Graiguenamanagh Parish records through the LDS Family History Center

Yesterday I completed my review of the Graiguenamanagh parish records (film #0926114) at the Family History Center in Bloomington, MN.  My focus was on the surnames Kent and Aide (Eaide/Ade/Aid/Ead) and I found neither Kent nor Aide in any of the marriage records from 1818 to 1838, which was pretty disappointing.  However, I did come across a few Walls and quite a few Codys, all of which I will post at the end of this entry.  Maybe someone else will find them useful…  You might think that if the Aide family were from Graiguenamanagh, there would be at least be a few relatives still hanging around.  So I guess the search continues…

Baptismal records for the church parish of Graiguenamanagh through the LDS begin at 1867, well after the years I’d actually like to look at.  I thought I might find something in the marriage records, but I found absolutely nothing.  The National Library of Ireland has baptismal records for Graiguenamanagh, but these records begin at 1838, so now I wonder where I might be able to search for records or if there are even records available to search for.  Did Graiguenamanagh not begin a baptismal register until 1838?  Were the records destroyed?  Were the baptismal records kept at another parish? Graiguenamanagh was with the Roman Catholic diocese of Kildare and Leighlin – I guess my next step will be to contact them and see if they can give me a little history of the church parish of Graiguenamanagh and see if there is another church parish associated with Graiguenamanagh.  With any luck, they will have baptismal records that pre-date those of the National Library of Ireland.

A few notes regarding the Graiguenamanagh parish records:

• The film number is 0926114.  If any of the following names ring a bell in your family history, I would strongly urge you to check the film yourself and not use this blog entry as a source.
• According to the LDS film notes, “Baptisms, 1866-1868, marriages, 1908-1931 (gives some baptismal dates), baptisms, 1869-1881, marriages, 1818-1880.”  As far as baptismal records, I am only transcribing Cody and Wall baptisms from 1869-1876; Cody and Wall marriage records from 1819-Feb 1824.  For both baptisms and marriages, some of the information was extremely faded or illegible, so it is likely I missed a few entries or made mistakes in the transcription.  In transcriptions that were hard to read, I’ve placed “??.”  With regards to the marriage records, the years 1822 to 1823 were almost impossible for me to make out, so I did not even bother trying.
• Abtract includes the surnames Wall and Cody, only.  The abstracts of the baptismal records will read: baptism date, the individual baptized, father, mother and where they were from.  Marriage abstracts will read: marriage date, spouse to bride, witnesses, and where they were from.

Diocese of Kildare and Leighlin – Parish of Graiguenamanagh: Cody and Wall – baptisms 1869-1876

• ?? Jan 1869, Michael Cody, Father: Edmund, Mother: Annie Egan, Glenmore
• ?? Jan 1869, Catherine Cody, Father: Michael, Mother: Bridget Burchaell?, Ullard
• ?? Aug 1869, John Cody, Father: John, Mother: Anastatia Price, ?Stackley ?
• ?? Aug 1869, Michael Wall, Father: Edward, Mother: Anne Murphy, Graig
• 15 Jun 1870, John Cody, Father: John, Mother: Mary Ryan, Graig
• 25 Sep 1870, Margaret Cody, Father: Michael, Mother: Bridget Burchaell, Ullard
• 11 Nov 1870, Thomas Cody, Father: James, Mother: Mary Whalen, ?KnoickGoaly??
• 15 Oct 1871, Bridget Cody, Father: Michael, Mother: Bridget Burchell, Ullard
• 28 Sep 1871, Thomas Cody, Father: Patrick, Mother: Anastatia Price, Stockly
• 13 Sep 1872, James Cody, Father: Michael, Mother: Bridget Burchell, Ullard
• 03 Nov 1872, ?? Wall, Father: Edward, Mother: Anne Murphy, Graig
• 26 Nov 1872, Mary Cody, Father: James, Mother: Mary Whalen, ???
• 29 Dec 1873, Patrick Cody, Father: Patrick, Mother: Anastatia Price, Stockley
• 25 Apr 1874, Bridget Cody, Father: Michael, Mother: ??? Burchell, Ullard
• 08 Oct 1874, WM? Cody, Father: James, Mother: Mary Whalen, ?Killkoolly?
• 20 Aug 1876, Mary Bridget Wall, Father: Edward, Mother: Anne Baker?, Heph St?
• 06 Nov 1876, Mary Coady, Father: James, Mother: Margaret Whelan, Graig?

