REPORT
ON
THE FAMILY
OF
WILLIAM HOURIGAN
IN
COUNTY LIMERICK
Researched and Compiled by:
Catriona Crowe, Limerick Genealogy
For:
Mr. Jonathan David Makepeace
File Ref.: 2008.016
Friday 15th February 2008
THE SEARCH FOR
WILLIAM HOURIGAN
According to your information, William Hourigan was the son of John
Hourigan and Mary Purcell born in Limerick on the 14th May 1841 and he
had siblings of the names James, Tom, John and an unknown sister.
William’s father John died in Limerick and his mother Mary married Joseph
Murtagh in Ireland or Ontario. William’s half brother Joseph Murtagh junior
was born in Ontario in 1850. The aim of this research was to find the
Hourigan family in Limerick and the baptismal record of Mary Hourigan
née Purcell.
Based on the above information, I began the search by looking for the
baptismal record of William Hourigan throughout the extant records of the
sixty-one Roman Catholic parishes of Limerick city and county within the
Dioceses of Limerick, Killaloe and Cashel and Emly. Civil birth records in
Ireland only date from 1864 so we are reliant on church records of
baptisms for the early nineteenth century.
When trying to locate a baptismal record, it is necessary to broaden the
search period to at least five or ten years because from experience we
find that the suggested year of birth is often incorrect. In the nineteenth
century, people were often unsure of their age and year of birth and
when they gave the information in subsequent official records such as
census returns and death records the ages were often guessed at. The
figure was frequently rounded up and there was also a ‘creeping error’
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where the age became even less accurate as the individual became
older.
In addition to this, illiteracy and human error could affect the accuracy of
all information given on nineteenth century records and in particular the
names of the individuals involved. In 1840 only 43% of the population
could read or write. It would appear that the recorder of the information
(the priest for church records) did not ask the family to spell the names but
simply guessed as to the correct spelling because we frequently see
variations in surname spellings within the records of one family. Therefore
alternative and incorrect spellings of surnames and indeed Christian
names need to be taken account of in any search.
The surname Hourigan could also be known as Horgan, O’Horgan or
Horrigan and it is also possible that it could become confused when
transcribed with distinct surnames such as Hourahan, Hanrahan and
possibly Hourican. From experience we have also found that occasionally
on family records the Christian names John and James and Mary and
Margaret could be confused.
Taking into consideration these issues, I searched for the baptismal record
of William Hourigan throughout Limerick from 1836 to 1845. During that
period I found baptismal records for six boys of the name William Hourigan
but none were born in the year 1841 or in the month of May. Only one of
those boys had a mother of the name Mary Purcell however his father’s
name was given as James rather than John Hourigan. Of the six baptismal
records found during the ten year period, two had fathers of the name
John Hourigan but neither of those mothers had the maiden name Purcell
or the Christian name Mary. I also extended the search to any possible
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Limerick Genealogy
variation or incorrect recording of the surname Hourigan such as Horgan,
O’Horgan, Horrigan, Hourahan, Hanrahan or Hourican. However there
was still only one boy on record with a mother of the name Mary Purcell.
In the course of research we occasionally find that a baptism went
unrecorded due to simple human error. For this reason I widened the
search to look for any children born to parents, John Hourigan and Mary
Purcell (or any variations of those names) in Limerick. From 1800 to 1850, I
found that the same Hourigan family who had a son William (as
mentioned above) were the only family throughout the surviving records
of Limerick who had a mother of the name Mary Purcell. There was one
other family with a father William Hourigan and mother Ellen Purcell but
they had a son William born in 1812 so they can be ruled out. Again when
I considered all possible variations of the family name such as Horgan,
O’Horgan, Horrigan, Hourahan, Hanrahan and Hourican I found no family
with a mother Mary Purcell from 1800 to 1850.
The children of James Hourigan and Mary Purcell are therefore the only
possible family of your great great grandmother Mary Purcell in Limerick.
The family were living in the Roman Catholic parish of Kildimo in north
county Limerick and in addition to the baptismal record of William
Hourigan I found those of four siblings born between 1831 and 1842.
