Limerick fact and fiction

Alice's Adventures in Wonderland - At this the whole pack rose up into the air and came flying down upon her. Illustration by Arthur Rackham 1907. Like Alice I feel a bit overwhelmed by the information.

One of the sources of information about the Nihill branch of my family is the reminiscences of Sarah Jane Nihill who died 1 September 1915 aged 89 years and six months. Her recollections were dictated to Mary E. Hennessy nee Brooks (c. 1878 - 1926). Mary was not a blood relative but Sarah's adopted niece. Sarah Nihill is my 3rd great grand aunt, the sister of my 3rd great grandmother.

Obituary of Sarah Nihill from the Adelaide Chronicle of 11 September 1915

Sarah Nihill's reminiscences are held by the State Library of Victoria as a typed manuscript (MS 9228 ). I have a copy through my 3rd cousin once removed, Rob Niall. There are also excerpts in the history of the Cudmore family, For the Love of the Land, compiled by Elsie Ritchie in 2000, at pages 67 - 70.

Sarah Nihill, as reported by Mary Hennessy, remembered

Daniel Joseph James Nihill, of Rockville, County Adare, Limerick, Ireland, who died at the age of 90 years, who could read without glasses and retained his perfect set of teeth until his death, had two sons, Paul the eldest and Daniel James, all Roman Catholics.

Paul married Lady Anna Maria Quin, daughter of Lord Dunraven, of Dunraven Castle, Adare and had one daughter, the Lady Anna Maria Dunraven Nihill, whose mother died at her birth and who was reared by her grandparents, the Dunravens.

Sarah then remembers that Paul became

a renegade, deserting his faith and embracing the church by law established, which gave the eldest son the power to take all his own father possessed if he remained a Catholic, even to the coat off his back if he so desired. Hence the reason for the family coming out to Australia. [ ... ] About the time of his father's death, remorse overtook Paul Nihill, he repented his act of deserting his faith, wrote a pamphlet of treason against the King and to save his life had to fly across the country. He had in his possession a small red Cornelian Cross, carrying a legend of a talisman against evil, which had been in the Nihill family for generations. It is surmised some time afterwards he returned and lived the life clad as a fisherman, amongst the village folk who knew him as a boy and man. At any rate a very sad silent fisherman appeared one day and lived at Larry and nancy O'Connor's wee home.

One night a fire broke out at Dunraven Castle and the motherless infant's life was in danger, with little hope of saving her, when a man clad as a fisherman rushed into the burning building and after a time appeared at an upper window.   All hope of helping him was out of the question.He leaped from the upper story.When they rushed to him the child was alive, but he was dead and inside where it had been hurriedly thrust, was the red cross against the child's breast. Then his identity became known. The cross passed on to Daniel James Nihill and at last to Sarah Jane, the last of that branch of the family. and is now in my (M. E. Hennessy's) possession, having been hung around my neck by my dear adopted aunt's hands on my 18th birthday as a talisman against evil. So this is how the Rockville Estate passed from the family, having been willed by Paul to his child.

I can find no evidence for the existence of a Paul Nihill. The entry for Lord Dunraven in an 1828 Debrett makes no mention of a daughter Anne who married Paul Nihill (John Debrett (1828). Debrett's Peerage of England, Scotland, and Ireland. [Another]. pp. 743–4.)

I have also found no written account of this fire at Dunraven castle.

Daniel James Nihill did have an older brother Patrick. Perhaps Sarah Nihill was confusing Paul with Patrick

Notices in the Limerick Chronicle have been indexed and digitised by the Limerick City Library.

I have confirmed the death of the father of Daniel James Nihill died in 1835. The Limerick Chronicle of 29 July 1835 reported:

At Rockville, near Adare, James Nihill, Esq. at the advanced age of 84 years.

His death at age 84 means he was born about 1751. On the 1840 South Australian census, James's  son Daniel stated that he was born in 1761. The age on one or the other document must be incorrectly stated.

