Share This:

My great grand father James Muldoon and my great grand mother Mary (the daughter of Bernard Smith) emigrated to Australia aboard the Barque "Southesk" in 1878.  Their eldest daughter, Susannah (born 1862), remained in Knockbride, perhaps with her Uncle Jas Smith.  It is believed that she may have married a man named Clark or Clarke and emigrated to the New England region of the USA. Any help in tracing Susannah would be greatly appreciated.

We will be visiting Knockbride and Bailieborough later this year and would very much like to reconnect with relatives.  My grandfather's name was Bernard Muldoon born 1868 in Knockbride.

BERNARD MULDOON

Tuesday 31st Dec 2013, 11:45PM

Message Board Replies

  • What looks to be Bernard Muldoon?s birth was registered in Bailieborough 1868 Volume 17, page 390. If you don?t know the exact townland in Knockbride that the family lived, it might be worth getting a copy of that birth certificate to find out. You may then be able to locate the exact house using Griffiths Valuation. The revaluation records (In the Valuation Office in Dublin) should then record who acquired the farm.

    Cannot see a marriage for Susannah Muldoon in Ireland.

    Ahoghill Antrim

    Wednesday 1st Jan 2014, 12:08AM
  • I must admit to being confused about the residential location of the family.  Some say Knockbride, some say Bailieborough. Also is there any records I can access to determine if Susannah did emigrate to USA. I know she was in Knockbride in 1883, and was unmarried at that time. She may have married in USA.  Appreciate your help! 

    BERNARD MULDOON

    Wednesday 1st Jan 2014, 12:19AM
  • I suspect that Bailieborough is just the postal town, rather than the exact place where the Muldoon family lived. So a letter to the Muldoon family would be addressed to them with their townland plus Bailieborough. (Bailieborough itself is in a different parish). Given your uncertainty, I would say you really need to get that birth cert to establish exactly where they resided, to have any chance of locating the family home. There are 67 townlands in the parish of Knockbride. You need to be able to narrow your search.

    You can order a photocopy from GRO Roscommon for ?4 per certificate. Put the place, year, quarter (where there is one), volume & page number on the application form (anywhere). Don?t worry about leaving some boxes blank. You don?t need to fill them all in if you have the reference details. http://www.groireland.ie/ You have to post or fax the form to them but they will e-mail the copy certificate to you if you wish. Tick the relevant box on the form.

    Alternatively you can probably buy a transcript of the birth certificate on the rootsireland site.

    Once you have the townland from the birth certificate, go to Griffiths Valuation and see if the family are listed. (If you have difficulty with that, let me know and I?ll do it for you).

    Regarding passenger lists to the USA, no records were ever kept of people departing Ireland. Passenger lists were created for people travelling to the US, but were given to the US immigration authorities on arrival. You should check the Castle Gardens and Ellis islands sites (both free). There are also passenger lists on Ancestry and findmypast (both pay to view). Be aware that Susannah may not have sailed directly from Ireland to the US. By far the busiest port of departure was Liverpool (with most shipping agents throwing in passage to Liverpool free, as part of the fare). Some immigrants to the US also went via Canada as it was sometimes cheaper, so don?t exclude that routing.

    I have attached a link to a site with information about emigration from Ireland in the mid 1800s. It happens to be for Co Donegal but everything in the link would be equally applicable to Co Cavan:

     

    http://www.finnvalley.ie/history/emigration/index.html

    Ahoghill Antrim

    Wednesday 1st Jan 2014, 10:21AM
  • Hi Bernard, Knockbride is a religious parish, it is situated between the towns of Bailieborough, Shercock & Cootehill, to confuse you further there is also a very small townland called Knockbride, but generally the name is used to identify the parish.  The Parish has 2 Catholic churches and a Church of Ireland.  When you mention Bailieborough, is is possibly because it is their town  & that is also where their Births deaths & marraiges were registered.  Concentrate on Muldoon as the name is not as common, the Clarke name gives me the shivers as I have difficulty in unravelling them, they are so common.

     

    When you get the copies of the certificates, please scan them to me, so I can 'read' them for you, as I would be used to the names of the townlands etc & could recognise the words easier for you.   

    I am in college full time but when we get more information I will do my best to help you & when you come hopefully meet you.

     

    Regards Carmel O'Callaghan 

    Bailieborough Cavan

    Wednesday 1st Jan 2014, 10:47AM
  • Thank you for all your efforts. I will follow your advice.

    BERNARD MULDOON

    Wednesday 1st Jan 2014, 09:17PM
  • Thankyou.  I have ordered a Birth Certificate on line and it will be posted to me.  I will email a copy to you when it is received and would love to meet you when we are in Cavan in Sept/Oct this year.

    BERNARD MULDOON

    Wednesday 1st Jan 2014, 10:43PM
  • You are welcome.

     

    Regards Carmel

    Bailieborough Cavan

    Wednesday 1st Jan 2014, 10:46PM
  • Hi Carmel.  Hopefully attached is my Grandfather's Birth Certificate.  It would appear that my Great Grandfather, James was illiterate.  Also interesting that his wife's maiden name is spelt "Smyth" not "Smith" as I believed.  Does this confirm that the birth place is Knockbride village?  Thanks for your help.

    BERNARD MULDOON

    Friday 10th Jan 2014, 07:01AM
  • Hi Bernard,

    Yes it is Knockbride the townland, Bailieborough is the registeration district.

     

    Because Susannah is pre civil registrations, we wont get her birth cert, but I keyed in her info into ancestry.com & this came up, This is telling me she went to New South Wales when she was 19 & James Smith Storekeeper, Knockbride paid her passage.  The coincindences seem too great.  Dont worry about the spelling of a name, i have a Keappock person in my family and it is spelt 20 different ways, it was written by the person who wrote it phonetically, so dont discout any alternative versions.

