My Grandfathers brother, peter Curran's family

From left to right, Peter Curran Jnr, Anne Curran(nee Sinnott) Deborah Curran, Frank Curran Maureen Curran and Peter Currab Snr. Picture was taken around 1921

Last Wednesday, I met up in Glasnevin cemetery with my second cousin Richard Hoolahan. We had arranged to have a ‘show’ of one another’s graves, it was an immensely successful occasion, and I now know the locations of a number of my father’s 1^st cousins that he was unaware of all his life.

Richard is the Grandson of Peter Curran, my grandfather, Martin Curran’s brother. He came up to Dublin, possibly in the late 1890’s or early 1900’s. I have been told by a number of his descendants that he served as a policeman in the Dublin Metropolitan police, as yet I have not found any records on his time there, but will endure, and hopefully talk more fully about this in a future blog. Curran family legend says that he met his wife, Anne Sinnott whilst at work, he would be out on his beat in Dublin, and she worked in a business in Grafton Street that he would pass regularly, they developed a friendship which later blossomed into marriage. They married around 1910 and went on to start a dairy business at 22 Bolton Street, north City Dublin. They also resided here, as it is stated on their gravestone in Bunclody. In the 1911 census, Peter and his current family at the time including their eldest son, Frank are seen living in house number 70 in Newtownbarry, part of what is now known as Bunclody, Anne, who was from Newtownbarry originally, at this time was four months pregnant with their second child, Sarah. As far as I know Peter and Anne went on to have another six children as follows:

Peter () Kathleen (1923) Joan (1926) Deborah () Maureen () Edith () and the above mentioned Frank (1910) and Sarah (1911)

Peter, at present cannot be seen in the 1901 census for Ireland, but I am sure with time that he will show. Though Anne is present as a 14 year old girl living in house 50 in Newtownbarry.

Peter Passed away in 1929, I was told of an unusual story by Richard and his relatives, of the fact that when Peter died, the grave in Drumphea had been opened and ready to take him in, there were even people there in Drumphea to receive him, but to his wife, annes wishes, he was buried in Bunclody cemetery on the same day. Anne died in 1966 and was buried in the same grave as Peter.

What I know of their children is as follows, Peter married a lady called Doris and they had three children. Frank married Lily and they had five children. Kathleen married John and they had five children. Joan is still alive and well, living up in county Meath, Joan married Tom and they had eight children, Deborah married an Italian called Henry who unfortunately was killed in a biking accident, she went on to marry Frank. She had two children with Henry. Maureen married a man called Giuseppe and they had three children. Sarah, I know little, and Edith, I have been told died young in a fire.

I know that Peter, Deborah and Kathleen are all buried in Glasnevin cemetery, Dublin, and Maureen is buried in Darderstown cemetery in Dublin

Of my own uncles and aunts, they had little knowledge of Peter and Anne and their family, though they were aware of the fact that Maureen and Giuseppe had a restaurant in Donnycarney. Also that Peter and Anne had the shop in Bolton Street, but that was it. I always wondered why my Grandfather Martin and Peter lived so close to one another in Dublin, but had very little to do with one another. There are many theories why they didn’t, I even have my own ideas, but it’s not for this blog. One day someone will tell, and then I will write a blog then. As for Peters descendents, they also had little knowledge of my side, they were aware of the policeman uncle, but that was because he titled himself on some graves as erecting them(Drumphea and Glasnevin) some of them knew that my grandmother, Margaret had a shop next to the thatch in Whitehall, Dublin. And some were even aware of my Auntie Kathleen in Beaumont Road, Dublin. It also seems so ironic that there was a family group that lived no further than about 0.5km from my auntie Kathleen. Still time will tell, I want to talk to all these Currans individually to find out what they know, so as to get a clearer picture of a close relationship, that just seemed to go blank.

