GENEALOGICAL BUCKET LIST FOR VISITING IRELAND

After two visits to Ireland, I have now refined my bucket list for any possible future trips to the Emerald Isle.  While Dublin is a nice place to visit, I want to spend any time I have walking in my ancestors' (no matter how far back) footsteps.  So here is a listing of places I would like to visit --

1. Townland of Letter in County Mayo -- I got so close but not close enough to the home town of my Great Grandmother Elizabeth Chambers,  Perhaps I will get the opportunity some day to see the actual land where her father Thomas Chambers farmed and raised his family.

2. The townlands of Demailestown and Lady Rath in County Meath -- I have learned that what is called townlands in Ireland may be no more than a neighborhood or housing complex.  I would love to see the actual area that my Sherlock ancestors (my great grandfather Edward and his parents Bryan and Margaret Kilroy Sherlock) called home.

3. Clew Bay Heritage Center -- Situated in a 19th century building in Westport on the shores of Clew Bay, it would be wonderful to see the artifacts, photos and documents of the history of Westport and the Clew Bay area.  (Westportheritage.com)

4. Museum of Country Life -- I wish we had the time to visit this museum, located in Turlough Village (northeast of Castlebar in County Mayo) while we were in Mayo last August.  The museum tells the story of country life in Ireland from 1850 to 1950.  It would have given me a better understanding of the daily lives of my Irish ancestors.  (www.museum.ie/country-life)

5. Scurlogstown -- I would love the opportunity to visit Scurlogstown in County Meath or one of the other towns in Ireland named after my Scurlog ancestors.  I need a picture next to the sign!

6. City of Limerick in County Limerick -- Recently I have discovered that Limerick was the home town of my 5th Great Grandfather Zachary Myles and 5th Great Grandmother Katherine Conyers as well as their daughter Elizabeth Myles, my 4th great grandmother. Limerick was also the birthplace of my 6th Great Grandfather Thomas Myles.

Visiting County Meath

While my Chambers and Kilroy ancestors are from County Mayo, my Sherlock and Caffrey ancestors are from County Meath.  Since I visited Islandeady (in County Meath) in both 2012 and on the current trip, I wanted to make sure that I also visited County Meath.  Perhaps, I could see the townlands of Lady Rath and Demailestown, the hometowns of my great Grandfather Edward Sherlock.

In 1961, Grandpa Charlie visited the site of his father's (Edward Sherlock) childhood home in Demailestown.  Above is a photo of him at that house.

Demailestown and Lady Rath are very close to one another.  While they are listed as townlands, they are more like housing developments.  So, think of a housing development in a rural setting with a few houses.  Demailestown and Lady Rath are west of Drogheda, east of Kells, and north of Navan and Kilmessan.  I looked at both Demailestown and Lady Rath on Google Earth and couldn't find a house like the one in the photo above.  Of course, this photo was from 55 years ago and the house very likely could have been torn down and a new one built.

According to Grandma Theresa's diary, they visited Pat Sherlock's home and his cattle. They also visited the Carey's and Agnes Sherlock -- I am not sure which town-lands they lived in 1961.  Then they visited Mary Glacken in Navan.

Trying to find these town-lands in Ireland in person is a lot harder than trying to locate places on Google Earth.  Oh, if it could just be that easy!   Of course, it didn't help that we didn't have GPS so it was rather like looking for a needle in a haystack!  The roads were tiny rural roads and did not have a lot of signs.  We drove past Lobinstown, Wilkinstown, Slane Castle and Navan.  Lady Rath & Demailestown is to the east of Wilkinstown.  So, alas, I did not actually get to see Lady Rath or Demailestown despite our efforts.  Perhaps the only way this will ever happen is with a native guide who is familiar with these tiny town-lands.

TRAVEL TUESDAY

Last week, I started creating my "genealogical travel bucket list" of places where either my ancestors lived or traveled to.   Continuing on that list today, #2 is County Meath, Ireland.  While I have visited County Mayo on my trip to Ireland last year, I did not get the opportunity to visit County Meath. Grandpa Charlie's mother's family (the Chambers) were from County Mayo, while Charlie's father's family came from County Meath.

According to my Dad's cousin, the Sherlock ancestors lived in Lady Rath and then later in Demailestown in County Meath.  I located both of these town lands on a map.  They are very close to one another.  They are west of Drogheda, east of Kells and north of Navan and Kilmessan.   According to the cousin, there are Sherlock family members still living in County Meath.  I would love to not only meet these relatives but also see the house in the photo below.  I believe that is where my Great Grandfather Edward Sherlock grew up.  The problem is I don't know if this house is located in Lady Rath or in Demailestown, which I guess mean I need to visit both places.

