy Calendar.
It includes some beautiful images of the town and it's environs and a preview of it can be viewed at www.athyphoto.com. It will be available in all of the towns shops and offices but postage can be arranged also so if anyone is interested in it mail me, the cost of the calendar and envelope is €7.00 plus the postage to wherever you are in the world.

[HarryC]

Hello Damsel,

I did get a response from Elaine at St. Michael's. She sent photocopies of several pages of her Baptismal records index. It doesn't look like any of the records are the right people. She looked at several variations of "Dwen." She didn't find any record of a Matthew Dwen, my ancestor. She found a record of a Patrick Dunn, born in 1804, but that sounds a bit young for what I was looking for. There was a Peter Duen, born in 1760 (four children in that family and four different spellings of the surname). According to a 1828 Baltimore directory, Matthew and Peter were partners in a carding machine. Peter Duen sounds pretty old to be Matthew's brother (though I suppose he could be Matthew's father).

The bottom line is that it looks like I need to see if I can find anything else here before trying Irish records again. Thanks for the information, though. 

[jasper]

Hi Damsel,

Just read your message that the cemetery records are in the Town Offices.

Is that anywhere near Athy train station as I am coming back to Ireland again in March to see what else I can find and if I'm really lucky find my elusive G grandmother.

[Celtic Damsel]

Hi Jasper the town council offices are about a five-ten minute walk from the station (depending on how fast you walk !) in the centre of the town not far at al,l good luck with the search if you need directions PM me and I will send a little map ? regards Damsel

[retep]

Hi Damsel,

I've come to a halt on my research into my ggg grandfather - John Dunn.  Details are below:

Born around 1777 in County Kildare, Ireland.       Died in Jan. 1862  (age 85)  in St.Pancras Workhouse, London.

Married Ann Williams in 1826 at St. Pancras Old Church, London.  He was age 49 and described as 'widower' .

Occupation: smith.

Sons: William and Thomas, born in St Pancras, London.

My grandfather (father's line) was Frederick William Dunn and gg grandfather was Thomas Dunn.

I'd like to find out when and why John came to England from Ireland;  I've got one record for John Dunn's birth details in Barrowhouse (or Barrowford) Parish/District Athy, Co. Kildare on 10 June 1777, but don't know whether this is the 'right' person.     

If I could find details of his first marriage - where and who to,  e.g. in Ireland or England, I could try to find more information of the period between this and his second marriage.

Any info. whatsoever please from anyone who might be researching the same or part of this family tree.     Thanks.

Peter

[Celtic Damsel]

HI There, Barrowhouse is just outside Athy on the border with Laois , it's a very small place with just a small pretty Church with a cemetry joined onto it a few scattered houses, The records for the area are held at the big church here in Athy, St Michaels, so if you wrote to the registrar there with what you do have, his approx DOB and Barrowhouse as his parish,  and ask her to do a search you might come up with something but she is very slow to do anything with requests and as she is the only one with access to the records in the area it can be very frustrating indeed !
I believe a copy of the records are held at the Library in Newbridge so if you do manage a trip over you could while away a few hours going through them and maybe come up wih something yourself, otherwise maybe as a local researcher to undertake the search for you but I know they are notoriously expensive. As to why he left Ireland it was before the famine struck Ireland so you can rule that out as a reason, most emigrants then would simply have been looking for work I would imagine ? sorry cant be of much help, if it was possible for me to do a quick search for you it would be no problem but no one is allowed to I'm afraid, regards Damsel

[retep]

Thanks very much for that Damsel.   That's given me a good idea of possible things to consider.

All the best,

Peter

[emilyrose]

Hi Damsel - you hae been so helpful and I hope I am not taking advantage of your generosity but I am looking to find a group that does volunteering, as I got a sister in a care home in Kildare and need someone to take her out of the home for a treat like shopping or maybe for a coffee shop.  She will be in the home on Christmas day with no one to visit her and I unfortunately have a knee injury and cannot travel until I get an operation on it after Christmas.  If you know of such a group would you be kind enough to let me know. 

I know this is way of topic but I am desperate to find some one in Kildare to be kind enough to do this for me.

Many thanks


emilyrose

[Celtic Damsel]

Hi There, I just did a ring round after I got your message but there does'nt seem to be anyone that does hospital visits I'm afraid here in Athy, but then I noticed yo :)u did'nt actually say Athy, where exactly is the Nursing home and I can try the town its in for you > regards Damsel