DARCY, CODY, WALSH, HANLON, BYRNE, O'CALLAGHAN, CARTY, BRIEN
of NEW ROSS, Co. WEXFORD and THE ROWER, Co. KILKENNY
This site is devoted to the descendants of a Darcy (D'Arcy? Dorsey?) who lived at Ballymacar, in the parish of Cushinstown, Co. Wexford ( floruit 1770 - 1805?). His son, Edward, was killed at the Battle of Ross 1798, and his body - with others - was thrown into an old quarry; the site is known, but the graves remain unmarked. His surviving sister, Mary Darcy, married Edward Walsh and inherited the farm.
Hundreds of individual descendants are known, over the course of the 9 generations to date, and it is clear that many more descendants are, as yet, unidentified. In the fifth generation new names appear: O'Connell, Cairney, Murphy, McLaughlin, Sheehy; and in the sixth there are Cobey, Puetz, Stuhler, Fojik, Harmon, Temple, Watters, McCrossan, and Veterini.
Since this is a public site details are only given down to the generation born before the Great War. This should be sufficient for the purpose - anybody who can identify their own ancestral line is invited to contact the author, with a view to exchanging further information. It is hoped that an email group can be formed, restricted to descendants of the original progenitor, so that members can stay in touch. Who knows - perhaps a great get-together could take place some day, or maybe some enthusiast could create an extended-family newsletter for circulation within the group?
To exchange information, or if you are interested in joining the email group, please contact Kevin Byrne colonsaybyrne@gmail.com Equally, please get in touch if you are aware of any errors.
More detailed information in narrative form will be found on three other sites Byrne and Walsh Families also Byrnes of South Wexford and Byrnes of Doonooney so, instead, this site makes use of a schematic "family tree" in PDF format. The tree was last updated on 9 March 2012 and will continue to be updated in the light of new information. Please note that additional information does exist on many of the families who "married into" this line, although additional information will be always welcome.
A few basic notes will be given below, which relate to the "family tree". The PDF (near bottom of the page) gives the first 6 generations, and it will be clear that Edward Darcy of Ballymacar, who was killed in 1798 on the Bosheen an t'Slanaigh, left a wife Bridget Cody and two children, John and Mary Darcy. We know that the families stayed in touch, because Bridget sponsored Mary Darcy's son, Thomas Walsh, at his baptism; otherwise, we know nothing of that line of descent.
GENERATIONS 1, 2 and 3
One might guess that the original "Unknown" Darcy was perhaps John. Edward's son John was born 1794 (sponsors Patrick Hanlon and Mary Moran); his daughter was born 1797 (James Nowlan and Eleanor Cody). Note that the connection with the Hanlon family is clearly of long-standing. We know nothing more about his children, but ca. 1804 his sister Mary Darcy married in Cushinstown Edward Walsh of Tinnislatty, The Rower.
Edward and Mary (who both died ca. 1850) had four children, but we know only the names except in the case of Thomas Walsh (b. 1805, sponsor Bridget Darcy (nee Cody?), who married an unknown Finn or Flynn ... probably the former, a local name. Thomas erected a gravestone to his parents, still being maintained at The Rower. His brother, John, was sponsored by Eleanor Cody - clearly the Darcy/Walsh family and the Cody family were very close.
Thomas Walsh and Unknown Finn had two sons, Edward and John; Edward married into Ballyleigh so it seems that it was the younger son, John, who remained in Ballymacar - for convenience, the two lines of descent appear separately (below).
GENERATIONS 4, 5 and 6 (Group 1: Edward Walsh's descent)
Although Edward Walsh was apparently the elder brother, he did not remain in Ballymacar - instead he married Margaret "Alice" O'Callaghan whose family were long-established in Ballinacoola, not far from St. Mullins. At a very early age Margaret Alice O'Callaghan had moved to Ballyleigh, near Ballywilliam and she later inherited that property from a Kehoe aunt. With her husband Edward she had a large family but she died at an early age. Of her children, Mary "Minnie" Walsh died young, and some emigrated - John Walsh went first to Bunclody (Newtownbarry), then to the mines at Uddingston in Scotland, and from there his family emigrated to USA. Tom went straight to USA, and was joined soon aftewards, first by Bridget and then by Annie. Elizabeth and Anastasia both stayed in Wexford and they married two farmers, first cousins of one another, of the Carty family. Although James Walsh married Julia Carty, it is said that Julia had no known connection with the two first cousins.
As can be seen, there are a few blanks. Although there are 50 grandchildren in the chart, there may be more. What happened to Margaret? Did Bridget and "T. Murphy" have children? Quite a lot of information exists about subsequent generations but it is always good to share this with family members and to know about additional members.
GENERATIONS 4, 5 and 6 (Group 2: John Walsh's descent)
John Walsh, the younger son, remained in Ballymacar, where he married (1869) Margaret Hanlon - who was in fact a member of the famous O'Hanlon-Walsh family of Knocktartan, which played such an heroic role in the Land War. Margaret was first cousin to Fr. David O'Hanlon-Walsh, whose sister Margaret O'Hanlon-Walsh married Patrick O'Byrne, who had a substantial farm in Cushinstown - thus the two Margarets, first cousins, married into the same parish and it seems into the same townland. John and Margaret's daughter Margaret married (1896) Nicholas Byrne, a farmer from Adamstown whose family had been in Doonooney since the late 17th century; the Byrne family had moved to Newtown and to Grasscur before Nicholas married into Ballymacar. The history of their other daughter, Bridget is at present unknown, although it has been said that she married (a Finn?) and went to America..
In the next generation, Bill (William) remained on the farm, as did Jack (John), who fought in the War of Independence but remained a bachelor; their sister Margaret married into Ballinacoola, and one child died as a baby. The rest of the generation, three daughters and a son, all emigrated to England.
The author of this site would like to pay tribute to his late uncle Jack (John) Byrne of Ballymacar whose patient and knowledgeable assistance, more than 50 years ago, provided him with vital information and encouragement. With the passing of the years, that early information has been shown to be extraordinarily accurate.
Contact the author of this site, Kevin Nicholas Byrne colonsaybyrne@gmail.com