My second cousin twice removed, James Mansfield Niall (1915-1986),  wrote an article on the Nihill family history published in "The Irish Genealogist", Vol.4, No.5, 1972, pp 496-505 titled Nihell of Co. Clare and Co. Limerick. I have a copy through his nephew, my 3rd cousin once removed, Rob Niall. The article states that Patrick died at his residence Ash Hill, Co. Clare, about 4th May 1822

Ancestry.com member nmurp1708 wrote in 2009:

Barnalick House ... was built shortly after 1784 when a James Nihill leased all 272 acres of "Baurnalicka" from Mary St. Leger. Nihill was a wealthy man who had leases for over 900 acres in Co. Limerick and Co. Clare. He built the house in the shape of a letter "T". He called the house "Rockville House". His eldest son Patrick lived on some family land in Co. Clare with his wife Prudence Dickson and their two daughters, Anne and Jane. Patrick died before his father in 1822 and when James died in 1831 the two daughters became heirs to all the lands including Barnalick. Anne married in 1814 a William Dodd and Jane married in 1829 a Thomas Davenport. Patrick had a younger brother, Daniel, who married in 1810 a Dymphna Gardener. He lived with his father James and no doubt looked after him in his old age. However when James died, Daniel had to move out of Barnalick and he and his family departed to Australia in 1835.
A survey done in 1840 gives an Anthony St. Leger as the owner of Barnalick estate with a Thomas Davenport and a Mrs. Dodd as the leaseholders under a Col. John Dickson as middleman.

There is a marriage notice for Patrick who married Prudence Dickson in the Waterford Herald of Tuesday 27 Sept 1791 (From http://www.limerickcity.ie/media/limerick%20families%2071.pdf)

Married on Thursday morning in Limerick Mr Patrick Nihill to Miss Dickson, daughter of Mr Daniel Dickson, Woolen Draper. (Miss Prudence Dickson)

 Prudence died in 1847. Her death notice appeared in the Limerick Chronicle of 25 August 1847:

retrieved from http://www.limerickcity.ie/Library/LocalStudies/ObituariesdeathnoticesetcfromtheLimerickChronicle/1847/

from Ireland Births and Baptisms (through familysearch.org):

Name: Anne Nihill
Christening Date: 17 Feb 1793
Christening Place: SAINT JOHN,LIMERICK,LIMERICK,IRELAND
Birth Date: 12 Feb 1793
Father's Name: Patrick Nihill
Mother's Name: Prudence

The baptism record of Jane Nihill, Anne's sister, does not appear on Family Search indexes. Jane Nihill married Thomas Evans Davenport and it was at the Davenport's house that Prudence died in 1847.

In the 1972 article published in "The Irish Genealogist" which I mentioned earlier, the following excerpt mentions Patrick and Daniel Nihill:

In August 1817 Daniel petitioned the Viceroy, the Earl of Whitworth, to remove the threat of a legal process for £50 to cover his guarantee for the appearance in Ennis of his brother Patrick to answer an unspecified charge. At the Summer Assizes in 1815 the case was adjourned for want of evidence, and finally at the Spring Assizes Patrick had not appeared (note 54). I do not know the result of this petition.

Note 54:  Limited family sources suggest that Patrick wrote an indiscreet letter possibly relating to the current state of relations between France and England.

I want to follow up on some of the items mentioned and try to find the original sources.

Beginning to look at my Irish family history

Until this week I had put my Irish research pretty much in the too-hard basket. Yesterday I started a four-week course at the Genealogical Society of Victoria on Irish family history. I have had a bit of a tinker in the past but I thought I would try to come to grips with the area with some guidance from experienced researchers.

Relatives I will be looking at:

• Margaret Smyth, my husband's great great grandmother, born about 1834 in County Cavan. She arrived on the Persian in 1854. 

Her  parents were William Smyth, a farmer, and Mary Cox according to her marriage certificate but Joseph Smyth and Ann according to her death certificate.