Diocese of Kildare and Leighlin – Parish of Graiguenamanagh: Cody and Wall – marriages 1819-1824

• 23 Jan 1919: John Redmond to Catherine Wall; wit: James Connors & Judith Blanchfield; Old Grange
• 22 Feb 1821: Michael Cody to Mary Cain; wit: Andrew Henefy? & Elenor Cody; Sallybog
• ?? Mar 1821: Thomas Henefey? to Mary Cody; wit: William Cain & Elenore Cody; Sallybog
• 24 Oct 1824: Thomas Cody to Elenor Walsh; wit: Michael Nolan & ?Meredeth? Walsh; Graig?
• 14 Jan 1824: Patrick Cody to Eleanor Niel; wit: James Murphy? & Mary Murphy; Ullard
• 20 Feb 1824: Thos Ford to Eleanor Cody; wit: none mentioned; Graig
• 24 Feb 1824: Thomas Cody to Catherine Wallace; wit: none mentioned; Coolather?

It does seem odd to me that I found no one with the surname Kent in the Graig RC registers.  I know that as late as 1850, according to Griffith’s Valuation there are Kents living in the Civil Parish of Graig.  Why would they not show up in the parish registers??  So far I have found Aide’s in the RC parishes of Thomastown, Slieverue and Glenmore, before and after the time Edward is said to have been born in Graig, but absolutely no one with the surname within the parish of Graig.  I think my next step will be to check the Thomastown registers, which is just east of Graig…

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Aide/Eaid in Slieverue Parish

Remember in the last posting when I mentioned that I’d found a Peter Aide that had been born in the Catholic Parish of Slieverue?  According to that baptismal record, dated 10 April of 1787, his parents names were Edmund Aide and Agnes Kehow.  Well, today I was at the Minnesota Genealogical Society doing a little research and when I was reviewing inscriptions from the Rathpatrick cemetery (from Rathpatrick Graveyard, County Kilkenny Memorial Inscriptions No. 13, by Michael O’Sullivan), which would have been part of Slieverue Parish, I came across this inscription:

“Erected by Edmund Eaid’s sons in memory of their mother Agnus Eaid alias Kehoe who departed this life January 19th 1808, aged 48 years.  Also three of her children who died young.  Also the body of James Eaid drowned at sea February 19th 1813, aged 27 years.  Also Mathew Eaid who departed this life May 20th 1813, aged 22 years.  Also the body of Edmund who departed this life 22nd April 1814, aged 61 years.”

Of course, I don’t know how exactly this branch is related to the branch(es) that settled in Highland, WI.  I sort of assume that, because the surname Aide is so rare in Ireland and because it only seems to really show up on southeastern Kilkenny, we are all probably related.  Of course, when doing a genealogy project it’s a little self-defeating to assume anything.

Anyway, I just thought I’d pass it along because I thought it was interesting. 🙂

Where was Edward Aide born?

I just want to start off by, again, thanking Maureen for giving me a copy of Julia Aide’s letter. It has been far and away one of the most important documents I’ve come in contact with and it’s led to a plethora of new leads and information, especially with regard to possible locations of where Edward Aide was born, which is the focus of this entry.

Note that in the second paragraph, although it does not specifically state where in Kilkenny Edward is from, it does mention that “a near neighbor was Walter Kent who came from the same town in Ireland…” Walter Kent, who was Edward Aide’s brother-in-law, is also buried in St. Philip Cemetery at Highland. As luck would have it, the location of Walter’s birth in Ireland is on his grave stone, and though it is quite faded, it’s still visible. When I was in Highland, WI doing research, I took a photograph of the inscription and using Adobe Photoshop I “tweaked” the photo so that the letters might become slightly more readable. Though the letters were far from crystal clear, I was still able to distinguish a enough of them to figure out what was written.