Peter and Anne Curran's Grave in Bunclody old cemetery, recently refurbished(2011) I have to say it looks absolutely brilliant, great job to the lads, it looks cool.

Kathleen Curran's grave in Glasnevin cemetery

Deborah Curran's plaque in Glasnevin cemetery, with her second husband Frank Maher

Deborahs first husband, Henry Margiotta's grave in Glasnevin Cemetery

Currans of The Coombe, Meath Market, Echlin Street, Basin Street and Thomas Court in Dublin city

My Great-grandfathers brother was John Curran, born in either Drumphea or Knocklonagad around 1808. I know little of his life other than he would have obviously been a farmer’s son to my Great great grandfather Martin Curran. He married at the age of 42 in 1850(begging the question was he married before) to Sarah Moore(I would hazard a guess that she was from nearby Knockdrumagh as there is a cluster of Moore’s in the area at the time) They had children from 1851-1871(that I know) She passed away in 1875, I don't really know if there was any younger left behind, but to my knowledge it was James, aged 14. They lived at number 36 The Coombe, in the southwest inner city of Dublin. You only have to look at Irish history websites to know that the living conditions in this part of Dublin at this time were not the easiest, some would even refer to this area as a slum (at the time) At the time of her death she was referred to as a 'Grocers wife' so now we know that they had a grocery, possibly in 36 Coombe.

After they got married in Drumphea church in 1850 they had four children which they proceeded to raise in Sheean, just a mile from Drumphea. Between 1860 and 1864 something happened to make the family up sticks and leave Sheean, to live in the Coombe, John is not marked down in Griffith’s valuation, a list of landed properties written up in 1855 in Co Carlow, so he must have been subletting the property there. Anyway whatever happened, good or bad, he moved up to the Coombe.

He passed away in 1881, from bronchitis, he was also not a grocer anymore, he was a labourer at time of death. Before moving up to Dublin, he and Sarah had at least four children down in Sheean, 1st was Mary, whom I have only seen her baptismal record. Then there were three boys, James, Pattrick and Martin. I know that when in Dublin John and Mary had three more children, who all passed away young, these were Bridget, Daniel and Margaret who all died between 1864 and 1871, maybe they have had more children, but I am still to find that out. It strikes me as a rather sad story for Sarah too, who died from stomach cramps in 1875, and I feel she may have not enjoyed the best of health while in Dublin through the amount of infant deaths she had to take on. Which also says to me that the whole family endured hard times.

During the 1901 and 1911 censii, we now see some of their children as adults, with they're own families, and still around the same area too, as the old saying goes, the seed does not fall too far from the tree.
First we will look at the eldest of these, Martin, he can be seen in '01 and '11 censii as living in Moss Street, just off the river Liffey opposite the Custom House in south Dublin city, with his wife, Mary, as far as I can see they had no children by the 1911 census, and she would have been in her mid fifties by then. Martin passed away in 1919 and Mary passed away in 1923, they are buried in Glasnevin cemetery JL291.5 with my uncle, Frank Curran, apparently Martin and Frank were very close.

Next is Pattrick Curran, yes, this is the right spelling, who was born in 1858 in Sheean, Co Carlow. in 1901, he is seen living at 8 Echlin Street, which is just off James Street, Dublin 8, in the 1911 census, he is seen in 23 Upper Basin Street, just around the corner, incidentally the properties that he lived in had a very large amount of people living in them, in Echlin Street property there were 44 people! And in the Basin Street property there were 31. By 1911 Pattrick had been married for 26 years to Anne Healy(another name from near to Drumphea, could she be connected?) they had six children, the names were Mary(1886), John(1900), Elizabeth(1898), Charlotte(1902), Nellie(1904) and Patrick(1890) Of which Mary, the eldest had married a man whose surname was O'Toole in 1909 and they had a son, Michael O'Toole in 1910, according to the 1911 census for Basin Street. Mary was also down as working as a cigarette spinner in a tobacco factory.

