The Carmody's of Knocknagoshel Parish

My dad says he remembers when his father heard that his uncle Edmond had died. My grandfather had emigrated to the U.S. a long time ago by then, but he was still upset to hear this, because he had always thought of Edmond as his father. Now that I've learned that my grandfather lived in a completely different village than the rest of his family, it really makes sense how he could identify with someone else as his father. It seems to me that the Carmody's tromping grounds were Knocknagoshel, and for the O'Connor roots I should look elsewhere.

Luckily for me, Knocknagoshel has amazing records. I should explain- many census' were taken in Ireland, and many were burned (or some say "exploded" to be more accurate). And in the rare case of Knocknagoshel, many baptism records survived and were later transcribed into a Parish database online!! This database is very Kerry specific so I really lucked out.

I was hoping to find that the Carmodys had deep roots in Knocknagoshel and maybe I could go back another generation or two. No dice, unfortunately. I could not find EDMOND CARMODY or JOHANA GEANEY's baptism records (which would have their parents names). But I did find both of their names on my great-grandmother's birth certificate transcription! (again, I couldn't find an actual image of the baptism records, but the information was rewritten as follows).

BAPTISM of Elizabeth Carmody of BAILLEDUV on 18 February 1871
Name ELIZABETH CARMODY
Date of Birth 17 February 1871
Address BAILLEDUV
Father EDMOND CARMODY
Mother JOANNA GEANY
Father Occupation NR
Sponsor 1 LAURENCE WRENN
Sponsor 2 ELIZABETH RELIHAN
Priest REV. M. O'FLAHERTY

So, I know have a birth date for my great grandmother - Feb 17th 1871 - making her the oldest of her known siblings thus far. And notice how the Carmodys are from a place called Ballyduff in 1901, that is spelled Bailleduv in 1871. Phonetics is sometimes the rule when finding small townships! (Also notice that Elizabeth's sponsor is Laurence Wrenn, and there is a Wrenn family living next to the Carmodys in 1901-11). Even better, I found 3 more baptism records with the parents EDMOND CARMODY and JOHANA GEANY.

BAPTISM of Denis Carmody of BAILLEBAN on 1 May 1873
Name DENIS CARMODY
Date of Birth 29 April 1873
Address BAILLEBAN
Father EDMOND CARMODY
Mother JOANNA GEANY
Father Occupation NR
Sponsor 1 LAURENCE WRENN
Sponsor 2 MARY WRENN
Priest REV. P. PIERSE
There is no mention of Denis Carmody in Knocknagoshel in 1901 or 1911, but neither is my great-grandmother, so perhaps Denis moved away too. I can't help but gather that the family name 'Denis' (which is huge in our family) started on the Carmody side.

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Other CARMODY Baptisms:

CATHERINE CARMODY of BAILLEDUV
M. Joanna Geany, F. Edmond Carmody / Sponsors: Denis Geany, Julia Leane
PATRICK CARMODY on 18 March 1885 (b. 17 March 1875)
Sponsors: Simon Carmody, Mary Carmody (Priest Rev. T. Carmody)

What we now know about the Carmodys:

Edmond Carmody (somehow related to Simon & Mary Carmody- siblings makes most sense) and Johana Geany (somehow related to Denis Geany) had the following children:

ELIZABETH (b. 17 Feb. 1871), DENIS (b. 29 Apr. 1873), PATRICK (b. 17 Mar 1875), DANIEL (b. 1877), BRIDGET (b. 1879), THOMAS (b.1881), EDMOND (b.1883) and CATHERINE (1885).

Parish records are some of the most reliable records for Roman Catholics in Ireland. The Carmodys lived in the Castleisland Parish, but they had a closer church in Knocknagoshel, where a priest from Castleisland would visit. I found one more record of Edmond Carmody, in 1916 when he signed a petition for the Bishop of Kerry to send Knocknagoshel its own priest. I'm working with the preserver of this document to send me a copy with my g-g-grandfather's signature, but until then you can see the transcription here. The petition was granted.

Being a Document Detective...

I was so excited to see me Great-great grandfathers handwriting in 1911, that I forgot to fully process and investigate it- which is super important because historical documents in Ireland are SO hard to come by. Here's what we've learned from his census document in 1911:

1. EDMOND CARMODY (my great-great grandfather) was a farmer, aged 71 (therefor born 1840-ish) speaks Irish and English and is Widowed. Which means...

2. JOHANA GEANEY (my great-great grandmother) died sometime before 1911.

3. JOHANA and EDMOND had the following children: ELIZABETH (my g-grandmother), EDMOND, BRIDGET, and CATHERINE (who has married a NOLAN by 1911 and had a son JOHN NOLAN).

4. CATHERINE NOLAN (my grandfather's aunt) was married to ?? NOLAN around 1908, and lost one child before having JOHN NOLAN.

