A SPECIAL POST FOR MY THOMPSON RELATIVES:

MARY AGNES DOWNEY

Great Grandma - Mary Agnes Thompson - nee Downey

What we already knew: My great-grandmother, Mary Agnes Downey, was born in Golden, Tipperary in about 1867, the daughter of Michael Downey and Kate Nolan. Their other children I have a record of are Edmond (1862), Jeremiah (1858), Michael (1873) and Winifred (1871). Mary came out to Australia in the 1880's where she married my great-grandfather Charles Forester Thompson, settled in Clermont and sadly died of Tuberculosis when she was just over 40 and her children were still young. My Great-Uncle Joe (John Dempster Thompson), her youngest child, just remembered her and knew very little of her life in Ireland.

Downeys in the Golden area: A search of the tithes and Griffiths Valuations revealed that there was only one area in the vicinity of Golden where the Downey family lived, and that was the 'townland' known as Cloghleigh or Cloughleigh, which is to the south-east of Golden township, just near Athassel Abbey.

1832 - In the tithe records for this year, Edmond and Darby Downey both are paying tithes for land.

1848 - In the Ordnance survey for this year, there is a Jeremiah Downey leasing land with a house and two 'offices' at Cloghleigh. (Offices just means farm buildings.) We're given their measurements: the house is 32.6 feet in length, 17 feet in breadth and 7 feet high. The first office is 18 by 17 by 7, and the second office is 12 by 10 by 5.6. The name Jeremiah is crossed out, and Michael is written above it - the obvious inference being that Jeremiah has died and Michael has inherited the tenancy of the land. The Irish Potato Famine is at its height at around this time, so the death rate was at its height in the mid to late 1840s.

This is from the letter of an Englishman touring Tipperary during the famine:
"Out of this immense track of
country with its tens of thousands of inhabitants, 80% are wholly destitute of their usual means of subsistence, the remainder have what may hold out with a meal a day for a fortnight, and then they must live as best they may.
It is a perfect mystery to me how the population exist at all, and I believe it is almost as inexplicable to the creatures themselves. If they get a scanty meal of half rotten potatoes-very few of this sort existing-in the course of 24 hours, they feel quite happy. It was appalling-heart-rending-to see in some places the children devouring black potatoes with an avidity not to be described."

Cloghleigh as it is today - a lovely farming district

1850 - In Griffiths Valuation for the primary valuation of tenements in the Parish of Relickmurry and Athassel, there is a David Downey with 2 lots of land (one with a house and office) and Michael Downey has one lot with house, offices and land. Both of these are owned by Laurence Creagh, Esquire - obviously he is the local English landlord and he and his brother Richard own most of the land in the district.

This is a link to more information about the family:
http://landedestates.nuigalway.ie/LandedEstates/jsp/estate-show.jsp?id=3333

Catholic church in Golden

Protestant church in Golden - now disused and with sheep roaming the graveyard!

I found the family vault of the Creagh family - the English landlords of the Downeys. It has just been rebuilt by the local historical society.

1858 - Jeremiah Downey is born, probably the first son of Michael Downey and Kate Nolan.

Given the family names chosen by Michael and Kate for the boys and the scarcity of Downeys in this area, it seems really likely to me that the line goes: Edmond, his son Jeremiah, his son Michael, his son Jeremiah and then another son Edmond.

What happened to the Downeys? We checked the 1901 and 1911 census for Jeremiah and Edmond - neither of them were there in Ireland. They may have died, or maybe they emigrated like Mary did. I haven't checked young Michael yet. However there is a Downey family living in Cloughleigh both decades - 1901 - William (45) his wife Mary (36), his brother Richard (47), four children and three servants. Their first son is David so my guess is that William is a direct descendent of the David Downey who has land in 1850.