Last November 2012 Liz Kennedy posted the following comment about her gggrandmother Ellen Phelan:
“Today, 11th Nov 2012 I visited the graveyard in Moyne, Co. Tipperary where my gg grandmother Ellen Phelan is buried. She was Ellen Fanning or Fannin and came from Lisaroon, Ballycahill, Co. Tipperary. She was married to Patrick Phelan of Bawnmore, Johnstown, Co. Kilkenny Where I was born). He died in 1892. “
I was delighted to hear from her and intrigued as to how Ellen was related to the Lissaroon Fannings, my ancestors. Unfortunately I have not been able to make further contact with Liz.
I did some digging myself and found her marriage record unfortunately there are few details on this to help. No parents’ names which is what I was hoping for.
From the Latin written on their marriage record Ellen and Patrick were blood related, cousins. Possibly third cousins.
Galmoy is a parish in Co Kilkenny.
Given that Ellen’s address is Moycarkey I wonder if she is related to the Lissaroon Fanning family. I was expecting her address to be Lissaroon or Thurles. I would like to know how she is connected.
The following information is in a comment left by the husband of a descendant of Ellen and Patrick and gives details on their children:
“Their son Michael was a publican in Baunmore, who married Bridget Delaney and had 11 children. My wife’s grandfather was living with them in the 1901 census, as was Ellen Fanning, who was by then widowed.
Both Michael and Bridget died young, in 1909 and 1910. Their eldest son took over the pub and was head of the family in the 1911 census, raising his siblings at the age of 18.
Patrick and Ellen’s other son, Jeremiah, also was not a priest, but a farmer in Baunmore with six children.”
I found birth records for these children of Ellen and Patrick Phelan: Jeremiah born in 1849, Margaret in 1853, Michael in 1855 and Thomas in 1857. There may well have been other children.
In Moyne Cemetery Co Tipperary there are two Phelan graves. There are photos of these gravestones on Jane Lyons’ site http://www.from-ireland.net/photographs-of-moyne-gravestones/nggallery/page/10/
The first gravestone has the following inscription:
Erected by Ellen Phelan Bawnmore in memory of her husband Patrick Phelan died March 13 1892 aged 70 years, also his father Jeremiah died May 1884 aged 50 ? yrs and her child Margaret died young. Nora Phelan died 1948, Edward Phelan Crosspatrick died 22 Feb ? 1952 His wife Bridget interred in Crosspatrick.
Above is a related gravestone for Jeremiah Phelan of Bawnmore who died 7-1-1921, his wife Margaret who died 3-7-1906, their three daughters who died young, their son Patrick who died 20-7-1954 and his wife Catherine who is interred at Crosspatrick. This stone was erected by Margaret Phelan and family.
Ellen Phelan died in Lough Co Kilkenny 14th Oct 1902 age given as 90.
I am posting what I know in the hopes someone will contact me and be able to fill in the gaps and establish a connection with the Lissaroon Fanning family or not.
I have been in contact with the husband of a descendant of Ellen Phelan nee Fanning. Quite a few of her descendants have done DNA tests as have I.
So far I have not found any DNA matches with Ellen and my Fanning family. So at this stage it looks very much like Ellen Phelan nee Fanning is not a Lissaroon Fanning, unless she was adopted.
You may be interested to know that Michael Phelan SJ was a close friend and associate of the writer Canon Sheehan of Doneraile. He published a brief biography of the Canon after his death in 1913. He also delivered the ovation at the inauguration of a National Monument to Canon Sheehan, unveiled at Doneraile in October 1925.
His brother, Jeremiah, was bishop of Sale(?) in Victoria, Australia. Michael Phelan was a student of Carlow College and ordained there for the diocese of Golbourne in Australia in 1880. He returned to Ireland in 1893 to join the Jesuits.
Thanks for this information regards Kathleen
Sorry, a correction. Patrick Phelan was bishop of Sale in Victoria. He was born 12 January 1860. Educated at Mount Melleray and Carlow College, he was ordained in 1888 for the archdioce of Melbourne. He was appointed to Sale and consecrated on 2 March 1913. he died on 5 January 1925.