    Carmel

     
    New South Wales, Australia, Immigration Deposit Journals, 1853-1900 forSusannah Muldoon
    Susannah Muldoon
    Age: 19
    Birth Year: abt 1861
    Place of Origin: Cavan, Ireland
    Sponsor Name: James Muldoon
    Deposit Date: 9 Dec 1880
    Immigration Group:
    Name
    Susannah Muldoon
     
     
    View original image

    Bailieborough Cavan

    Friday 10th Jan 2014, 10:21AM
  • HI Carmel.  The record you attached is one of two in the New South Wales Immigration Deposits Register. One in 1880 and another in 1883. Both indicated that the deposits were refunded, which would indicate that she never made the journeys.  The deposits were paid by James Muldoon, her father, and the person of contact in Cavan was Jas Smith, whom I assume was her maternal uncle.

    You mentioned James Smith as a storekeeper.  What search criteria did you use to get that information, as it probably refers to the Jas Smith mentioned above.

    This quest was never going to be easy.  Thank you for your help.

    Bernard.

    BERNARD MULDOON

    Friday 10th Jan 2014, 08:10PM
  • Hi Bernard,

    On that page it said that he was a storekeeper, under his name, then under that it says Knockbride, I zoomed in to read it, are you sure the deposit was refunded the 2nd time as there is no date?

    Also is that your tree on Ancestry?

    C. 

    Bailieborough Cavan

    Friday 10th Jan 2014, 10:25PM
  • Hi Bernard, I know you are looking for Susannah.  Do you have their other siblings? There appears to be a Bridget, Mary, Patrick, Alice & Elizabeth.

     

    C

    Bailieborough Cavan

    Friday 10th Jan 2014, 11:05PM
  • Hi Carmel, I am basing my my belief of the second refund on the "tick" in the refund column. Also I believe my Great Grand Father visited Susannah in New England at a later date (an Aunt told me this). 

    Yes that is my public tree on Ancestry.  I have another tree with 1965 people in it.  I haven't published it yet, and I have constructed the public tree to try and elicit information about the Irish Muldoon/Smith history.  On my mother's side (O'Hallorans of Limerick) I can trace back to Sylvester O'Halloran who was born in 1775.

    Also would you know how I would go about confirming I (Bernard Edmund Muldoon 23 Mar 1950) am on the Foriegn Birth's Register.

    BERNARD MULDOON

    Friday 10th Jan 2014, 11:22PM
  • Hi Bernard,

    I tried to search for her on Ancestry, but unable to identify her under either names.  Have you searched for your ggfathers travel records, if he visited her it may be recorded & it may give the address of who he visited.

    You can confirm the Foreign Birth Registars through this site http://www.gov.ie/services/access-foreign-birth-registration-facility/, so I have been advised.

     

    Regards Carmel

    Bailieborough Cavan

    Sunday 12th Jan 2014, 06:17PM
  • Thanks Carmel, I have emailled the Irish Embassy in Australia re the Register.  I will keep plugging away on Susannah and her father. I am also trying to find out the surname of James's wife's (Mary Smith) mother's birth name.  I believe her christian name was Alice.  Any ideas where I can search that.

    Thanks, 

    Bernard

    BERNARD MULDOON

    Sunday 12th Jan 2014, 10:30PM
  • Bernard, you could try RootsIreland.ie, you can do a lot of searches before you decide to purchase a record or else try

    Cavan Genealogy,they are at :

    1st floor,

    Johnston Central Library,
    Farnham Street,
    Cavan Town,
    County Cavan.
    Tel: +353 (0)49 4361094
    Fax: +353 (0)49 433149  email cavangenealogy@eircom.net

     

    Give them all the information you have on her, they do family searches for a fee, bur discuss with them what you want etc.  The marriage cert would have it & they have access to parish registers, they would have married in the Brides church, which could be the neighbouring parish, as they did not travel too far for partners

    Carmel

     

    Carmel

    Bailieborough Cavan

    Sunday 12th Jan 2014, 10:40PM
  • Thanks Carmel, I will follow your advice and report back.

    BERNARD MULDOON

    Sunday 12th Jan 2014, 10:58PM
  • Susannah Muldoon may have been commonly known as Sussie. Also she may have emigrated to New York City and subsequently married a Michael Clark who also originwted in the Baileborough area of Cavan.

    BERNARD MULDOON

    Thursday 22nd Nov 2018, 02:57AM
  • Hi Bernard,  Yes her name could be Suzie, Sue etc.  Clarke would be one of the most common names in Co. Cavan,  I have them in my family tree and many of them with the same first names.  If they married in New York, hopefully you will find the answers with US records.  Some marriage & death records name both their parents and if you find their naturalisation papers or their names on shipping lists, you may find more information.  I am out of subscription on Ancestry or Findmypast, so I am unable to do any searches for you.  Please let me know if you find anything that I can clarify on the ground here in Co. Cavan

    Regards Carmel

     

    Bailieborough Cavan

    Sunday 25th Nov 2018, 09:19PM
  • Thanks Carmel. I have the wife of a distant cousin in the USA working on this lead as well. I have a positive DNA link that probably traces to a lady named Susan who was married to a Michael Clark, so here's hoping. A bit like trout fishing, you just have to keep trying.

    Bernard

    BERNARD MULDOON

    Tuesday 27th Nov 2018, 02:16AM
  • You are welcome.  Regards Carmel

    Bailieborough Cavan

    Saturday 1st Dec 2018, 11:38AM

Post Reply