Person Page - 31

John Dorgan was born in 1856^2,3,4 and was a native of Kildinan, Glenville, Co Cork.⁵

John Dorgan joined the RIC on 12 August 1881 at the age of 34 giving Cork ER as his native county. There is nothing given as his county of joining so it looks like he joined from Cork ER. He was recommended by SI Fleming and gave his occupation as Clerk. His height is shown as 5 feet 81/2 inches. He was given the service number 47613.^4,6 His first station was Galway WR on 24 December 1881. Next he went to Tip SR on 28 October 1884 and finally he was sent to Queen's County on 7 November 1899. At marriage his wife is recorded as connected in Kilkenny and Queen's and in the remarks column she is shown as connected in Cork SR and Kildare.⁴ He ended military service on 1 June 1907 and he was awarded a pension.⁴

John Dorgan married Judith Esther Griffin, daughter of John Mooney and Elizabeth McCabe, on 12 April 1904.^1,7,4,6 He probablylived at Ballinaskill, Co Laois.⁷ John and Judith moved into New York House, Grennan, Attanagh, Queen's County, in 1908.^5,8 At one time he is said to have lived at Durrow, Queen's County.⁶

About a year previously his father-in-law John Mooney transferred the property to him in exchange for free maintenance for the rest of his life. The property consisted of: a dwelling house, other buildings, farming stock and effects.^7,9 He eventually came to own the farm having previously rented it for some years. There was a complicated set of Acts governing such land and after a period of time during which rentals had to reach a certain total value, the land could become the property of the tenant.¹⁰ In 1927 he expanded his holding with the purchase of a piece of land next to his farm called Maxwell's Field which is in the townland of Glebe, Attanagh.¹¹

Eventually the family moved into Attanagh and the cottage was finally abandoned in 1932.⁵

John Dorgan died on 17 September 1941.^2,3,12 He was buried in the Mooney family grave in the churchyard at Ballyouskill, Co Kilkenny.^2,12

Hugh McCabe was born in 1880² and died on 2 May 1940 at Drumgoose, Crossmaglen.²

Hugh McCabe died on 29 November 1949.²

Catherine (?) died on 29 April 1946 at Tullyard, Crossmaglen, Co Armagh.²

Owen McCabe died on 1 October 1957 in Crossmaglen, Co Armagh.²

Peter McCabe died on 9 March 1953 at Loughross, Crossmaglen.²

Mary McCabe died on 27 December 1909 at Tullyard, Crossmaglen.²

William M Regan died on 19 May 1917 at Ballinrobe, Co Mayo.¹

Mary Harding died on 10 May 1961 at Gurteen, Skeaghvosten, Graignamanagh, Co Kilkenny.^1,2

Catherine Fogarty was born circa 1906.⁴ Catherine Fogarty was also known as Kate Fogarty.^5,6 She married John William Dorgan, son of John Dorgan and Judith Esther Mooney.^7,8,9 On 19 December 1988 she lived at Attanagh, Co Laois,¹⁰ the postmistress there.¹⁰

Catherine Dorgan died on 5 July 1993 aged 87 years^4,11 and was buried in the Churchyard at Ballyouskill.^11,12

A Postmistress.¹⁰

Margaret Mooney was born circa 1870.¹

Margaret Mooney died on 21 January 1901 in Grennan aged 30 years.¹

William Joseph Dorgan was born circa 1937.² William Joseph Dorgan was also known as Liam Dorgan.^2,3 He died on 26 October 1966 aged 29 years^2,4 and was buried in the Mooney family grave in the churchyard. at Ballyouskill, Co Kilkenny.⁴