Thanks James
Hi,
I was interested to run across this posting, as my wife is descended from Patrick and Ellen. However, the Rev. Michael is not their son. Their son Michael was a publican in Baunmore, who married Bridget Delaney and had 11 children. My wife’s grandfather was living with them in the 1901 census, as was Ellen Fanning, who was by then widowed.
Both Michael and Bridget died young, in 1909 and 1910. Their eldest son took over the pub and was head of the family in the 1911 census, raising his siblings at the age of 18.
Patrick and Ellen’s other son, Jeremiah, also was not a priest, but a farmer in Baunmore with six children.
We’ve documented all this well with censuses and civil/baptismal records as well as family stories.
I unfortunately know nothing about Ellen Fanning’s origins, other than the clue of Moycarkey in the marriage record.
Hi Warren
Thanks for posting this info on Ellen Fanning. I will go back and redo it with what you have written.
I started researching this Ellen Fanning after I got an email from a lady who had just visited her grave and told me she was from Lissaroon which is where my ancestors came from. She has never answered my emails and I suspect she made the assumption that Ellen was related. Moycarkey, where Ellen was born, is not a place where my Fannings came from as far as I know.
I have not actually seen Ellen’s grave in Moyne Cemetery and maybe this woman also got that wrong.
Do you know where Ellen is buried? Is the cemetery name anything like Moyne? It did seem odd that she was buried in Moyne in Co Tipperary and not with her husband in Killarney? Another kind person had a look for Ellen’s grave in Moyne Cemetery recently and couldn’t find it??? graves are very hard to find but it does make me wonder if this has been a bit of a wild goose chase.
Sorry to have taken so long to get back to you I have been away on holidays. Kathleen
Ellen is mentioned on the gravestone of her husband and other family members in Moyne. She erected it in his memory, but there is no indication that she is buried there. There’s a photo of it on Jane Lyon’s site (first photo on third row):
http://www.from-ireland.net/photographs-of-moyne-gravestones/nggallery/page/10/
Some of the family are buried in Crosspatrick (which is closer to Bawnmore), so she may be there, but I haven’t been there or found records/photos yet.
Thanks for the link to the photos of the Phelan gravestones. Is Moyne close to Bawnmore in Kilkenny? Do you think that is why these Phelans are buried here?
I have redone the post on Ellen and included the original post from Liz Kennedy that started me on this wild goose chase. Does your wife know of her as Ellen was her gg grandmother?
regards Kathleen
Moyne is just 6.7 km from Bawnmore, just across the border. Here’s a Google map showing the route between the two: http://goo.gl/maps/2IiRi . Crosspatrick is the other side of Bawnmore, about 4 km northeast.
No, we don’t know Liz Kennedy.
That explains why some of the Phelans are buried in Moyne. Thanks Warren.
Hi,
I am researching a Patrick Whelan, born 21 January 1881 in Bawnmore, Galmoy, Co. Kilkenny. He was the son of Jeremiah Phelan, Bawnmore & Margaret (nee Murphy) Whiteswall, Galmoy who were married on 29 January 1880. I am wondering are the Phelans & Whelans in Bawnmore the same family.
It is strange that the father’s surname is Phelan and the son’s is Whelan especially as they sound so similar. I would hazard a guess that they are the same and maybe a typo along the way has led to Whelan being used. But I don’t know much about the Phelan family in Bawnmore so can’t really help here.
Hi I’m intrigued you have been able to find out so much information I have phelans in kilkenny, the last legal document I was able to find was a bith of a Ellen – father Joseph mother mary lalor. 1867 I can’t fine census or death records. Would appreciate a prompt in the right direction. Regards julie
Hi Julie,
You could look at Griffiths Valuation records for Kilkenny that are available on the site Ask About Ireland for free.
They relate to the 18590s and list land holdings.
The site I used most was Rootsireland you could look for your Phelans there at http://kilkenny.rootsireland.ie/
This was before the NLI made the catholic records available online.
This is a subscription site but it is indexed. Last time I looked they had a pretty reasonable one month 1,000 records subscription.
The other place is the National Library of Ireland which has digitized all or nearly all of the Catholic registers.http://registers.nli.ie/
It is free but no index. Be prepared for a trawlathon! They have birth and marriage records.
I think Rootir3land works well in conjunction with NLI.
Rootireland has some records that NLI doesn’t, not sure why, and is adding more records all the time.
Good luck and if you find any Fanning connections let me know
Kathleen