The clearest, most obvious words are his name and date of death: “Walter Kent Died Oct. 14, 1874 Aged 51 yrs.” Even without “tweaking” these letters are clearly visible on his burial marker. What is written below is much less visible. There are three lines in particular, the middle line slightly more distinguishable as “Co. KIllkenny, Ireland.” The top and bottom lines are an entirely different story. The only words I could make out were “Parish,” “of,” and “Graig.” Other than that I could only make out other various letters. After a little “tweaking” I came to the conclusion that the top line inscription read “Born in St. llybog (or) St. Ulybog Parish of Graig.” The third line simply read, “may he rest in peace.” Of course, at the time, none of these words (other than “may he rest in peace”) meant a thing to me as I hadn’t, as of yet, closely looked at a map of KIlkenny or had any knowledge of the parish names. So I did a little research.

I looked through various maps and records and performed various internet searches, searching for where “Graig” might be. As it turns out, “Graig” was short for Graiguenamanagh, which is both a civil and a Roman Catholic parish in eastern Co. Kilkenny, along the Co. Carlow border. After researching Graiguenamanagh, I hit a break one day when I came across the Tithe Applotments (an explanation of Tithe Applotments can be found here ) for the civil parish of Graiguenamanagh. On the list, there is a James Kent, whom I believe to be Walter (and Anastatia [Kent] Aide) Kent’s father, who is listed as living in the Sallybog subdivision of the townland of Raheendonore in the civil parish of Graiguenamanagh.  James Kent is again found in Griffith’s Valuation Index of Co. Kilkenny, circa 1850, again in the townland of Raheendonore.  So it seems that my interpretation of Walter Kent’s place of birth of his grave stone as “St. llybog” or “St. Ullyboh” was perhaps close, but may not have been quite right. I went back and looked at the photo of Walter Kent’s grave marker to double check and I now believe that the inscription reads “Born in Sallybog, Parish of Graig.” So I have since came to the theoretical conclusion that Edward Aide was born somewhere in or around the civil parish of Graiguenamanagh. The only way to really find birth records in Ireland, especially before the 20th century, is to look through the baptismal records of church parish documents. …and so the search begins…

Using the online records search system run by the Irish Family History Foundation, which performs partial searches of transcribed church parish records in Co. Kilkenny and throughout Ireland, I began very basic, preliminary search for the surname “Aide.” What I found was very interesting. After searching in and around the civil parish of Graiguenamanagh, I found the surname Aide, with various spellings (e.g. Aide, Ade, Aid, Ead, Eade), in significant numbers in the Roman Catholic parishes of Slieverue and Glenmore, just southwest of the civil parish of Graiguenamanagh.

Before I continue I should very briefly explain a little of what I know about the parish systems in Ireland. It’s important to understand the distinction between civil parishes and church parishes, as the concept can be a little confusing at first glance. Civil parishes are the equivalent to cities and towns in the United States, each containing different districts. In Wisconsin, these districts would be called “townships,” whereas in Ireland, they would be referred to as “townlands.” As a comparison example, I’ll use my home town of River Falls, WI – some of the townships in River Falls, WI are: Troy, River Falls, Kinnikinnick, etc. Graiguenamanagh, as a civil parish, contains the following townlands: Ballyduff, Graiguenamanagh, Raheendonore, etc. For a full list of townlands and how they are distributed amongst the civil parishes of Co. KIlkenny, click here.

Here’s the same example described another way:

In Wisconsin the breakdown would be – Township, City or Town, County (e.g. Troy township of River Falls in St, Croix County)
In Kilkenny the breakdown would be – Townland, Civil Parish, County (e.g. Raheendonore townland of Graiguenamanagh civil parish in Co. Kilkenny)

Above I mentioned that according to the  Tithe Applotments, James Kent lived in the Sallybog subdivision of the townland of Raheendonore. Sallybog, in this case, would indicate an area of the Raheendonore townland.

Church parishes, though they quite often go by a similar name as a civil parish, are different. Each church parish may consist of several civil parishes or parts of civil parishes. Furthermore, whereas a group of Irish civil parishes will make up a county, a group of Irish church parishes will make up a diocese. For example, the church parish of Graiguenamanagh lies within the diocese of Leighlin. Within the Catholic Parish of Graiguenamanagh are the civil parishes of Graiguenamanagh, Ullard and Powerstown. So if you were to try to locate a baptismal or marriage record of a person you knew to be born or married in the townland of Ullard, you will likely begin your search by looking through the records of the church parish of Graiguenamanagh, depending on the year.

