Michael Murphy

The images of the civil records and census are offline at the moment, but I'll check when they come back. Murphys can be very diffcult to follow as the surname is so common.

Have you found census records and/or marriage cert for Michael & Roseanna ?

I suspect the 'Briar Street' may be a reference to Sweet Briar Lane, which runs between Kilmacud Rd. Upper and Lower. Drummartin is also the name of a townland located immediatly to the west of Kilmacud.

just using this reply to post possible connections as I search :

1911 Census -  Murphy household, Kilmacud West townland
this townland include Drummartin Rd., Sweet Briar Lane, Kilmacud Rd. upper & Lower. This Michael's age is given as just 15..

1911 Stenson household, Pembroke Place
only Rose Stenson I could locate in Dublin - age is transcribed as 5 - will check the image when it's back online. I think there may be more than one Pembroke Place in Dublin city & County, but the closest would be the one in Ballsbridge
- - -
The marriage of Michael and Roseanne was registered Dublin South district which would fit with a bride living in Ballsbridge. (KIlmacud, Drummartin etc. are in Rathdown district)
- - -
1901 Census Murphy household, Stillorgan North
This townland is adjacent to Kilmacud

Thank you so much. The 1911 census, Kilmacud West, makes sense - I was always suspicious of my Grandfathers true age. I remember my father once saying that he was younger than his wife.

I've been able to trace the Stensons back to  Clonskeagh.

The question that remains with me is a silly little rhym my father would repeat when I was a child,

'Stillorgan, Stillorgan,

I've walked all over Ireland

But I always run through Stillorgan'.

When asked he would claim that his father (Michael) taught it him. He said the rhym was song by 'tramps' travelling through Stillorgan who were often pelted with sods of earth by the children - I'm guessing he was referring to his father when he was a child. Hence my belief that there's a connection to Stillorgan.

Thank you again for your help

Stillorgan is right beside Kilmacud, see OSI Map (townland borders shown in red, civil parish borders in green) - and Clonskeagh is a short distance to the north - it's a townland in Donnybrook civil parish, but Clonskeagh Road stretches to the south into Roebuck townland which is in Taney civil parish.

The census and civil record images are still offline, but as soon as they are back available I'll have a look through...

P.S. - you mentioned 23rd October 1894 as an date of birth for Michael - do you have his birth cert already ?
If so can you post the details - place of birth, mother's surname, father's occupation etc. so I can try some other searches while I wait for the civil records to be available...
 

No I don't have his birth certificate yet. As I said, I'm not absolutely certain that the information I have on him is accurate. I do have his marriage certificate. Hence I know when he was married (1915), his address ( Briar Lane) and his fathers name (also Michael) but I'm struggling to find him on any census. Your Kilmacud census reference is the best I have, which would make him a couple of years younger than his wife (my grandmother). I'm waiting for photographs of his daughters wedding to see if I can identify Michaels sisters.

I've had a look in Catholic parish records in the likely parishes, Dundrum, Booterstown and Blackrock, all of which luckily have records online up to abt 1900 (many of the parishes cut-off round 1880), but nothing promising so far... the parish baptism records are more difficult when it comes to searches for common names as they dont include father's occupation, and often the address details (place of birth/place of residence) are not as detailed.

for reference I've attached a map extract showing the civil parishes for the area :

the townlands of Kilmacud East & Kilmacud West, including Sweet Briar Lane are in Kilmacud civil parish
Drummartin and parit of Clonskeagh are in Taney civil parish
The town of Stillorgan along with the townlands of Stillorgan Grove, Stillorgan North, Stillorgan Park and Stillorgan South along with four other townlands are in Stillorgan civil parish.

EDIT map attachment fixed

The IrishGenealogy/NAI website is back in action, and found a very promising match for Jane's birth (least common name so the best one to start with), a Jane Murphy born 14th April 1894 parents Michael Murphy labourer, and Mary Farrell, place of birth and residnce is Stillorgan - so a good match to the 1901 census details, so something to base further searches on...

I also had a look at the marriage of Michael & Rose in 1915, his residence is given as 3 Briar's Lane Dundrum, so I'm certain that's an early reference to the road now known as Sweet Briar Lane, the bride's residence is given as Dodder Bank, Clonskeagh. The River Dodder in this area was the boundary between the City and County  Dublin, and the Dodder runs between Clonskeagh and Roebuck townlands. Dodder Bank is the area north of the river just west of Clonskeagh Bridge - right beside where the Car Park for O'Shea's pub is now. The marriage took place in Donnybrook Church, which celebrates it's 150th Anniversary this year.

finally found Michael's birth - the day and month you had were correct, just one year later : 

Michael Murphy born 25th October 1895
Place of birth : Stillorgan
Father : MIchael Murphy, labourer
Mother : Mary nee Farrell
Informant : Mary Murphy, mother  (her mark)
Registered : 14th January 1896

and birth for his younger sister Ellen/Nellie :

Ellen Murphy born 19th June 1898
Place of birth : Stillorgan
Father : MIchael Murphy, labourer
Mother : Mary nee Farrell
Informat : Mary Murphy, mother (her mark)
Registered : 27th August 1898

I'll have a look for the parents marriage ....

for reference Rosanna's birth - 1894, 32 Clonskeagh
and the Stenson family on the 1901 census at Byrne's Cottages which were adjacent to Dodder bank. I think Dodder back maybe missing from 1911 census....
 

Dear shanew147, I cannot thank you enough for the brilliant work you've done. Not only have you provided me the first tangible link to my great grand parents but you've also helped me understand the relationship the different locations have with each other. I feel a 'return' home is now called for so that I can walk in their footsteps. Thank you so much. Any other Murphy leads would, of course, be very welcome but I understand that there must have be limitations on your time. Thanks again

another civil cert for you - the marriiage of Michael Murphy & Mary Farrell  (2nd entry of the image)
Date : 5th September 1886
Place of marriage : Catholic Chapel, Kilmacud 
Michael is a labourer, and both the bride & groom give their residence as 'Stillorgan', the grooms father is Thomas Murphy deceased, and the bride's father William (Wm. with a strange 'W'), also deceased.
Witnesses are John Grennan[?] and Julia Robinson, and the bride 'signed' with her mark.

Shout if you have any questions about the locations...

Hi, could you give me details of which sites and records you searched please? Thanks, Danny

The results above are from the civil BMD records on IrishGenealogy or census records on the NationalArchives websites, both of which are free. I sometimes use the BMD Index search on FamilySearch, as it's a little more flexible for name variations. I also tried RC parish record images, available free on the National Library website, although without any matches. There are searchable indexes to these images on both Ancestry and FindMyPast (pay-websites).

For most searches I would also use the townland database (swilson.info), official Placename database and Historic OSI maps, but in this case I didn't require these as this my area, so I know the locations.

Thank you again for all your help