AGHADA AND THE CRIMEAN WAR

Hi RICHF

There is an interesting link here that refers to a book written on the subject:

http://www.johnbruton.com/2011/10/long-forgotten-war.html 

http://www.irishexaminer.com/viewpoints/columnists/victoria-white/we-al…

Clare Doyle

Genealogy Support

I'm chiming in to this conversation 5 years later!

My gg-grandfather, Garret Condon, enlisted in the British Navy in 1854 at age 12.  He signed up for 10 years beyond his 18th birthday.  Quite a commitment for one so young.  He was born in Whitegate.  The first that I found of him, searching on Ancestry several years back now, was the 1861 census:  He's on a ship called Racoon, "At anchor, under Mt. Carmel, Coast of Syria."  Other clues found on Ancestry indicate he likely served in Crimea aboard HMS Caesar 1854/1855 as "commander's servant."  (I haven't dug deeply enough to verify that this was actually him.)

Hi Caryn, I have a list of men from the Aghada - Farside - Whitegate area that served on various ships around the time (or after) the Crimean War but I could not find Garret Condon.  About 140 men came from Whitegate and these were the ones with that family surname:

Thomas Condon - next of kin was Mary Condon - served on HMS Ferret

John Condon - next of kin Eliza Condon.- served on HMS Sans Pareil  

John Condon - next of kin "wife" - served on HMS Algiers 

If you have'nt already, for £3.50 you can download your ancestor's RN service record from the National Archives:  http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/D6608905

Kind regards

Richard

Hi Richard,

Yes!  Thank you, I have done this.  I have Garret's record. 

I find it moving to see his 12-year-old signature on the document where he signed up.  (Actually, his mother, Catherine, signed both Garret and his brother, Michael, over at the same time.)  (They may have been twins.)  I've wondered why their mother, not their father, signed them over.  Garret is listed as having red hair and freckles.  (I have an uncle who has red hair--the only one in our family...now we know where the red hair came from!)

I have found a Catherine Condon, living in Whitegate in the 1853 Griffith's Valuation.  I THINK this is Garrett's mother.  I have some evidence that Catherine's maiden name was Twomey or Tuomey.  (Had her husband died?  Deserted her? In the Navy? A drunk? ???????  I believe his name was also Garret.)  You noted, above, both a Thomas and a John Condon.  I show that Garret and Michael had older brothers with these names.  I'll have to dig into this further, thank you for the inspiration!

Garret and Michael both served in the Navy, then the Coast Guard. Michael, (for whom I've also gotten the records from the Nat'l Archives,) is mentioned in a book written by Sir Edmund Robert Fremantle in the same era.  A great story about Michael, beginning in the middle of page 291, the story begins with, "One more coastguard yarn..."

https://archive.org/details/navyasihaveknown00frem/page/290

The Archive records tie my Michael to this story, in place and time!  (As do census records and places of birth for his children.)

I love this!  Who knew!?!?

Garret's last voyage APPEARS to have been on a merchant vessel in 1894 to the U.S.  (He and his family had been living in Cork City.  His wife, my 2nd great grandmother died in 1893, so it appears he went back to sea for a while.)  The ship appears to have gone to New York, then all the way 'round the horn to Wilmington, California (Port of Los Angeles.)  No one in our family ANY knew this, until I started researching.  My last evidence of him is living in Newcastle Upon Tyne, Northumberland, England, in the 1911 census, dying there in 1913.  He had married a second time.  I'm FAIRLY certain that this is my Garret.  Garret's first wife was Catherine Shearman, born in Midleton in ~1845, she and Garret married in Midleton in 1869.  (Interestingly, there are Shearmans nearby, in the 1853 Griffith's, in Whitegate.)

Good heavens...I'm writing a book here!  One last item to share:  I visited Ireland in 2008.  It was PRIOR to having done much research, at all.  I ALMOST booked the lighthouse, right near Whitegate, and changed my mind, at the last moment.  I was so close!  I kick myself.

Thanks for interacting with me, Richard.

Caryn