Her death certificate states she was born in Bailieborough, a town in the townland of Tanderagee in County Cavan in the province of Ulster and part of the Border Region.

In 1855 Margaret married John Plowright in Victoria. She died in 1897. I have a copy of her marriage and death certificates.

I have done some searching on Roots Ireland for Margaret's parents and family but without success.

When she arrived in Australia, Margaret went to stay with a cousin called John Hente. At least the surname looks like 'Hente' on the Assisted Migrant record; but the writing is hard to read and I have no other information about him.

•  Ellen Murray, my husband's great great grandmother, born 1837 in Dublin Ireland. She also arrived on the Persian in 1854 with Margaret Smyth. It appears that the two became friends. Also on board was Bridget Murray age 24, also from Dublin, perhaps a sister.

Ellen's parents were George Murray, a glass blower, and Ellen Dony (writing hard to transcribe, perhaps Dory).

In 1856 Ellen married James Cross in Victoria. She died in 1901. I have a copy of her marriage and death certificates.

I have done some searching on Roots Ireland for Ellen's family without success. I have not been able to find out what happened to Bridget.

• James Gordon Cavenagh is my third great grandfather. He was born 1766 in Innishannon, County Cork. He died in 1844 in Castle House, Wexford. In fact he lived mostly in Hythe, Kent, England. I have inherited quite a lot of family history information but have never looked at it properly.

• Daniel Michael Paul Cudmore (1811 - 1891) and his wife Mary Cudmore née Nihill (1811 - 1893) were my great great great grandparents.

Daniel and Mary married on 15 January 1835 in County Limerick, not long before embarking for Australia on the John Dennison which left Liverpool on 12 February. Daniel was a Quaker but they married in the Church of Ireland at Drehidtarsna Church, County Limerick, two miles south-west of Adare.


Members of the Nihill family, including Mary's mother, Dymphna Nihill née Gardiner (1790 - 1866), were also aboard the John Dennison. 

Classified Advertising. (1835, June 12). The Hobart Town Courier (Tas. : 1827 - 1839), p. 3. Retrieved December 21, 2013, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article4180594

Other members of the family emigrated about six months later including Mary's father Daniel James Nihill (1761 - 1846) with three of his daughters. They came on the James Pattison arriving in Sydney 7 February 1836 after a 91 day voyage from Cork, Ireland.. They then sailed on the Integrity which sailed from Sydney on 22 March 1836 and took 15 days to reach Hobart.

I have previously written about the re-interment of Daniel Nihill from the Protestant to the Catholic section of West Terrace cemetery.

The Nihill family came from Rockville House, Adare Parish in County Limerick.

Ritchie, Elsie B. (Elsie Barbara) (2000). For the love of the land : the history of the Cudmore family. E. Ritchie, [Ermington, N.S.W.] Page 54

Other members of the family have researched the Cudmores and the Nihills and most of it is included in the book For the love of the land: the history of the Cudmore family compiled by Elsie Ritchie in 2000. I haven't reviewed and understood the research as it concerns our Irish background.

I need to follow up the following obituaries that have been indexed by the Limerick City Library from the Limerick Chronicle:

• Nihill Daniel Australia 29/05/1847 late of Barnalickey, near Adare

• Nihill James Rockville, Adare. 29/07/1835

I also need to follow up the following information about Rockville House retrieved from a 2009 posting to an ancestry.com message board concerning the Vokes family:

