Baby Steps

 

It may be the start of a new month, but after a month like the one I just finished, I'm not ready to relinquish the research goal I wasn't able to conquer last month. For the next few days—only a few, I promise—I'd like to spend a bit more time puzzling over Margaret Flannery and her home back in pre-famine-era County Tipperary, Ireland.

Today, I went back over the baptismal records for each of Margaret's babies—at least, the ones who were born in Ireland. The goal was to list the godparents listed in each child's church record. There is a reason for this: at that time in Ireland, the tradition was to name a sibling or sibling-in-law of one of the parents as the child's sponsors. If this custom held true for Margaret's time period and location, then we would see the formation of possible relatives to add to her family tree. Then, too, if the priest were consistent in record keeping, each godmother would also have been listed by her maiden name.

With the exception of a baptismal record for son Denis, born in 1830 as (possibly) the oldest child of Margaret Flannery and Denis Tully that I could find, here are the results of my search:

• Johanna, born in 1832: Kitty Flannery and - - ke [Luke? Mike?] Tully
• Michael, born in 1834: William Flannery and Bridget Flannery
• Patrick, born in 1836: Thomas Tully and Mary Tully
• William, born in 1839: John Tully and Judy McNamara
• John, born in 1842: John Brun and Mary McNamara
• Margaret, born in 1844: Mick Tully and Mary Gleeson
• Honora, born in 1847: John Tully and Biddy Tully

Of those children, I do know that William and Honora died before the family emigrated around 1851. (The name William must have been important to the family, for they named their youngest son, born after the family's arrival in Canada, by that same first name.)

Of those godparents, I have already discovered DNA matches linking back to the Gleeson surname from County Tipperary, an encouraging sign. And the name McNamara appears in the Griffith's valuation for the townland of Tountinna, where Margaret settled when she married Denis Tully. The only surname that puzzles me among the godparents listed is for John Brun; I have no idea of that connection.

As for the Flannery connections, I now have Kitty, Bridget, and William Flannery as possible leads. These three, however, could be either Margaret's siblings, or they could be spouses of either Margaret's or Denis' siblings. No matter which way this turns, a possible next step would be to look for those names as parents in the baptismal records for the same church parish in Ballina, Margaret's home church where her own children were baptized.