Page last modified: Sunday, 14-Mar-2021 21:23:13 EDT
RC Parishes of Clontead-Belgooly and Tracton
Father Dominick O Gara's register
Driscoll Baptisms and Marriages
See also: Clontead
"Father O Gara's Register is a collection of loose leaves of notes found several years ago in the wall of the former church at Ballingarry and sent to the Diocesan Office for safekeeping by Fathur Burns. It was photocopied last year and consists of about 160 pages, or 783 marriage and baptismal records. These entries cover approximately the years 1809 to 1830 and seem to have been kept in a very irregular fashion. The entries seem also to have been made by more than one person. The majority of the pages bear no year, and on many the month and day cannot be read because the edges of the pages have worn away.
Father Dominick O Gara was a Dominican priest and is not described on his gravestone in Clontead graveyard as 'parish priest' (the equivalent expression of the American 'pastor' ) or 'curate'. The entries in his register cover a geographical area that seems to have included all or most of both Clontead-Belgooly and Tracton parishes. I suspect that Father O Gara enjoyed some kind of special status, perhaps as confessor to the several well-to-do Catholic families who lived in the area. He occupied a farm of his own, probabably employed servants to operate it, and, perhaps only as a side-line, served as an assistant to both the Tracton and Clontead-Belgooly parish priests.
Many of the family units that appear in Father O Gara's register are also recorded in the register of Tracton Abbey parish, where baptisms were recorded from 1802 on, but where marriages were not entered until 1841. A much smaller number of the persons also appear in the official register of Clontead-Belgooly parish, which begins, for both marriages and baptisms, in 1836. Until 1836, therefore, the chances that one will find the marriages and baptisms of persons who resided within the borders of Clontead-Belgooly parish, are still poor. Father O Gara's register is, for the most part, an unexpected bonus for those researching their Tracton ancestral roots.
If you succeed in finding any of your own ancestors in Father O Gara's register, please let me and others in our group know about it!"
[Frank Thompson, Jan 31, 2003]
Baptisms
| Date |
Child |
Father |
Mother |
Sponsor |
Sponsor |
| 1814-12-?? |
BRIEN {Daniel[?]} |
BRIEN Michael |
HAYS Mary |
Driscoll, Tim |
White, Ellen |
| 18??-12-02 |
COVENY Catherine |
COVENY James |
{BULL} Margaret |
Driscoll, Timothy |
Collins, [obstruc |
| 1811-02-?? |
COVENY Catherine |
COVENY Maurice |
DRISICLE[?] Catheri |
Deasy, John |
Coveney, Mary |
| 18??-08-30 |
DOWNEY Johanna |
DOWNEY John |
DRISCOL Mary |
Scannell, Patrick |
Donevan, Catherin |
| 18??-11-26 |
DOWNY James |
DOWNY John |
DRISCOL Mary |
Donevan, Tim[?] |
Keily, Catherine |
| 1810-12-27 |
DOWNY William |
DOWNY John |
DRISCOLL Mary |
Coakly, John |
[obscured], Mary |
| 18??-03-27 |
DRISCOL Margaret |
DRISCOL Tim |
COTTER Ellen |
Croneen, Darby |
Sullivan, Mary |
| 18??-??-?? |
DRISCOL Mary |
DRISCOL John |
CARTHY Norry |
Brien, Tim |
Sexton, Mary |
| 18??-12-01 |
DRISCOL Mary |
DRISCOL Timothy |
[illegible] Ellen[? |
Kiely, Charles |
Mehigan, Nel |
| 18??-06-07 |
DRISCOLL Denis |
DRISCOLL Darby |
{WAL--} WALSH? Margaret |
Delay, Daniel |
Colman, Margaret |
| 1811-03-?? |
DRISCOLL Margaret |
DRISCOLL John |
DRISCOLL Mary |
Ahern, Garrett |
Madden, Joan |
| 18??-09-?? |
DRISCOLL Michael |
DRISCOLL Daniel |
CARTHY Norry |
Driscoll, John |
Carthy, Mary |
| 1812-05-06 |
HOGAN Mary |
HOGAN James |
MAHONY Mary |
Carthy, Charles |
Driscoll, Mary |
| 18??-10-06 |
KELEHER Daniel |
KELEHER John |
DRISCOLL Mary |
Croneen, John |
Coveney, Mary |
| 18??-07-07 |
McCARTHY Daniel |
McCARTHY Patrick |
McCARTHY (DRISCOLL?) Catherine |
Keily, Bartholomew |
Ahern, Mary |
Marriages
| Date |
Groom |
Bride |
Witness |
Witness |
| 1812-05-06 |
DRISCOLL John |
DALY Johana |
Daly, John |
Daly, Daniel & Darby McCarthy |
| 1814-02-?? |
DRISCOLL Tim |
COWHIG Norry |
Garrett, John |
Brien, Michael & John Deasy |
| 18??-11-02 |
DRISCOL John |
BRADLY Catherine |
Bull, John |
Bradly, Patrick & Tom Driscol |
