June 22, 2011:

My name is Mary Donnelly and I am from Borrisokane in County Tipperary.  
Have any of you heard of the Black Donnelly's who left Borrisokane?  James Donnelly and Johanna McGee, the parents, were eventually 
slaughtered in the biggest unsolved crime in Canadian history.  They had Howe as sponsors at their wedding and a Howe was also married 
to a Donnelly cousin of theirs.  The decendants of many of the people you write about  are known to me.  Eamonn Slevin from Borrisokane 
for example is a local historian and I think you should be talking to him.  If you have come across anything that might be helpful 
please pass it along.  Meanwhile I have grave records that are rare.  Just saw a grave of a Darby Slevin lately.
 
Kind regards 
 
... Mary  
(PS.  I am not related to the Donnelly's but the Howe family from Borriskane and the district are and we have lots of 
documentation around it.  We have a photo or two of Howe who left Borrisokane for New Zealand.  Can pass anything along!)

The following map shows the main towns / villages within a fifty kilometre radius of Borrisokane. These are the major centres from which 
the pioneer settlers from North Tipperary, Ireland, came to Canada in the 1820-1855 time period.

These are the distances from Borrisokane:

Terryglass 10 Km.
Nenagh 18 km.
Roscrea 29 km.
Borrisoleigh 43 km.
Thurles 50 km.

The beginning of the major immigration from Tipperary, Ireland, to Carleton County, Ontario was the 1818 Talbot Settlers.

Map Source: This map is a portion of a widely-distributed black and white map showing Ireland in 1848.
It appears in many books, for example, The Great Hunger, Ireland, 1845-1849, by Cecil Woodham-Smith, page 13.
County Tipperary has been extracted from the main map and appears below.



Some Reference Works used in the creation of this web page:

Irish Migrants in the Canadas: A New Approach, by Dr. Bruce Elliott (Carleton University), 
McGill/Queen's Press, 1988, ISBN 0-7735-0607-I -- This book is encyclopedic and should be in all of our family libraries.
(HIST 3500 course at Carleton University, given by Dr. Bruce Elliott)), Digital Version

Black Donnelly Family Web Site

The Donnelly Album, by Ray Fazakas, Firefly Books, 1995, ISBN 1-895565-61-8, 311 pages

The McCabe List - Early Irish (1829) in the Ottawa Valley, Ontario Genealogical Society, 1991








        Emigrants from Borrisokane, County Tipperary, Ireland, to Ontario and Quebec, Canada, 1820-1855



CLARKE, William
 to Barrhaven in 1842

CORNWALL, Richard

DONNELLY, James
 to Biddulph Township in 1842
"Black Donnellys"
HOBBS, William
to Ashton Village area, some to Aylwin, Quebec
ML# 299
HODGINS Family
to Carleton County and Biddulph

HOGAN, Luke

MULVIHILL, John
from Borrisoleigh before 1830
ML# 248
RICHARDS, Richard
ML# 291
SLAVIN / SLEVIN (7 brothers)
to Bytown
see SLEVINs in Borrisokane related to Donnellys in Biddulph
more names to come ... 






 


June 26, 2011:

Roman Catholics in the Barony of Ikerrin (includes the town of Roscrea),in 1750.


June 29, 2011:

Hello, Mary. 

My name is Kevin Collins and I am planning another trip to Ireland to investigate my maternal roots. My mother’s maiden name
was O’Meara and on a previous trip to Ireland I did a little scouting around Nenagh and Toomevara in Tipperary in search of 
O’Meara links (my main mission, however,  was investigating Collins connections (Patrick and Timothy in West Cork). 
There are so many O’Mearas around this area that it was a bit overwhelming especially without having much time there. In going 
through some of my late mother’s papers, I noticed she made a note: “My great-grandparents were Martin O’Meara and Mary Troy, 
natives of Bracka, Ireland, County Tipperary.” Elsewhere in her papers, there is a reference to Borrisokane. I believe ‘Bracka’ 
is spelled ‘Brocka’, but I am confused as to what the status of Brocka is.  I have heard of the restaurant ‘Brocka-on-the-Water’ 
in Ballinderry, and have seen a few real estate listings for Brocka, Ballindery, but not sure if Brocka is a distinct entity. 

Any clarification you might provide would be most appreciated.

... Kevin
________________________________

Thanks to Mary for this reply:

Have a look at this site for general information on Troy's of Ireland.  Troy Family in Ireland

(There was also a Troy Family who came to Ottawa from County Kilkenny, Ireland ... Al)

Humphrey site is the one for the O' Meara's and I am confident that they are your ancestors.   
 
... Mary


October 30, 2011:

Hi Mary, Kevin and Al,

My name is Tim O'Hara and I live in Rochester, Michigan just north of Detroit. I just noticed your web site 
and read with interest some of your comments on Borrisokane and the O'Meara's. I have learned a lot today! My great great great 
grandfather Daniel O'Meara emigrated through Quebec to Plympton Township, Lambton County, Ontario in 1847 with his 
wife and 8 children. They moved to Emmett, Michigan just on the other side of the Saint Clair River in 1852. 

Emmett was a completely Irish farming community at that time. His son and my great great grandfather James had a large and 
successfuI farm in Emmett which still exists although not within the family. James daughter Mary O'Meara married my great 
grandfather Michael O'Hara who lived down the road. My grandfather was born in that house in 1906. 

I had assumed from previous reading that the O'Meara's were mainly from Nenagh and Toomevara. I went to Ireland in August 
for the first time in 20 years fairly confident that I at least knew the town where the O'Meara's were from. I don't really 
have a clue as to specific towns for O'Haras (Sligo), Callaghans (Castleconor), O'Briens (Clare) etc. We spent a few 
hours driving around the Toomevara area and I told the kids I think this is where the family is from. Well I was just 
reading a book I ordered on Amazon, "The Famine Clearance in Toomevara, County Tipperary" (see details below) about a mass 
eviction in 1849 in Toomevara. Several O'Mearas were prominently mentioned in the book and not favorably. Wondering if I 
was related to these guys, I started looking for an O'Meara family history that a distant cousin Mary Bailey had put 
together back in 2001. I knew I had lost the electronic version on my last hard drive failure several years ago, but 
I just found a paper copy that my dad had made years ago. It prominently says that James O'Meara was born in Borrisokane 
in Kilbarron Parish in 1840 and emigrated with his family in 1847. Probably should have looked harder for that before 
I went to Ireland. Gives me a good reason to go back. 

I don't really know if living for 5 years in Canada before moving to the U.S. (the move actually was probably less 
than 30 miles) meets your criteria Mary, but I thought I would let you know.

Kind Regards,
Tim O'Hara





 November 17, 2011:

Here is the book referenced above by Tim. It's just come in and is included in the  bytown.net library:

The Famine Clearance in Toomevara, County Tipperary, by Helen O'Brien