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Hello, my great-grandfather, James J. Ferris, emigrated to the US in about 1880, and became a very successful civil engineer.  He visited Ireland three times with his wife and one of his children between 1908 and 1912.  We have found them on passenger lists arriving home.  It only recently occured to me that they would have had to take a train from Queenstown (Cobh) to visit both Co. Tipperary (his wife's family's home) and Co. Kerry. Or perhaps taken a bus or hired a car.

Does anyone know what railroads would have existed then, and what places they would have run between.  I would assume that the railroad might not have gone all the way to Ballyduff, but perhaps it went to Listowel, or to Tralee.  I'm hoping to get a sense of what it would have been like to travel then.  I don't expect to find records at all, but it would be fun to guess at what route they might have taken to visit their homelands.

Thank you!

Meg Ferris

Seattle, WA

margaretferris

Monday 21st May 2012, 07:17PM

Message Board Replies

  • Hi Meg,

    What a wonderful idea! That's a great way to get a feel for your ancestors..travel in their shoes, or in this case, their train tracks!

    I found a few links that might interest you: http://www.irishabroad.com/news/irishpost/travel/tralee.asp

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_rail_transport_in_Ireland This has lots of information about all of the train lines in the country and their history.

    http://www.trainweb.org/irishrails/ information about the old train lies, and where to find maps, etc.

    http://corkheritage.ie/?page_id=388 more information about Cork's train heritage

    http://www.modelvillage.ie/ someplace to see if you do come to Ireland!

    http://www.invectis.co.uk/cork/cbscr.htm

    I hope that will get you started in your research!

    Please make sure you link anyone else in your family who is interested in their Irish heritage to our site - and indeed anyone else you know of Irish heritage.

    Kind regards,

    Sinead Cooney

    Genealogist (Ireland XO)

     

     

     

    Wednesday 6th Jun 2012, 10:58AM

  • Sinead

    Thank you so very much for you reply.  You gave me lots to reserach.  I've shared what you wrote with with my Ferris cousins that are interested in geneaology and learning more about our great-grandfather. It will be fun to see if we can retrace possible steps of his three visits.

    Meg

    margaretferris

    Saturday 18th Aug 2012, 11:28PM

  • Sandra

    Thank you for the suggestion.  I'll look into it.  And thank you for the offer to ask Mr. Martin Ferris about any Ferris relations.  It would be wonderful to make a connection. 

    Meg

    margaretferris

    Saturday 18th Aug 2012, 11:31PM

  • Meg

    My family lived in Ballyduff and Bartholomew Donoghue married a Bridget Ferris from Ratto/Lacka in later 1800s

    They had eight children between 1821 to 1844: Sylvester, Ellen, James, Thomas, Patrick, Michael, Mary, Catherine.  All of them left the village in or after the famine.

    Any connection?

    Rod

    Rod O'Donoghue

    Author of 'Heroic Landscapes: Irish Myth and Legend'  and 'O'Donoghue People and Places'

    Founder of The O'Donoghue Society and The Irish Folklore Centre

    https://www.odonoghue.co.uk

    Email: rod@odonoghue.co.uk

    Family history: https://ballyduffodonoghue.blogspot.co.uk/

     

    ballyduff1850

    Tuesday 2nd May 2017, 05:31PM

  • Further to prior note.  Ferrises remained in Ratto until well after the famine.  If you want any more data let me know

    Cheers

    Rod

    ballyduff1850

    Tuesday 2nd May 2017, 05:35PM

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