However there is no record of the marriage of James Hourigan and Mary
Purcell and there may be additional unrecorded older children because
the parish register of Kildimo only dates from 1831.
The Initial Report which follows will provide you with the available details
of the issue of James Hourigan and Mary Purcell, the parents of William
Hourigan. The Assessment section of the report will then outline what
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further searches were carried out and what additional records are
available on the family in Limerick.
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REPORT ON
THE HOURIGAN FAMILY
The Children of
James Hourigan and Mary Purcell
As stated, in a search of baptismal registers throughout Limerick from 1810
to 1850, I found records for five children born to James Hourigan and Mary
Purcell (or any possible variations of those names). All of the children were
baptised in the Roman Catholic parish of Kildimo between 1831 and
1842.1
The baptismal register provides us with the names of the children and of
course indicates the parish in which they were born. It also provides the
names of the parents and godparents and the dates of the baptisms. The
baptism was traditionally celebrated only a few days after the birth of the
child. In an age of high infant mortality it was seen as a matter of urgency
to have the child baptised into the faith soon after birth.
Sometimes the baptismal record also provides us with an address for the
family, a street in urban areas or a town or townland in rural areas. The
townland is the smallest rural subdivision within a parish, averaging at 350
acres in size and consisting of a small number of farms. Townlands are not
signposted but the boundaries would be familiar to people living locally.
See Appendix 1 for a map of the Roman Catholic parishes of Limerick showing the
parish of Kildimo and Pallaskenry to the north of the county.
1
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They have ancient names referring to topographical or man made
features on the landscape or they can be named after a family or clan
surname which would have been prominent in the area.
The original baptismal register has been checked and the names and
details of the Hourigan children are given below as recorded. On each of
the records the names for the children’s parents were consistently given
as James Hourigan and Mary Purcell.
Name of Child
Baptismal Record in Kildimo Roman Catholic Parish
James Hourigan
Date of baptism: Sunday 30th October 1831.
Godparents: James and Margaret Purcell.
Priest: Rev. Edmund Connery, parish priest of Kildimo
from 1817 to 1838.
Patrick Hourigan
Date of baptism: Monday 28th July 1834.
Godparents: James Purcell and Bridget (surname not
legible).
Priest: Not recorded.
Mary Hourigan
Date of baptism: Wednesday 1st March 1837.
Godparents: Mary Kenny and John Hourigan.
Priest: Not recorded.
William Hourigan
Date of baptism: Tuesday 5th November 1839.
Godparents: David and Catherine Molony.
Priest: Not recorded.
(contd. overleaf)
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Name of Child
Baptismal Record in Kildimo Roman Catholic Parish
Helen Hourigan
Date of baptism: Wednesday 14th December 1842.
Godparents: John Hourigan and Johanna Hourigan.
Priest: Not recorded.
You indicated that William Hourigan had a brother of the name James
and as you can see he is on record but brothers Thomas and John are
not. I would suggest that these boys were probably older siblings born
before 1831 in Kildimo.
The fact that there are no subsequent children born to James Hourigan
and Mary Purcell after 1842 corresponds with your information that
William’s father died in the years before 1850.
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ASSESSMENT ON
THE HOURIGAN FAMILY
Church and Civil Records
Early Records
As mentioned above, with any research in the early nineteenth century,
there is a near complete reliance on church records; the civil registration
of births, deaths and marriages only began in Ireland in 1864 and all
census returns prior to 1901 were destroyed intentionally or accidentally.
Unfortunately, as you have seen with Kildimo parish, the starting dates for
many of the parish registers of Limerick County are quite late; they
average between 1820 and 1840 with one as early as 1777 but another as
late as 1853. Each register was held locally in the custody of the parish
priest. There was no central deposit for the records and so many early
registers have been lost or accidentally destroyed. In fact there was no
church obligation for the parish priest to keep a register. There are also
significant gaps in the surviving registers where years of records have
been lost.
As Mary Purcell was having children with James Hourigan in the parish of
Kildimo it is quite likely that she was also born in Kildimo or one of the
surrounding parishes. Unfortunately if Mary was born in Kildimo there would
be no record of her baptism because of the lack of surviving registers
before 1831. Similarly the neighbouring parishes of Kilcornan and Adare
have no records until 1825 and 1832 respectively. The only adjacent parish
with earlier records is Patrickswell which has a register dating from 1801.