William Mooney was born in Mooney's Gardens in the late 1830s.^1,2

He joined Dublin Metropolitan Police (DMP) on 9 December 1859 from Ballouskill.² His record of service shows that he joined aged 20 and was 5 ft 9¹/₄ in. He came from the parish of Balliragget and the town of Ballyouskill. He was moved between Divisions three times: to E at the beginning of his service, to A on 11 August 1865 and to E again on 29 November 1873. His starting rank was as a First Class Constable and he became 2nd Class on 10 February 1860 and 1st Rate on 1 April 1867. On 1 April 1876 he was promoted to Acting Sergeant. The record also shows that after 5 years serviice he was awarded Good Service Pay.^1,3,2 His service ended on 16 March 1877 when he was discharged with a pension of £35 a year.² He retired as a widower but had a daughter, Lizzie, living with him. He returned to Grennan with his daughter to live with his parents.¹ William married in Dublin but his wife's name and family are not known.⁴ After his daughter, Lizzie, emigrated he went to live with his sister, Mary Fogarty, and stayed with her¹ until he died in the late 1890s.¹ He was buried in the family grave at Ballyouskill but his name does not appear on the headstone.¹

William was said to be fond of the drink.¹

William Mooney was baptised on 15 May 1803 in Ballyragget, Co Laois, at a church which burned down accidentally about 1840.^1,2,3 He married Lizzie Butler circa 1825.¹

William Mooney lived at Mooney's Gardens, Grennan, Attanagh, circa 1840. It appearred in Griffith's Valuation for Attanagh, which took place in the 1840s. The record shows a William Mooney having a house and office with no land valued at £1 10s 0d. He was a sub-tenant of Richard A Lawlor, Grenan (sic) House on the estate of the Earl of Orkney. It is not clear if his father had the place before him but if he did they would both have been tenants at will since it was before the Land Acts of 1850. Tenants at will had the same rights as the crows that flew over the land according to Dermot Dorgan, the local historian. In all likelihood he had the use of the land to feed his family as part of his remuneration from the Grennan Estate where he was a herdsman.

Dermot Dorgan has visited the site and says that the locals still call it Mooney's Gardens (2002). He has explored the site but all he found were the foundations of a building which probably had 3 rooms. It was traditional at that time to build houses lined up East/West but it was actually built North/South but he didn't know the significance, if any, of this. He has a map, dated 1831, which shows both Mooney's Gardens and the farm at Grennan (Grianán in Irish).^1,4,5,6

Circa 1843, the Mooneys moved to a new house built by William about a quarter of a mile south east of Mooney's Gardens. The house, which later became known as New York House, stood on approximately 20 acres of land which was partly on the old Coffee estate. The house doesn't appear on the 1839 Ordnance Survey map so it must have been built between 1839 and 1844. This is borne out as family tradition has it that it was built in 1843. William and his wife lived there for the rest of their lives and his name appears in the 1882 list of Grennan Tenantry

Both Dermot Dorgan and Jack Palmer independantly told me that the farm got its name because it was at the end of a very long lane and that the Mooneys always said that it was so far that by the time you had walked there you felt you had gone all the way to the city of New York itself. Eventually the name caught on and the place came to be known as New York House.^{7,1,8,9,10,11}

The following appeared in the Ballina Chronicle on 27 February 1850:

A MANSION AND FARM IN QUEEN'S COUNTY WITHOUT A CLAIMANT!

There is at present an unoccupied mansion, to which is attached three
hundred and fifty acres, without a person to come forward to either claim or
exercise the right of ownership. It is situate near Durrow, in the Queen's
County, and it is called "Grennan. The peasantry in the locality taking
advantage of this state of things, on last Monday entered the mansion and took
down six marble chimney pieces, three of which they carried away, and would have
also borne off with the other three, were it not that it was rumoured the police
were approaching. The cutting of timber is also frequent, and can be practised
with impunity - for the police having brought a man, caught in the act of
timber-cutting, before the Justices at Durrow, their worships would not
interfere, as there was no representative of the property forthcoming. The
mansion is undergoing a state of thorough dilapidation, and the 350 acres are
being denuded of their timber, and fast approaching a state of commonage. The
property had been previously in possession of Richard Lalor (sic), Esq., who abandoned
it and went to America; the reported owner in fee, the Earl of Orkney, seems
either to have forgotten that there is such a spot mapped on his Irish estates,
or to consider that under the present auspices of Free-trade and Poor-rates, its
loss would be a gain.-- Limerick Chronicle.