The only other one I know about is James Curran, who was born in 1860 in county Carlow, probably Sheean. In '01 census, he is living next door to his brother Patrick at 7 Echlin Street, by 1911 he is living locally in 13 Thomas Court, and not too far from Patrick. By 1911 he had married a Dubliner, Marcella Flynn around 1883. they had  8 children by 1911, these were, Agnes(1895) Edward(1884) Thomas(1900) James(1898) Matthew(1893) William(1891) Eileen(1902) Patrick(1907)

Even though the elder Currans within my modern family have never heard of these people, I feel that John Curran, the starter of this very extensive family tree played a very important role in the reasoning of my grandfather, Martin Curran and possibly his brother Peter Curran, moving up to Dublin. Back in those days, when somebody moved away from their local rural area, they wouldn’t  tend to move too far away from, or even in with another relative in their new area, in this case it was their uncle John up in Dublin, by the time both Martin and Peter started having children John was long gone. But, and it is a very big but, when my uncle frank died in 1940, he was put into a plot in Glasnevin cemetery with Johns eldest son, Martin and his wife, my father always maintained that Frank and Martin had a very close fraternal relationship, Frank was a number of years junior to Martin but may have looked to him as some kind of mentor. Especially after the passing of his mother, and his dad being a policeman too. Also his dad remarried when Frank was in his early teens, it leaves much to the imagination, but I can see why that would be a reason, as my father says they were so close. Maybe he needed a closer person to guide him, I never really looked at it this way, and while typing these words, I feel his and his sister’s turmoil. But then when you look back to Dublin of 100-150 years ago, there were not alot of happy stories to tell, most people struggled to make ends meet, and I can't say my ancestors were any exception to that.

John Curran, and his families vandalised grave in Glasnevin cemetery, Dublin.

Currans of Boherduff and other graveyards.

The weekend before last, my brother had come over from Canada, for his usual family history visit which he doe’s annually, on one of the days we done the usual visits around some of the usual graveyards, but a couple of new ones too, we were definitely not let down either.

My Great great great grandfather Michael Curran's Grave in Dunleckney, reads 'Erected by Michael Curren of Knocklonagad in memory of his father Michael Curren who depd this life the 14^th of Oct 1829 aged 69 years' (born 1760)

As well as Glasnevin, Mullhuddart, Drumphea, Kildavin, Clonegal and new from last year, Dunleckney. We also paid visits to Castledermot in county Kildare, where my Grandmother Margaret Doyle’s brother, Patrick is buried. Next up was Fennagh, Co Carlow

Church of Ireland Cemetery, there was nothing there that really took our interest, and we also visited a cemetery in Ballon, county Carlow. Finally we visited Newtown Cemetery (RC) Co Carlow, I must say that this cemetery has truly been a revelation in my genealogical searches around this area.

Andrew(right) and myself at some of the Curran graves in Newtown County Carlow.

Let me explain, it was always considered by members of my elder family that the family homestead is Drumphea, as there is a grave there with a person in it dating back to 1788 as their birth date, and an old building that has been seen as the farm that my grandfather grew up on. Though looking at the many documents around there is only one Curran family living in Drumphea in the 1850’s Griffith valuation papers, this was my GGGF Martin. But if you go 1km south of here there is a small village called Knocklonagad, where there were a number of Currans are there in the same valuation, which says to me that Martin was from Knocklonagad, as there is another brother of his definitely living down there. Yet there is no sign of Knocklonagad Currans buried in Drumphea, but there is one buried up in Dunleckney, Michael Curran. Yet still, other than a couple of other Currans in the same cemetery, this one says that Michael is from Knocklonagad, telling me that he was the father of Martin my GGGF, so he will be my GGGGF. Sorry I should have said that the Michael from Knocklonagad that is buried in Dunleckney was born around 1760, predating Martin by 28 years, is it making sense? Now upon our visit to Newtown cemetery which is about four miles from both Dunleckney and Drumphea cemeteries, we found the most Curranly numerate cemetery yet, only one in Drumphea, only one in Dunleckney, four in Newtown. The Curran’s that are buried here are now referred to by me as the Boherduff Curran’s. My new theory is that my GGGGF Michael left the family homestead in Boherduff, because there was a rather large amount of Currans in the area and probably not too much around for him, Michael moved to Knocklonagad, five miles south, this would have been around 1780, he married had a number of children, who set up various sections of farmland in the Knocklonagad area, one of these was my GGGF Martin who moved a little way across the valley to Drumphea. He then went on to have a number of children, of which one, my GGF Francis inherited his farm and so on.

