RootsTech Revelations!

Unfortunately I still have not yet had the chance to attend a RootsTech genealogy conference in person, however, 2025 marks the fourth year in a row I've watched virtually since their quick and nimble transition during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2021. I'm quite thankful for the plethora of videos and keynote presentations FamilySearch has offered online since that point in history, and for FREE, nonetheless!

In the handful of presentations I've managed to view or listen to so far this year, there was one put on by Claire Bradley, a Dublin-based genetic genealogist, that helped me strike gold in my research! Her talk was called Irish Genealogy Resources at the Virtual Treasury. It explored the holdings of the Virtual Record Treasury of Ireland which has had the goal of recreating an online database of documents lost during the Four Courts Fire of 1922 at the Public Record Office of Ireland. 

Obviously, due to the devastating destruction at that archive, many original records will permanently be lost to time. But the Virtual Record Treasury is compiling a central location to bring together duplicates of a myriad of collections, or substitute records, or even loose forgotten papers from someone's attic for all to access at no charge. I first learned about the state-funded program Beyond 2022 that's behind this online repository several years ago, but at the time, their site didn't appear to offer anything tangible. I'm so glad that Claire brought my attention to their progress!

Most notably, she pointed out they had scanned images relating to the Cromwellian Surveys of the 17th century as well as the Religious Survey of 1766. Before I jump into what I found, I will explain that no, I can not definitively trace my famine Irish ancestors back to the 1600s (sadly)! But what I was able to uncover does give further context to the family that I have been busy researching for the past five years.

Cromwellian Surveys of the 17th century

To quickly catch you up on some Ireland history, in late 1641, Ulster Catholics revolted against the English (mainly Protestants) who were trying to rule their country. This period of turmoil became known as the Cromwellian wars. Eventually, the Catholics were defeated, and King James II (who had converted to Catholicism in the 1660s) was dethroned. Any landowning elite in Ireland who were deemed papists were stripped of their properties and titles. All the ploughlands they owned were redistributed amongst mostly English Protestants who were being rewarded for their participation in the affair on behalf of the crown. This redistribution of land prompted the making of new maps, surveys, and account books; the most prominent being known as the Books of Survey and Distribution.

Now, to tie this into my personal research, one must know that my famine Irish ancestors, the Keeffes and the Meades, farmed land in County Cork in the Barony of Fermoy in and around the civil parish of Farahy (Pharihy) in the early to mid 1800s. They were Catholic tenant farmers who paid rents to the wealthier Protestant landed estate owners. To further one's family tree research in Ireland during this time, one must study the records produced by the landowners more often than not. In the case of my Keeffe ancestors, this meant focusing on the Bowen family of Bowen's Court.

I knew that the first Bowen to assume the land in Farahy was John Bowen in the late 1660s. One of his descendants, Elizabeth Bowen, became a famous author in the 20th century and recorded her family's history as well as the history of Bowen's Court. But to finally be able to see that land transaction in an original image was very exciting.

NAI QRO 1/1/3/6/14/6, 'Books of Survey and Distribution: County of Corke Pharihy Parish Fermoy Barony'. Accessed on Virtual Record Treasury of Ireland <https://virtualtreasury.ie/item/NAI-QRO-1-1-3-6-14-6> (12 March 2025). Repository: National Archives, Ireland.

This page recorded the moment in history when John Bowen took control of the land my Keeffe ancestors would eventually be farming and living off of. It was regrettably a sad state of affairs for a man named Garrat Cashin. He was branded a papist and dispossessed of nearly 4,000 acres of property, which included the Farahy Church and glebe lands. Other Protestants who took control alongside John Bowen included Lord Kingston, Lord Harding, and John Nettles (many whose names also appear in Elizabeth Bowen's historical novels).

These images were digitized and transcribed at Trinity College in Dublin under the supervision of the Irish Manuscripts Commission, and I'm very thankful they saw fit to do so. They're held at the National Archives in Dublin, but it will likely be some time before I'm able to make another research trip there. This is an excellent document that sheds light on the history of the land that my ancestors farmed.

1766 Religious Survey

The other item that Claire Bradley called attention to in her RootsTech talk that sparked my interest was essentially a population schedule taken in Ireland before the ten-year censuses began even rolling out in the early 1800s. Although it did not encapsulate every individual in a household, its main purpose was to count the number of people in each locality conforming to each type of religion. 

Of this record's recovered documents, there are more than 50,000 names listed, and many with their corresponding faith! If one is extremely lucky, there may also be a mention of their other family members in the household or some other descriptive detail about that person.

And while I cannot name my 6th or 7th great grandfathers who might possibly be living that year, I have a suspicion that at least one of the Keeffe men who were residing in Farahy at that time were them! I also happen to have a notion as to whom my 7th great grandfather was due to an old map I found of the area (surveyed in 1754). So learning the names of any of the Keeffe men in that locality is one step further in my research (and most likely the furthest back in time I'll be able to take that ancestral line).

In the digitized documents, I was able to find this handwritten sheet totaling up the number of Protestant versus Catholic men in different civil parishes.

NAI PRIV/M/2471, 'Copy subsidy roll, co. Armagh, 1634 (with extracts from hearth money rolls, County Armagh, 1664 and 1665); 1766 religious census summary data (Bundle 79)'. Accessed on Virtual Record Treasury of Ireland <https://virtualtreasury.ie/item/NAI-PRIV-M-2471> (12 March 2025) Image 14 of 24. Repository: National Archives, Ireland.

