Do you need help in Athy, Co Kildare

[Celtic Damsel]

Hi Alor would be good to catch you before you go offline as i have a lot of info for you hang on for a few minutes and let me post you some photos and also PM me with an email addy if you have one as there are too many photos to post here, regards Damsel

Many thanks Damsel. Look forward to hearing from you. Hope the weather in Athy is better tomorrow.
Regards
Alor

[Celtic Damsel]

Well Alor I found your farm and in the nick of time too as it has been empty for about 30 years according to locals and was sold to the county council recently and they are going to pull it down to build houses on the spot in the not too distant future but there is some good news, it would appear the last owner was a "Cowlard" and one of the Flinter girls married him, and the remains of both the Conroys and the Flinter families still live in the town.
One of the local Jewellery shops is owned by the Conroys and while they dont remember much abou the farm they have given me the number of a Patrick Flinter in the town who it would be likely would be a relation somewhere along the line of your husband, and apparently he is into genalogy, I will give him a ring for you shortly and see is he is keen to talk to you on the subject if thats ok ? in the meantime I am posting some photos the first is the front of the house the second is the yard your husbands photo was taken in and the other one the other side of the house where the group photo was taken (if you look at the bricks on the side of the house they are the ones on the wall behind them. More in a few minutes

[Celtic Damsel]

here the second one now

[Celtic Damsel]

and where the group shot was taken

[Celtic Damsel]

Now, as I said there are a lot more photos so if you want them send me on a private message your email address and I will pass them on to you, it would seem from chatting to the locals that it was more the farm of the Flinters rather than the Conroys the roads around it are named Flinters Close, Flinters Walk etc even now.
I have left a message for Pat Flinter as he was not answering his mobile he could be still at work so if I get any info there I will let you know, in the meantime regards Damsel

[Celtic Damsel]

Hi Alor, it has just occured to me that now you have the address etc you will get a lot of information with regards to the people living at the farm on the 1901 and 1911 census in Dublin when you come over, and also from St Michaels Church here in the town as this would have been there parish and so all of their birth, marriage and death records etc would be in the office here, you can phone Elaine who runs the office and she will do a search for €10 or a detailed search including cert for €32.
I also found out the the Cemetry records are held in the Town Council Offices here in the town and they can be viewed if you call into them.
No luck on getting Pat Flinter yet but hopefully he will contact me. I had a wander in St Michaels Cemetry this morning as I was that end of the town and I found your Flinters and Conroys (I think) buried next to each other in two seperate graves that are side by side, The one headstone is very hard to read but from what I could read there is a John Conroy who died May19th 1869 aged 58 and a Margaret Conroy looks like 1857 age 75,  there are a lot of people in the flinter grave which is a double side by side I took photos of both for you but when I got home I discovered my camera is on the blink and they were so blurred you cant see anyhting GRRR, I did notice yesterday that it was not the best alright however I will borrow the hubbies camera and repeat the photos probably in the morning. I will send a few of them by mail but they are really blurred soory,regards Damsel

[Celtic Damsel]

Thats a shame Jud cos I just discovered that anyone can call into the Town Council offices here in Athy and look at all of the burial records for the area, a bit time consuming for me but anyone visiting will want to know where they are and that they are available to peruse I'm sure, regards Damsel

Hi Damsel,

I still have not been able to examine any burial records for any of the graveyards in the area - only the baptismal and marriage records for Athy parish. I can't imagine that there are any burial records as early as 1800 though. Unfortunately my time in Ireland slipped away quickly and I did not get as much done as I wanted to - next time maybe!
Jud

[alor]

Thanks again Damsel
I had planned to visit the National Archives and look at the 1901/1911 Censuses but need a few tips.
Do I need to search for the farm on Stradbally Road, Athy or is there a way of searching for specific surnames in Athy Town in the census returns?
Also regarding Cemetery record held at the Town Council Offices - do I need to call in advance and make an appointment or can I just turn up on the day and make a request?
Regards
Alor

[Celtic Damsel]

you can just turn up at the office and request to see the cemetry records Alor, re the census If you have a look here on the National Archives website it gives you details on searching the census, you can search by are, townland etc and also the street the farm is on is called "Woodstock Street" which as I said is on the Stradbally road, hence your "Woodstock Cottage " address I dont know if the farm would have been called that though. http://www.nationalarchives.ie/genealogy/censusrtns.html
hope you have received all the new sharp photos and I wish you luck with your search from here on in, if theres anything else I can help you with let me know and if I hear from Pat Flinter I will pass it on, regards Damsel