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In a search from 1800 to 1815, I found that there were twelve baptismal
records for girls of the name Mary Purcell in Limerick’s extant records and
two of those were listed in Patrickswell. Unfortunately it is not possible
therefore to determine which if either of these baptismal records refers to
your great great grandmother Mary because of course she could have
been born in Kildimo or indeed elsewhere in Limerick. It is unfortunate that
there is no surviving marriage record for Mary Purcell and James Hourigan
because traditionally the bride would marry in her own parish and this
record would give an indication of where Mary was from. The fact that
there is no marriage record in Patrickswell parish in fact suggests that Mary
was not from there.
Similarly the search for the baptismal record of James Hourigan proved
inconclusive due to the lack of surviving parish registers. From 1800 to
1815, there were seven baptismal records for boys of the name James
Hourigan in Limerick and one did occur in Patrickswell which may or may
not be relevant. There were also nine baptismal records for boys of the
name John Hourigan and two of those occurred in Patrickswell.
The only other clue to the Purcell and Hourigan families were the
godparents of the Hourigan children listed in Kildimo parish. You will note
that James Purcell and Margaret Purcell were given as sponsors to James
and Patrick Hourigan in 1831 and 1834. In Kildimo parish from 1831 to 1860,
I found two men of the name James Purcell having children however
neither wife had the Christian name Margaret. In the neighbouring parish
of Patrickswell there were a further two fathers of the name James Purcell
on record.
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Limerick Genealogy
I also searched for godparents John Hourigan and Johanna Hourigan. In
Kildimo parish from 1831 to 1860, there was only one man of the name
John Hourigan on record and with his wife Johanna he was having
children in the 1830s and 1840s, which suggests that he could have been
a brother of James Hourigan. Of course, we cannot be conclusive about
this because in neighbouring Patrickswell there were as many as six men
of the name John Hourigan recorded as having children from 1801 to
1860.
Unfortunately as the surnames Hourigan and Purcell were quite frequently
occurring in Kildimo and the surrounding area it is not possible to reach
any conclusions about the relevance of those listed in the parish registers.
You suggested that Mary Purcell could have married Joseph Murtha in
Ireland. However I can confirm that the marriage did not occur in
Limerick. From 1842 to 1850, there was no marriage record in Limerick for a
man of the name Joseph Murtha/Murtagh and no marriage between a
man of the name Murtha/Murtagh and a woman with the name Purcell
or Hourigan.
Death Records
The civil registration of the death of an individual became obligatory
under the 1863 Act for the Registration of Births, Deaths and Marriages.
Prior to this, there are no death records and as the Catholic Church
generally did not maintain burial records it is very difficult to trace the
death of an individual before 1864. The details given on the death record
include the name of the deceased, gender, marital status, occupation
and age at last birthday. The date, place and cause of death are also
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provided. We have access to death records for all of Limerick city and
county from 1864 to approximately 1911.
As William Hourigan’s father died sometime before 1850, there is no civil
record of his death in Limerick. Church of Ireland parishes did keep burial
records before civil registration in 1864 and occasionally Roman Catholics
could be buried in these graveyards. Therefore I also searched the
available Church of Ireland records for a possible reference to James (or
John) Hourigan. However I can confirm that there was no burial record for
a man of either name throughout Limerick in the years before 1850.
Gravestones when found can provide valuable insight into a family history
particularly in relation to those who died before civil registration in 1864.
However determining where an individual is buried is open to conjecture
and having success in locating a graveyard and gravestone for an
ancestor can be difficult. There are numerous obstacles to locating a
gravestone. In fact the vast majority of people in the nineteenth century
could not afford to have gravestones erected. Many inscriptions have
been lost due to weather erosion. Furthermore unless the inscriptions from
a graveyard have been transcribed and indexed, locating an ancestor’s
burial place is a matter of visiting the graveyards in the area.
Unfortunately the graveyards of the parish of Kildimo found at Kildimo,
Mellon and Chapelrussell do not have their gravestone inscriptions
transcribed to date.