In the above photo, is the property of another of my grandfather's cousins.  I think some serious research is needed before taking this trip but how wonderful would it be to step on the former property of my ancestors  ... to see the house that my great grandfather lived in as a child (hoping that they haven't torn it down since 1961) ... to meet fellow Sherlocks, Caffreys and Everards (new ancestor name given to me by my cousin)?

THOSE PLACES THURSDAY

      In my last post, I was discussing my Grandparents' (Charles and Theresa Sherlock) trip to Ireland in 1961. Even though they only spent two days there, they met a lot of relatives and visited a number of their homes. Charles and Theresa  visited the old homestead of Bryan Sherlock and Margaret Caffrey Sherlock in Demailestown, Meath, Ireland where Charles' father Edward Sherlock was raised. Edward died when Charles was just a baby so I am sure that this visit to the old homestead was rather emotional for Charles.

      According to Grandma Theresa's diary, after visiting the homestead, they went to Pat Sherlock's home for lunch.  They saw his land and cattle.  The above photo shows Pat and Theresa out in the field with some of his cows. Then they visited the Carey's and Lady Ruth's home [I have no idea who these people are].  After stopping to pick up Pat's wife, they went to visit Agnes, her husband and their 9 children.  [I think Agnes is Agnes Sherlock mentioned earlier in the diary].  Finally they visited Mary Glacken [who was also mentioned previously in the diary] in Navan, Meath, Ireland.

      So, I now know who they visited and where they went but the question that remains is how are these people related to my Grandpa Charlie [and therefore to me]?   Let me do a quick review of the family tree -- Bryan Sherlock and Margaret Caffrey Sherlock had at least 8 children -- Nicholas, Mary, Bernard, Christopher, Edward, Bridget, John Joseph, and Patrick Joseph.  According to my research Nicholas died at age 36 in Australia and Bernard died at age 20 in Ireland, while both Christopher and John Joseph immigrated to Boston. I don't have any further information (except for birth dates) for Mary and Bridget.  Patrick had one son named Patrick or Paddy.  I think the Patrick that graciously chauffeured my grandparents around Ireland was Paddy. I don't know how Christian Sherlock, Mary Glacken, Agnes Sherlock or other people in my photos are related to me.  Perhaps posting some of these photos on my blog might help me find answers. One can hope!

PUTTING TOGETHER THE IRISH PUZZLE

      The past two days I have been reading Grandma Theresa's travel journal and trying to match her entries with the photos that I have of their trip to Ireland.  Now, I know that I did complain a lot about "slides" in a previous post, but there are distinct advantages.  One advantage is that the picture for the most part has not degraded as much as those "lovely" photos from the 1970's and 1980's.  You know the ones that have that orange color!  A few of the slides do have some black dots on them but I can live with that.

        Another advantage is that they have the number of the image on the back of the slide.  So, while I can't tell what roll of film they belonged to, I can put them in order according to image number.   Now, why is that important?  Well, when Grandma Theresa mentions she has visited several people and several locations, I can try and see if I can determine the location by the order of the images. For example, she wrote on 5/26/1961 that Patrick Sherlock picked them up and went for a ride in the country.  Then they visited more Sherlocks (Christian and his wife).  Since Patrick was their "chauffeur" for their Ireland trip, he must be the guy in almost all of the photos.  After visiting Christian and his wife, they went to visit Charles'  father's family old homestead.

     When I read they visited the childhood homestead of Edward Sherlock, I was delighted.  I absolutely love to see photos of the houses my ancestors lived in.  In the journal, Theresa continues, "The people who lived there did some changes, but the lady let us take pictures and look around. There was over 60 acres and what land all green."

      Okay, that gave me some more clues -- there would be multiple photos of this house as compared to only a few of some other relatives' home.  There would be a lot of land around the house.  There would probably most definitely be a photo of Grandpa Charlie next to this house since it belonged originally to his grandparents.   With all of these clues and some jiggling of the puzzle pieces on my part, I deduced that the above photo is of  Patrick Sherlock, Christian's wife and Christian and Grandma Theresa at the old homestead in Demailestown, Meath, Ireland.  The photo below of Charles at the homestead confirms to me that this is indeed the house. It obviously was so important to him that he was the only one in the photo.

      One more comment before I go -- Without knowing, the photo I selected for my last post was taken at the old homestead.  I have posted the photo again below.  Grandma Theresa was right, it was absolutely beautiful and green!