The Grennan referred to is almost certainly the estate where William was employed.¹²

The book by Dermot Dorgan on the history of Ballyouskill lists a William Mooney as having 1-10 acres of land. The information was taken from Griffith's Valuation which was published in 1851.¹³

William Mooney died circa 1885. His date of death is not certain but it is known that he was still alive when his son John retired from the RIC in 1882 and that he lived for a short while after that. His wife's name, Lizzie, nee Butler, appears in the 1886 register of electors and would have needed to be a holder of land to be in it. Her son John's name was not recorded. From this it can be deduced that William was dead and that she was therefore a widow at the time and the land had passed to her. It was common practice for landlords at the time to insist that the oldest relative be the next tenant as it enabled them to better control the succession of land. A further piece of evidence to support this deduction is a story in the Caraghan Manuscripts (Book 84) which has been seen by Dermot Dorgan. The story is told by a Mrs Margaret Morrissey and corroborates the deduction that Lizzie held the land.^1,14,3

There is a passage in Dermot Dorgan's book about the history of Ballyouskill that refers to a local man called Hugh Toole who was also in the RIC and remembers the Mooneys:

He often spoke of the men from his native locality who served with him, men like the Mooneys of Lower Grennan, of whom all four sons joined the force in which their father and an uncle had served before them. He was fortunate in his 'Depot days' that Paddy Mooney was a Head Constable there at the time, and to Hugh's benefit the spirit of neighbourliness transcended the strict Victorian regimentation which separated the ranks.

A similar situation applied when he served with Andrew Mooney later during the stirring days in Clare. Andrew, who received all his education in Ballouskill N.S. where his Aunt was Principal, rose to the full commissioned rank of Divisional (sic) Inspector. This he achieved by educational success, winning in the process the coveted police award of the Queen's Gold Watch.¹⁵

William Mooney was a Herdsman.¹

Lizzie Mooney lived circa 1870 with her father when he retired from the Dublin Metropolitan Police.¹ She was about to be married at the time but her husband-to-be rejected her when he realised he was getting her father as well.¹ She emigrated to Canada¹ and married (?) Orr.¹ She corresponded regularly with Dermot Dorgan's great aunt Lizzie but contact was lost with her after Julia Dorgan's death in 1924.^1,2

Lizzie Butler came from Ballinalacken. She appears to have been the sister of Richard Butler a farmer of that townland whose name appears in the Tythe Applotment (1826) and Griffith's Valuation (1850).^1,2 Lizzie Butler married William Mooney, son of Patrick Mooney and Margaret Coffee, circa 1825.¹

(?) Orr married Lizzie Mooney, daughter of William Mooney.¹

The Mooneys are reputed to have come from Adamstown, Ballyfin, sometime in the 1700s. They became employees of the Grennan House farm and settled in a house in Lower Grennan overlooking the River Nore. This place was later to become known as 'Mooney's Gardens'. It is impossible to say at what exact date the Mooneys arrived but it would appear to be not later than the mid-18th century. During the latter part of that century the occupancy of Grennan House appeared to be in a state of flux which would hardly encourage people to settle there so it is likely that the Mooneys were there in the time of the Wheelars (before 1760).^1,3,4 It is likely that he was a farm worker and worked on the Grennan Estate (an unknown value) on circa 1800.^1,5

Patrick Mooney was a Farm Worker circa 1800.^1,5 He married Margaret Coffee.^1,6

I have a photo of what I believe is Mooney's Gardens taken at a distance by Julie Dorgan. It is annotated 'Where Mooneys originated'.⁷

It is likely that he was a farm worker and worked on the Grennan Estate.^1,2

Margaret Coffee was associated with Patrick Mooney Farm Worker circa 1800.^1,2 Margaret Coffee married Patrick Mooney.^1,3 Margaret Coffeecame from the Coffee farm nearby.⁴ The Coffees were Irish through and through and were part of the secret agrarian societies which flourished at the end of the eighteenth century to oppose the rents and other taxes being levied by the Britsh on poor Irish farmers. The Coffees were evicted from their holding part of which later became William Mooney's land at New York House, Grennan, Attanagh, Queen's County.^1,3,5