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Property Valuation Records
Land and House Valuation Records
Nineteenth
century
property
valuation
records
include
the
Tithe
Applotment Books of the 1820s and 1830s and Griffith’s Valuation of 1850
to 1852.
Tithe Applotment Books
The earliest land valuation records that we can employ are the Tithe
Applotment Books, which date from 1824 to 1835 in Limerick. These
records were an assessment by the Church of Ireland of the value that
could be placed on land so that a church tax, known as the tithe, could
be charged on the farmer. The tax charged was one-tenth of the farming
income and was used for the upkeep of the Church of Ireland clergy. At
the time, the Church of Ireland was the established church recognised by
the crown so all land was subject to the tax, even that farmed by
Catholics and this led to considerable tension during the period.
It should be noted that only land was included in this survey and not
houses. Therefore it is not a list of all householders in Limerick but rather a
list of landholders, farmers with considerable holdings, and so it
completely excludes Limerick city and the county towns. Furthermore
many rural dwellers in pre-famine Ireland were landless labourers and
therefore not relevant to this survey.
We have no indication from the available information if the Hourigan or
Purcell families were farming lands. Nevertheless I carried out a search for
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Limerick Genealogy
the presence of James Hourigan in the Tithe Books. Throughout Limerick,
there were ten men of the name James Hourigan listed as farmers but
none were living in the parish of Kildimo. There was a man of the name
John Hourigan listed as a farmer in a townland within Kildimo parish and
this man is likely to be the same man recorded as having children in the
parish in the 1830s and 1840s.
I also search for possible records of the Purcell family and in Kildimo parish
found three farmers of the name Purcell listed in the Tithe Books. However
without the name of Mary’s father, we cannot suggest which if either man
is relevant.
Griffith’s Primary Valuation
The next valuation record to consider is Griffith’s Primary Valuation Survey
which was compiled in Limerick between 1850 and 1852. It sought a value
for every house and piece of land in order to calculate a property tax
known in Ireland as the ‘rate’. The rate was the nineteenth century
solution to poverty in Ireland and Britain. The tax paid for the maintenance
of the workhouse, where the destitute poor from the surrounding area
known as the poor law union, were sent.
Griffith’s Valuation is a more comprehensive source of information than
the Tithe Applotment Books as it lists the head of every house as well as
every farm i.e. the main occupier responsible for paying rent on the
property. Griffith’s Valuation names the main occupier or tenant and the
lessor from whom he was renting the property. It also gives a brief
description of the property, its acreage and rateable value. However it
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Limerick Genealogy
should be noted that if an individual was not the head of a household or
not paying rent on a property, there would be no reference to him in
Griffith’s Valuation and we often find that labouring families went
unrecorded.
Griffith’s Valuation for the parish of Kildimo was published in 1850 and 1851
so James Hourigan was deceased by this date and Mary Hourigan née
Purcell had immigrated to Ontario. Within the parish of Kildimo, there were
four tenants of the name Hourigan listed in Griffith’s Valuation including
the same John Hourigan who was listed in the Tithe Books. In the early
1850s, there were as many as ten tenants of the name Purcell listed in
townlands within the parish of Kildimo. By this time however there was no
evidence of James Purcell acting as head of a household.
Census Records
The 1901 Census
The 1901 Census is the earliest surviving census in Ireland with returns for
each household and details provided on each individual present. All
previous censuses were destroyed; some in the fire at the Public Record
Office in the Four Courts, Dublin during the Civil War of 1922 (those dating
from 1821 to 1851) and some were deliberately destroyed by government
order (those dating from 1861 to 1891). Only statistical information remains
for each census completed every ten years from 1821 to 1891.
The 1901 Census provides details on each member of a household and on
the building in which the family were living. We have computerised the
census returns for Limerick city and county for 1901 and can therefore
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Limerick Genealogy
search for specific individuals within any household. However as it has not
been possible to conclusively locate members of the Purcell or Hourigan
family who remained in Limerick after the 1840s, I cannot search the
census for possible surviving relatives in 1901.
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Appendices
1. Map of the Roman Catholic parishes of Limerick showing Kildimo to
the north of the county.
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