My great great grandmother Anne Mortimer Walsh came from a
rural, mountainous area of County Laois (Queen’s County), Ireland. I have been fascinated by the area for many
years and have visited there on a few occasions. Several of my cousins still live nearby
there. With the explosion of
never-before-accessible Irish genealogy information being placed on the
internet seemingly almost daily, it’s become possible for me to study the
people who lived there in depth.
The 1901 and 1911 Irish Census are the earliest records of
their kind that cover the entire country.
These have been available online since 2009. When used in conjunction with the church and
civil records for County Laois available at RootsIreland, one can trace the
residents living in the area, note naming patterns in the families, and
document how they are related to each other over many years. Even with the accessibility and seeming
completeness of these records, constructing family groups with any accuracy is
still a challenge.
Anne Mortimer and several of her siblings had left Ireland
long before the surviving 1901 census was taken, but she still had a brother
residing in Lacka District Electoral Division.
Studying the family of John Mortimer and his neighbors in the townlands
of Bockagh, Killinure, Roundwood, Rossalee, Whitefield, Inchanisky,
Mountainfarm, Drimhill or Quarryfarm, Drimmo, Rossadown, Lacka, Bordowin and
Monicknew has opened my eyes to the way of life Anne left behind. The 13 townlands listed above had a total
population of about 300 in both the 1910 and 1911 censuses. Examining them has led me to a few
observations.
1.
There
were many elderly people enumerated, especially in the 1901 census. Lots of them would have known my great great
grandmother, even though she left the area in the 1860’s, and many would have
had memory of the great famine that occurred in the 1840’s. Most lived with one or more of their
children, and it was not uncommon for them to be 80 years old or above.
2.
Men tended to remain bachelors until well into
their 30’s and even 40’s. Women did not
marry at a very young age either. Likely
this was due to economic necessity. The
rural Irish in general did not own the land they lived on and there was only so
much of it to go around, forcing young men to seek employment in the more urban
areas or emigrate.
3.
Families tended to consist of more daughters than
sons, probably for the reasons listed above.
4.
Ages given in the census records are WAY off,
much more so than the ones given in American census records. Baptism records often give dates as many as
10 years off an age given in a census record, for both adults and
children. I’ve often heard it said that
many Irish did not know how old they were, and this would seem to support that
notion.
5.
Class distinction is very obvious between the
enumerations of the landed gentry and the working classes. In the Lacka DED, the working class people
were almost exclusively farmers and of the Catholic religion. Their names were those we would all consider
more traditionally Irish. The gentry
were members of the Church of Ireland or England, had occupations such as
landlord, military officer or barrister.
In the US, upper, middle or lower classes are not as easily inferred
from a census record.
6.
There
were not many Irish speakers among those enumerated in this district, and those
that could speak Irish were bi-lingual and not natives of Queen’s County.
7.
Not all Catholic parish records are created
equal. The entries for Camross parish
are much more detailed than those for neighboring Mountrath parish, some
baptism records even giving details of marriages that occurred years later and
in different places as far away as New York!
The database now consists of 606
people, with more details being added as I encounter them. Major surnames in the area were Phelan,
Delaney, Breen, Carroll, Cuddy, Doran and of course Mortimer. If you have any ancestors from this area,
contact me and I’ll share my information.
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