Along with the census, The National Archives of Ireland provides the "Enumerator's Abstract," "House and Building Returns," as well as an "Out-Offices and Farm-Steadings Return," which you can read more about here. I really like to look at the House and Building returns because it calculates what class of houses are in the villiage, and on what basis they should be taxed. Here's the 1911 Building return of my great-great grandfather EDMOND CARMODY's town of Ballyduff, Knocknagoshel, Co. Kerry.

You can view this document (as well as the others I listed above) much bigger and in greater detail here. From this document I can see that there are other Carmodys living in this small town. I believe that some of them may be Edmond's brothers or sisters, but since there's no documentation to prove it, I put it on the back-burner for now. Meanwhile, from this document I've learned my g-g-grandfather, Edmond Carmody owned his own home, which was 3rd class by English standards. It had a thatch roof, 2 windows, and 2 rooms for 7 people!

While I've learned so much, I now have many more questions.

1. I can't seem to find DENIS O'CONNOR's parents, brothers or sisters in Knocknagoshel in 1911- Where are they?

2. What about my g-g-grandmother JOHANA GEANEY? When did she die? Did she have family?

3. Can I go further back than my g-g-grandfather Edmond who lived in Knocknagoshel?

The last question prompts me to check the 1901 census, for the same town of Knocknagoshel. My grandfather wouldn't have been born yet, but I'm interested to see what Edmond was up to. Here's the same town's building return 10 years earlier, in 1901.

Here he is 10 years earlier; Edmond (Here misspelled as Edward- which I wish could say is uncommon, but searching alternate spellings is VITAL when looking at Irish history). This time his house is classified as 2nd Class! Apparently this house has one more room and window than the house he occupies in 1911. I wonder if he moved, rebuilt, or remodeled to pay less taxes?

We now know:

1. JOHANA (GEANEY) CARMODY was born sometime around 1847, and died after 1901 but before 1911.

2. Johana and Edmond (both Irish speaking) had the following children: ELIZABETH (my g-grandmother), CATHERINE (b. 1875), DANIEL (b. 1877), BRIDGET (b. 1879), THOMAS (b. 1881) and EDMOND (b. 1883)

I feel like I'm learning so much about Elizabeth Carmody's family (who raised my grand father), but where is Elizabeth and her husband John at this time? They are no where to be found in Knocknagoshel. The hunt continues...

Where it all begins...

Genealogy has become such a trend today that it seems it costs a million dollars to find your roots. An international 1 year subscription to Ancestry.com is $300.00!! I may not know much about my ancestors, but I know they weren't made of money. As I was holed up in my apartment sick one day, I decided to see what I could find out via the rarely reliable world wide web for free. I figured with my A+ googling skills, and a metro card (my passport to the metropolitan areas all my grandparents have lived, or there records might be stored) I might be able to find out a little bit more about my lineage.

Thankfully, my dad's cousin John keeps excellent family tree records. I happened to negotiate a copy out of him when he came to see the Christmas Spectacular. I soon realized I would not have been able to find anything without cousin John's comprehensive document. First, I'll show you my tree:

First, let me say I'm embarrassed to say I don't know my grandma's maiden name, so she didn't make the cut on the tree. But thankfully, I now know birth dates and locations for my grandparents on the O'Connor side in Ireland. Apparently my grandfather (DENIS O'CONNOR) was born in a town called Knocknagoshel, Co Kerry, Ireland in 1902. (Luckily, I don't have to pronounce this townships here). His parents were JOHN O'CONNOR and ELIZABETH CARMODY who were born on an unknown date, but both died in Knocknagoshel in the 1950s. Elizabeth Carmody's parent's were EDMOND and JOHANA (GEANEY) CARMODY from the smaller area of Meen, Knocknagoshel. I remember that my grandfather was one of 11 kids (and a twin) and was sent away to live with a relative family called the Carmodys, because there were too many kids to care for in his home. (I can't even begin to imagine what life was like for him.)

After much google searching I finally found a free public records database for Ireland- Thankfully the National Archives of Ireland will let you search the census of 1901 and 1911, online for free here.

Since my grandfather was born in 1902, I start with the 1911 Census. The records are first organized by county, which I know his is Kerry (which my sister is named for). Next I have to l0cate his DED which is District Electorial Divisions- thankfully I find one named Knocknagoshel, but yet there are more subcatagories. I returned to cousin John's records looking for further specification of where in Knocknagoshel Denis Sr. lived, to find a place called Muinganear, but it is not one of the subcategories listed. I randomly started poking through one called Ballyduff (because honestly it sounded like a village in The Shire). There are a million O'Connors in Knocknagoshel, and everytime I see a Denis I get a little excited until I notice they are far too old, or don't have the right parents and siblings. Finally I find a Denis that fits, and at age 8 he's living with The Carmodys. Its definitely him. Here's a copy of the census, filled out by my great-great-grandfather Edmond Carmody.

You can see this Census as a PDF by clicking here. I'm so glad that such a simple search yielded such exciting results.