About halfway down the page, you will find the civil parish of Farahy, listed as number 1066. Nearby parishes such as Kildorrery and Nathlash follow. The number count directly following the parish name was the number of Protestant men living in the community. The second number was the total number of Catholic men. These records make blatantly clear how much the Catholic outnumbered the Protestant gentry in the area! 148 Catholic men resided in Farahy as opposed to just 7 Protestant!

The note in the next column reads "Names only" referring to the type of information one could find for that parish in the actual survey. Claire had mentioned that not all names were recorded (or had survived) in the record group. Some of the surveyors had only noted the numbers of Catholics and Protestants in each area, but this little note gave me hope for the Farahy survey.

Sure enough, I am one of the lucky ones whose parish listed out the heads of households grouped by their religion! And here on page 213 of the original survey book are the Catholic Keeffe (Keefe) men residing in Farahy between 1764 and 1765.

NAI PRIV/M/5036/A, 'Records of the Diocese of Cloyne, 1766 religious census, registered priests, 1764-5 religious census'. Accessed on Virtual Record Treasury of Ireland <https://virtualtreasury.ie/item/NAI-PRIV-M-5036-A> (12 March 2025). Image 110 of 262. Repository: National Archives, Ireland.

Ten years prior, on the 1754 map of Farahy that I was able to find at the National Library of Ireland in the manuscripts collection within the Bowen family papers, the two Keeffe men living in the area were Michael and William Keeffe. As you can see, William was not enumerated on this religious survey, but instead another Keeffe (Keefe) man, John, appears in his place. 

Upon closer inspection, a few of the surnames seen on the 1754 map carried over in the general vicinity of these men on this list, including Barrett, Connors, and Razor. It can be hypothesized that John Barrett is one-in-the-same on the survey and map and that the Connors men on the survey are sons of the Conner men listed on the map. 

The same could be hypothesized for John Keefe. Looking at his placement between Patrick Razor and James Connors on the survey, it would not be far-fetched to think he could be the son of William Keeffe, who was living on adjoining lands to Gregg Raizor and Cornelius Conner. There could, of course, be other familial relations at play here, too. But with no other intel to go on, these are the most likely scenarios.

While I can prove my 4th great grandfather to be Terence Keeffe and my 5th great grandfather to be Arthur Keeffe, the names of my 6th and/or 7th great grandfathers will remain elusive. However, due to the fact that only 2 Keefe men were deemed heads of households in the Farahy area, it's overwhelmingly likely that I am staring at at least one of my direct line Keeffe ancestors on this religious survey. And due to proximity alone on the 1754 map, I'd say the greater possibility is that Michael Keeffe is my 6th or 7th great grandfather. I will not be able to prove this due to a severe lack of genealogical records during this time period and place, but I'm rejoicing over the circumstantial evidence alone!

There was 1 other Keefe listed in Farahy, but it was not a male head of household; rather she was a female head of household! Eleanor Keefe is seen here on page 215, line 7.

NAI PRIV/M/5036/A, 'Records of the Diocese of Cloyne, 1766 religious census, registered priests, 1764-5 religious census'. Accessed on Virtual Record Treasury of Ireland <https://virtualtreasury.ie/item/NAI-PRIV-M-5036-A> (12 March 2025). Image 111 of 262. Repository: National Archives, Ireland.

I do not have a thought as to how she might be related to my Keeffe family; only that she was either a spinster who came to live on her own (and therefore, likely of a blood relation to me), or her Keeffe husband had left her widowed before this survey was taken. Further analysis of the families preceding and following her on this page may give way to a theory on which lot of land she resided on in Farahy.

And, finally, just to show a snapshot of the start of this survey in Farahy, here is the 1st page of the parish, which includes the names of the 7 Protestants living in the area.

NAI PRIV/M/5036/A, 'Records of the Diocese of Cloyne, 1766 religious census, registered priests, 1764-5 religious census'. Accessed on Virtual Record Treasury of Ireland <https://virtualtreasury.ie/item/NAI-PRIV-M-5036-A> (12 March 2025). Image 109 of 262. Repository: National Archives, Ireland.

Note that the surname Bowen is not among them. The family home of Bowen's Court was not built in Farahy until 10 years after this religious survey was taken. It was designed, constructed, and finished during Henry Cole Bowen's generation (about 100 years after the Bowens had taken possession of the land). Up until that time, the Bowens called County Tipperary home.

There is another Protestant on this list whose name appears a lot in my research, and that is Henry Franks. The Franks owned the land that my Meade ancestors farmed called Meadstown. The village was just south of the Keeffe's farm (Lismonihis), hence how my 4th great grandparents Terence Keeffe and Nancy "Anne" Meade likely met. In 1823, the entire Franks household was murdered in their home by a mob of men commonly referred to as "Whiteboys." The violence was brought on by ever-increasing tithes and rentals by the landed gentry, which included the Franks family. Tenant farmers grew restless and began forming secret agrarian societies and would then lash out at strict landlords and local magistrates. The Franks paid the ultimate price. The kicker of the story is that one of the men put on trial for leading the mob was Arthur Keeffe, who may have been the same Arthur Keeffe I identified as being my 5th great grandfather. If not the same guy, it's still quite likely the two were related in some way (and thus, related to me).

I'm sure there's plenty more to discover in the Virtual Treasury records, but these two collections alone will keep me busy for now. Thanks many times over again to Claire Bradley for her excellent presentation on this topic at RootsTech! I can't wait to find out what other goodies I'll learn by exploring further videos from the conference this year.