Barnalick House ... was built shortly after 1784 when a James Nihill leased all 272 acres of "Baurnalicka" from Mary St. Leger. Nihill was a wealthy man who had leases for over 900 acres in Co. Limerick and Co. Clare. He built the house in the shape of a letter "T". He called the house "Rockville House". His eldest son Patrick lived on some family land in Co. Clare with his wife Prudence Dickson and their two daughters, Anne and Jane. Patrick died before his father in 1822 and when James died in 1831 the two daughters became heirs to all the lands including Barnalick. Anne married in 1814 a William Dodd and Jane married in 1829 a Thomas Davenport. Patrick had a younger brother, Daniel, who married in 1810 a Dymphna Gardener. He lived with his father James and no doubt looked after him in his old age. However when James died, Daniel had to move out of Barnalick and he and his family departed to Australia in 1835.
A survey done in 1840 gives an Anthony St. Leger as the owner of Barnalick estate with a Thomas Davenport and a Mrs. Dodd as the leaseholders under a Col. John Dickson as middleman.
Samuel Dickson is the middleman in 1850 in Griffith's Valuation and it must have been Samuel Dickson who employed Simon Vokes as Land Steward and placed Simon in residence in Barnalick House.

Related posts:

• Australia Day: Climbing our family's gum tree
• Trove Tuesday : Nihill v. Fox

Trove Tuesday : Nihill v. Fox

This strange case concerns the grave of my fourth great grandfather.

Daniel James Nihill (1761 - 1846) died at SeaView, Adelaide, South Australia on 14 October 1846. He is now buried in the Old Catholic section of West Terrace cemetery, but was first buried in the Protestant section.

The South Australian Register on 30 March 1860, reported a dispute between two of his seven children, James Nihill (1823 -1877) and Frances Fox née  Nihill (1826 - 1895), over the place of burial of Daniel Nihill. James had arranged for his father to be buried in the Protestant section of West Terrace Cemetery. In September 1859, however, he found that his sister Frances had arranged for her father's remains to be exhumed and reburied in the Roman Catholic section. James took his sister to court over the matter.

Their mother, Daniel's wife, Dymphna Nihill  née  Gardiner (1790 - 1866), was a witness in the court case. She was quite frail and rather deaf. 

At the time that Daniel Nihill's grave was opened, all that was left were some bones in the place of a decayed coffin.  The bones were placed in a new coffin for re-interment.

Daniel Nihill was said not to have been interested in religion.  James Nihill asserted that his father made only an outward profession of Roman Catholic faith in Ireland because "it was a disturbed period". However Daniel did not, as far as James knew, attend a Roman Catholic Church while living in South Australia. 

Frances was a Catholic. In the court case it was stated she became a Catholic in 1847.  She married Arthur Fox (1817 - 1853) on 26 July 1846.  Arthur Fox was said to have meddled in the Nihill  family's Protestantism, to the extent of arranging for a priest to visit the day before the death of Daniel Nihill.

Arthur Fox had been in partnership with James Nihill. After Arthur's death in 1853, James Nihill was a trustee of his estate but had been asked to resign. 

There seems to have been several disputes that went to court between James Nihill and Frances Fox since the death of Arthur Fox.

The jury's verdict was in favour of James Nihill, awarding him 40 shillings and stipulating that the the tomb was to be restored at the expense of the defendant, Frances. However, the judge decided that effect could not be given to the restoration of the tomb. The outcome of the case was thus that Frances Fox had to pay her brother 40 shillings but the body of Daniel Nihill was to be allowed to remain in the Catholic section of the cemetery.

The expenses incurred by James in erecting the tomb and enclosing the site in the Protestant section of the cemetery were reported as being between £30 and £40.  

James had retained the South Australian Attorney-General to represent him in court.

I contacted the Adelaide Cemeteries Authority about the case.  They have few records from the 1840s and 1850s. There is a notation in a lease register book that the lease taken out by James Nihill was surrendered in 1856 but with no other detail.  Perhaps this is when Frances arranged the re-interment, although from the newspaper report it seems that James only discovered in September 1859 that his father's body had been moved.  The Adelaide Cemeteries Authority do not have records about when the Fox family purchased the grave site.  As the Protestant grave site lease was surrendered in 1856, the Authority cannot identify who is using the site now but it seems it was not reused by a member of the Nihill family.

"LAW AND CRIMINAL COURTS." South Australian Register (Adelaide, SA : 1839 - 1900) 30 Mar 1860: 3. Web. 24 Sep 2013 <http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article49896301>.