The older Curran grave in Newtown reads' Erected by John Curran of Boherduff in memory of his son James who departed life june 20th 1830 aged 54 years(born 1776), alos to the memory of the above named John Curran who departed life August 27th 1841 age 90(born 1751), also his wife, Mary Curran who departed this life March 4th 1847 aged 86, also his grandson Patrick who died 14th December 1886 aged 38.  The John who is referred to here as far as i am concerned is my GGGGF Michaels older brother.

The other older grave in Newtown, Co Carlow. Read ' Erected by Thomas Curran of Boherduff in memory of his father Patrick Curran who died Dec 15th 1875(born 1783) aged 92, also his mother Mary Curran who died Dec 23 1875 aged 88 years, and his brother John Curran died Mar 7thg 1886 aged 82 years, the above named Thomas Curran died 23rd oct 1916 aged 86 years, his son John died 26th sep 1937 age 67 years, and his son Patrick died 12th jan 1942 aged 75 years, also Annie wife of john died 1st jan 1966(The Patrick that is referred to in this grave would be the son of the John in the grave in the picture above)

In the graves in Newtown some of the individuals date back to the 1750’s, which says to me that they must have been of the same birth year grouping as Michael (Knocklonagad), and because of the number of older Curran individuals buried in this graveyard, I am really glad to say that this is now the new hinterland for my Currans.

I have to offer some very big thanks to one individual for pointing me in this direction, her name is Elaine Curran, from Northern Ireland, who contacted me on one of the many forums that I have put feelers out on, and told me that her husband, Leo Curran’s descendants were from here in Boherduff, I looked up Boherduff on Google earth and low and behold, there is a cemetery in it. I had asked other Currans from the Drumphea area, as to whether or not there were any other older cemeteries in the local area from Drumphea, they told me there were not, so therefore they are unaware of this Curran grouping here in Boherduff cemetery.

We also visited the newly renovated grave in Bunclody of Peter Curran, which I must say has had an absolutely top notch job done on it. It was really nice to have Andrew, my brother over, as it always ends up that we go hunting around for new revelations to get, as well as the new finds in the cemeteries, we also met up with Richard Hoolahan, grandson of Peter Curran, my grandfathers brother. We spent a lovely afternoon with him down in Ballinteer, south Dublin. Also we had a meeting with my auntie Kathleen, her daughter Anna and son Tommy, once again two really enjoyable evenings with them, Kathleen is a fountain of knowledge when it comes to the descendants of my grandfather, martin, this time she told me of the fact that I had a cousin whose name was Frank, that I never knew of, it doesn’t matter how many times you visit a person for information regarding family history, you will always get something new from them. This is something I never actually realised until recently, but never a truer word has been noted, and if I had any advice for other amateur genealogists like myself it would be that.

After my brother leaves, because it is nearly all relating to family history, though he does come over to see the family of course, when he leaves, I am always left with a list of genealogical tasks, one thing that I really have to do is contact one part of my family that I haven’t, this is the descendants of my first cousin, Mona, who was the daughter of my uncle Frank(whom I never met, as he died before I was born) Next is to try and find the current Boherduff Currans, which won’t be a problem, and then there are a thousand and one other things to chase, watch this space..........