Clues in a history puzzle
AFTER TWO YEARS OF HISTORICAL RESEARCH, HAS PENNED THIS ARTICLE IN THE HOPE OF JOINING MORE DOTS IN A FASCINATING WEXFORD FAMILY HISTORY
IN 1923, following the death of printer, and onetime Wexford People employee Walter Hanrahan, an article in this paper mentioned that a Hanrahan lady of early John St stock, ‘ became the wife of Edwd. Maddock of Belvedere, and from them were descended the Killeens branch’ of that family.
Parish records show that, on August 14, 1831, Edward Maddock married Catherine ‘Anrahan’ – the spelling of some surnames was a movable feast in those days. We’ll put that union aside for a moment while we engage in some historical clarification.
Before St. John’s Road in Wexford came into being, George’s St. met John St. in a T-junction, and the name John St. stood without formal distinction into upper and lower. By reference to Griffiths Valuations, 1847-64, and old street references, we find a Mary Hanrahan living near the top of the current Upper John St, in what was Reilly’s Lane. That extinct lane sat under the top of Croke Avenue. Griffiths Valuation also has a Thomas Anrahan leasing three houses in John St.
William Hanrahan, being this writer’s grandfather, who moved into the current Lower John St. early in the 1900’s, is of a different strand, and is not part of this inquiry.
It seems that three Hanrahan brothers settled in Wexford, one
JIM COWMAN
(Griffith’s Valuation of Ireland Index Extracts) via Macmine, about 250 years ago. The 1923 Wexford People article specifies a Kilkenny origin, while an earlier published letter suggests Waterford.
We now come to the nitty-gritty. The article states that that the early John St branch of Hanrahans gave rise to the family of Michael O’Hanrahan (Micheál Ó hAnnracháin), the executed 1916 leader. The hero’s sister Eily, who survived until 1974, would relate how their father Richard, an oath-bound member of the Fenians, left Wexford for New Ross, where Michael – registered Hanrahan – was born. Michael’s nearest direct relations are the generation of his Dundalk grand-nephews Harry and Pearse, who were present at the re-dedication of Wexford’s O’Hanrahan station in 2016. Both gentlemen have been to Wexford since in connection with the link being here pursued.
The (Upper) John St family has disappeared from the townscape. A mid-1800’s document concerning Corporation tenancies declares, ‘We recommend an ejectment on the title for the piece of ground at the corner of John’s St. where Hanrahan the elder formerly lived’.
The Killeens Maddock connection, from the marriage above, could be quite important. Here again, the trail has dried up, because the Maddock Killeens farm was sold in 1901. The purpose of this piece is to, hopefully, make contact with descendants of Edward and Catherine Maddock of Killeens, he previously of Belvedere.
Their only daughter, Margaret Mary, married William Malone, back at Belvedere, in 1873. In the Calendar of Wills she is listed as Margaret Mary Maddock Malone, probate being granted to William Maddock and Michael Maddock, farmers.
If the 1923 article is correct, the descendants of the Killeens Maddocks and Belvedere Malones are significantly related to the current O’Hanrahans of Dundalk. An attempted phone canvass was not helped by the fact that most of the Maddock families in Ireland were clustered in the very south-east in the mid-1800’s.
However, two years of delving into newspaper archives and parish records have revealed some interesting insights into Wexford life at the time.
William Malone was Edward Maddock’s son-in-law. In 1874 William was advertising good bricks for sale near Clonard. In 1893 he was threatening legal proceedings following ‘malicious destruction of my property in the Clonard Brick Works’ after a ‘Cycle Meet’. He variously summonsed persons for trespass of a donkey, jennet, cattle, goat and fowl. In 1896 he served as juror in the case of the Riverchapel Murder. That same year, and again three years later, he advertised the services of a ‘well-bred bull’. Presumably it was quite mannerly.
He tendered for milk supply to the Workhouse more than once, as did Maria Maddock of Killeens. Mortality took its eventual toll, and the People of May 20, 1908, reports the ‘Requiem Office and High Mass for the late Mr. Wm. J. Malone, Belvidere’.
Apart for the early spelling of the address, the account is remarkable for being mostly comprised of a list of 16 clergy, including the bishop. While there was ‘a large and respectable funeral cortege’, no mention was made of family. On the Maddock side, Edward also tendered for milk supply to the Workhouse (reincarnated as the old Co. Hospital), and John, possibly his son, sat on the Board of Guardians of same. In April 1893, Edward was mentioned in a law case as letting a 26-acre farm in Bogganstown Upper, Drinagh for £65 per year.
A big eye-opener was Mother Mary Maddock, ‘eldest daughter of Mrs Maddock, Killeens, and niece of Mrs Malone, Belvidere, Wexford’, who, after schooling at Loreto, entered the Mercy Convent in Carrick-on-Suir in 1885. With her sister who entered later, she travelled to Foxford to learn industrial weaving and knitting, before returning to found the Clareen Hosiery Factory. The objective there was to provide gainful employment to girls who might otherwise emigrate. At 41 years of age she had already twice been elected Reverend Mother. It was sadly ironic that such an enterprising lady passed away at the early age of 45.
In this attempt to join some of Wexford town’s historical dots, if any reader has a family memory, better still a scrap of documentation, which would throw more light on Edward Maddock and Catherine Anrahan, he or she is invited to phone the writer at 0874194625. An informal meeting between responding parties will be arranged.