From Marian's Desk

It's time to start packing for Ireland. Walking shoes. Check. Raincoat. Check. Camera. Check. Film. Check. Genealogy. Check, check, check. Hope springs eternal. Maybe this time I will finally find those elusive Crowley ancestors!

I remember my first trip to West Cork. I was sure it wouldn't be all that difficult. After all, I had my great grandfather's name, John Crowley. I had his parents' names, Timothy Crowley and Catherine Monahan. I had Catherine's birthplace, Scully Parish, County Cork. And I had John's birth date, 17 March 1848. What more could I possibly need?

First of all I needed correct information which I obviously didn't have. I'd taken most of what I had from a printed genealogy done by a relative. There is no Scully Parish in Cork. But there is a Schull Parish. One of the most common names there is Minahane, not Monahan. There were hundreds of Irish immigrants who used St. Patrick's Day as their birth date. And two of the most common names in West Cork are John Crowley and Timothy Crowley.

With so little to go on it is no wonder that I made no progress on that trip in 1995. The good news was that I met so many interesting Crowleys that I didn't mind at all. Everyone at that Crowley Gathering was my cousin. I felt right at home. And I was.

This trip I plan to walk some old cemeteries in the areas I think my Crowleys came from. I plan to take lots of pictures of those places and talk to lots of people there. I hope to have time to visit the Heritage Center in Skibbereen. Unfortunately I won't have time to visit the National Library in Dublin.

Father Tom Hayes, who maintains the Cork and Ross Diocese website, advises genealogists, "Because browsing the (parish) register is time consuming, most local clergy are reluctant to search for records without very specific dates." But if you have the time, all baptism records prior to 1890 have been microfilmed and are available for research at the National Library in Dublin. Happy hunting, and I hope to see you in Bantry.

Slan, Marian

The Crowley Clan Newsletter is
compiled by Marian Crowley Chamberlain