Webroots has an amazing set of maps that can further clarify the distinction between church and civil parishes, as well as help locate townlands. Another really good resource is Brian Mitchell’s, A New Genealogical Atlas of Ireland.

It is also important to mention that the boundaries of church parishes are not static, that the boundaries of a church parish can change from one decade to another. This means that, although Edward Aide may come from the same “town” as Walter Kent, they may have been born or baptized in different church parishes depending on the year in which they were born. Provided that the James Kent listed on the Tithe Applotments of Graiguenamanagh is actually Walter Kents father, even if Edward Aide came from the same “town” they may have been baptized in different church parishes depending on their age and depending on where their respective fathers chose to have them baptized. Additionally, when Julia [Aide] Egan states in her letter than Edward Aide was “came from the same town” as Walter Kent, this could mean a couple different things. They may have simply lived in the same relative area in southern Kilkenny or, because Edward was adopted, he may have been born and baptized in one church parish, then lived out his childhood in another parish, church or civil, after his adoption. We simply do not know.

So far, the earliest record I’ve found of an Aide in Kilkenny has been that of Richard Aide.  Baptised in the church parish of Slieverue on 16 May 1770, his parents were Thomas Aide and Joane Walsh.  Another early Aide, Peter, was also baptised in the church parish of Slieverue on 10 April of 1787.  His parents were Edmund Aide and Agnes Kehow.  There are quite a few other records accessable, however, accessing each record requires a fee of about $6 (5 Irish Pounds), so it will take both time and money to access each record.  I have accessed a few more records than these – I’ll provide this information in a future posting…

Letter from Julia [Aide] Egan to her young niece, Mary Pugil

NOTE:  You can click on most of the names in this letter to visually see where individuals fit into the family tree!  🙂

Highland, Wis.

Nov. 16, 1931

Dear Mary Pugil,

I’ll try to answer your request.  Hope it is what you want.

My father Edward Aide, better known as Ned Aide, was born in Kilkenny, Ireland about the year 1808.  His mother and father died when he was eight years old.  He was adopted by an Englishman named Forsal, with whom he stayed until he was twenty years old.  There were two other brothers James and Tom who were also adopted by Englishmen.  He had a sister, Mary, that was Mrs. Nugent of Chicago.  She is dead now.

My father and James Aide came to New York from Ireland, where they worked at odd jobs.  A year later they came westward to the mines of Wisconsin.  Father (Ned) finally came to Highland, then known as Franklin, where he cleared land for farming.  He also mined during the winter months on his farm.  A near neighbor was Walter Kent who came from the same town in Ireland he did.  At Walter Kent’s farm, after about four years of farming, he met Anastasia Kent a sister of Walter’s.  Later they married.  They had six children.  Their names were Pierce, your grandfather, James, Ellen (who died at three years of scarlet fever), Kate, Mary, and Julia (myself).

Father’s brother, James, lived at Mineral Point.  His brother Tom married and moved to England.  He never came to the United States.

Mother had three sisters and two brothers.  Her sisters were Kate, Mary and Ellen.  Mary married a Duggan and never came west of New York.  Kate married twice her first name being Mrs. Whalen and her second Mrs. J. Lynch.  She lived in Madison.  Ellen married Mr. Tom Wall of Highland.

My brother, James, married Mary Ann Ford and they had ten children.  Three of the children are dead now.  The mother and several of the children live in Chicago.

My sister, Mary, married Bill Cody and they had fourteen children.  One of the fourteen is dead but the others are all living.

Sister Kate, married John Egan and she had five children. Two of them Bertha and Howard are in Chicago.  Howard is teaching in Loyola University.

Of course there are three in my family but one child died in infancy, making four in all.

My father was about seventy years old when he died and that’s about fifty-two years ago as I’m seventy now.  Your grandfather was about seventy-five when he died some years ago.  All my brothers and sisters are dead and I’m the only one left.  I was the youngest.  Your grandfather was the oldest, then Mary, James, Kate, myself, and Ellen.  I should have written Ellen before myself.

This was written by Anna Egan, for Mother doesn’t write much, as her eyesight bothers her.

Your Cousin,

Anna Egan

**Note on letter: This letter was generously provided to me by Maureen [Aide] Kraak, Great Granddaughter to Pierce Aide.  The letter was given to her several years ago by Mary Pugil’s sister, Virginia Pugil.