The following story has been handed down through the generations and was narrated by Dermot Dorgan in 2002:

During the agrarian troubles at the end of the 17th century, a group of local activists decided to attack a certain big house occupied by a landlord. They planned to use a loaded haycart, set it alight and to let it roll down a slope until it came to rest against the building. As it turned out it burned rapidly after they set light to it and alerted the occupants before the building caught fire. The occupants opened fire and one of the attackers was injured. His companions took him to the Coffee farm where they called for a doctor who amputated his limb but he died soon after.The attackers didn't want to give the game away and decided not to let him have a funeral. Instead, they buried him under a hedge on the farm.⁶

Mary Mooney, daughter of William Mooney and Lizzie Butler, was born in 1831² and later married Michael Fogarty. A number of children were born to them but only one, Edward, can be accounted for.^1,3,2 died a few years later in 1905.¹

Judith Mooney was born in 1836 at Lower Grennan, Queen's County, Ireland.^3,2 Judith Mooney also went by the name of Julia.¹ She married Edward Dowling on 21 October 1861 at County Kilkenny who was Principal of the Boys' School at the time.^1,4,2 Judith Mooney was the Principal of the Girls' School at Attanagh between 1855 and 1898.¹

Dermot Dorgan, her great, great nephew, said that his father remembered her well and always said that she rapped people over the head with a ruler just like a school mistress!⁵

Judith Mooney died on 20 September 1918; her obituary appeared in the Kilkenny People on 28 September 1918.

DEATH OF MRS. DOWLING, EX-N.T.
BALLYOUSKILL

With deep regret we announce the death of the above-named lady, which occurred on Friday, 20th September. She had reached the advanced age of 83 years and enjoyed good health to near the end. She was a well known and highly successful teacher, and resigned from the service of the National Board about 23 years ago. Office and High Mass for the repose of her soul were celebrated at Ballyouskill on Tuesday. The following clergy were present:- Very Rev. Dean Barry D.D., P.P., V.F., Ballyragget; Very Rev. Canon Carrigan, D.D., P.P., Durrow; Rev. N. Hennessy, C.C., Ballyouskill; Rev. J. Birch, C.C., Ballyragget; Rev. J. Walsh, C.C., Durrow; Rev. Fr. Lowry, C.C., Conahy; Rev. Fr. Grace, C.C., Clontubrid.^1,5,6

Judith Mooney was shown in a picture in the book about Ballyouskill written by a relation, Dermot Dorgan. The caption was:

Mrs Dowling a great-grand-aunt of the author who began teaching in Ballyouskill in 1855 and was Principal of the Girl's School until her retirement in 1898.

She is also mentioned elsewhere in the book:

The first known teacher in the Girl's School was Julia Mooney. Born in Lower Grennan in 1838 she attended the Blue School in Attanagh and commenced teaching at Ballyouskill in 1855. About 6 years later she married Edward Dowling Principal of the Boy's School and she continued as Principal of the Girl's School over the greater part of her career until her retirement in 1898.

Mrs Dowling won the Carlisle Blake Medal for teaching and was presented with it in Athy to where she was taken in a horse and cart by Richard Moylan. She lived until 1918. Mrs Dowling's daughter succeeded her as principal and held the position until she retired due to ill health in 1916. She died the following year.⁷

She is reported to have always said that her father (William Mooney), grandfather (Patrick Mooney) and possibly great grandfather were all born at Mooney's Gardens and that the Mooneys came from Cadamstown, Ballyfin on the border between King's and Queen's Counties.^1,5 She was a School Principal between 1855 and 1898.¹

He is thought to have been a stonemason who built most of the walls in Attanagh. He also may have built or helped to build New York House and the garden wall southwards from it.^1,2,3,4

Andrew Mooney died circa 1893. He never married and probably died before his brother's return from the RIC. An Andrew Mooney who died around 1893 may have been this man.^1,3