The Campbells of Tipperary
Our County Tipperary Ancestors
The Campbell Family
Introduction
It is a safe bet that most families have legends passed down from one generation to the next. As years pass fewer descendents question these claims. We have seen the same thing even in our own family. Some months back we saw an entry on-line for a Margaret Ryan and Patrick Ryan. We ignored this record because their family history suggested a different family line. We continued our search, but kept coming back to this record. One entry was interesting to us. This Margaret and Patrick Ryan lived next door to James and Annie Ryan in Allamakee County. Could this Margaret Ryan be Batt’s sister?
Patrick and Margaret Ryan’s family history showed the following information:
“Patrick and Margaret were both born in Ireland, from County Tipperary. They met on the boat coming over. They had the same last name but were no relations to each other. They were farmers and made their home in Lenox, Iowa.” Patrick Ryan and his family arrived in America on August 16, 1850, aboard the ship, James Wright. The ship left Glasgow for New York harbor. We looked at the ship’s manifest in the National Archives and found the following Ryan entries:
Except for two James Ryan entries, the other Ryans were traveling together. There was no listing for a Margaret Ryan onboard, and there were only three girls younger than 10 years of age with the first name ‘Margaret’: Margaret Butler (3), Margaret Mulligan (5), and Margaret Wallace (10). Our Ryan family line did not immigrate to America until 1863. So, was it possible this family legend was in reality a family tall tale?
There was another entry that caught our attention. It was information found in Margaret Ryan’s death certificate. It showed her birth date (April 1, 1849) and date of death (July 27, 1925). It showed her father’s name as ‘James Ryan’ but the death certificate only indicates her mother’s surname (Campbell). What was Batt Ryan’s mother’s surname? Was Annie Ryan’s maiden name really ‘Campbell’? Our next step was to request a copy of Bartholomew Ryan’s death certificate. Voila, it shows his mother’s maiden name as ‘Ann Campbell’. Dredging through the family tree produced yet another family line of which we had no knowledge. The following information was copied from Batt Ryan’s death certificate:
With this information we now know our family tree appears as shown below:
*****
Campbell is an Irish sept found primarily in Tyrone and Donegal, although this surname can be found in other areas of Ireland. This surname is usually of Scottish origin primarily due to Scottish gallowglass origin. Many Campbells are also of recent Scottish immigration. The name has been abbreviated as Camp or Kemp in County Cavan. Surnames have their origins as an occupation, skill, feat, place name or nickname. Campbell means ‘crooked or wry mouth’ and signifies a man whose mouth is inclined on one side. This name comes from the Gaelic ‘cam’ meaning ‘crooked or distorted’ and ‘beul’ for mouth. Gillespie O Duibhne was the first to have bore this name. One finds evidence of this clan as far back as the beginning of the 13th century.
While we would expect to see this surname in Scotland, it is rarer to see this surname south of Ulster. By the mid-nineteenth century there were eleven Campbells listed in the Griffith Valuation Survey for County Tipperary. The Griffith Valuation Survey is considered a census substitute for Ireland since most normal census records had either been purposely destroyed or burned. Were any of these Campbell names related to Annie Campbell Ryan? Perhaps, but we are still searching for her birth place as well.
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 |
Campbell Surnames found in North Tipperary
The following is a graphical representation of what you see above but has been enlarged. In North Tipperary one could find Campbells living in the following Civil Parishes: Bourney, Corbally, Kilnarath, Terryglass, Thurles and Toem.
Bourney Civil Parish, Ballykelly Townland
The following information was taken from Lewis’s Topographical Dictionary of Ireland, which was first published in 1837, and describes Bourney Civil Parish:
BOURNEY or BOURCHIN, a parish, in the barony of IKERRIN, county of TIPPERARY, 4 ½ miles (S.E.) from Roscrea; containing 4061 inhabitants.
This parish is situated between the mail coach road from Dublin to Limerick and the public road from Roscrea to Templemore; and comprises more than 9700 statute acres. The rivers Nore and Suir have their rise here in the side of the mountain of Benduff. Their respective sources not being more than ½ mile distant from each other. The river Nore peruses nearly a direct course through this parish and Corbally into Burris-in-Ossary(Borris-in-Ossory); the river Suir forms the southern boundary of this parish.
In the R.C. divisions the parish is the head of a union or district, which comprises also the parishes of Burrisnefarney and Corbally, and contains four chapels, all neat buildings, of which the principal is situated at Clonakenny, in this parish. There is a place of worship for the Society of Friends at Knockbally Meagher. The parochial schools afford instruction to about 40 boys and 40 girls; and there are also four private pay schools, in which are about 170 children. At Boulebane, Bawnmadrum, and Clonakenny are considerable remains are considerable remains of ancient castles; the first two are situated on an eminence very near each other.
|
||||||||||||||||
 |
||||||||||||||||
 |
Where applicable, we try to include records taken from the Tithe Applotment Record of 1824. The Tithe Applotment is considered another census substitute, and is another tool used by genealogists to trace family trees. There were no Campbell surnames listed for Bourney Civil Parish during this time. Does that mean there were no Campbells living in this area in 1824? No, many in Tipperary refused to pay the tithe to the Established Church in Ireland (Anglican) and do not appear on the Tithe Applotment list. The following shows Ryan names found on this list.
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Corbally Civil Parish, Callaun Townland
The following information was found in Lewis’s Topographical Dictionary of Ireland, first published in 1837, regarding Corbally Civil Parish:
CORBALLY, a parish, in the barony of IKERRIN, county of TIPPERARY, and province of Munster, 3 miles (S.E.) from Roscrea; containing 3090 inhabitants.
This place derived an early degree of celebrity from a very ancient abbey founded about the 7th century for Culdean monks, on an island in the parish, called Mona Incha, and dedicated to St. Columba. This island, which comprised little more than two acres of firm ground encompassed by a soft morass, recently drained by its proprietor and brought into cultivation, is noticed by Giraldus Cambrensis, who came into Ireland as a preceptor of John, Earl of Moreton, afterwards King of England, who says that there are a few Culdees or Colidei "did devoutly serve God." An opinion even in his time prevailed that no person, however severe might be his malady, could die in this island, from which tradition it obtained the appellation of Insula Viventium, or "the Isle of the Living." There was also on this island an ancient building called the "Woman's Church."
The parish consists of three detached portions intersected by the parish of Roscrea, and comprise 10,125 statute acres, as applotted under the tithe act, of which about 400 of woodland, 3200 bog, and the remainder good arable and pasture land. In the Roman Catholic divisions the parish forms part of the union or district of Bourney; There are two chapels, one at Williamstown, and one at Camlin.
|
||||||||||||||||
 |
||||||||||||||||
 |
Kilnarath Civil Parish, Gortnaskhey Townland
The following information was taken from Lewis’s Topographical Dictionary of Ireland, which was first published in 1837, and describes Kilnarath Civil Parish:
KILNERATH or NEWPORT (St. JOHN'S) a parish, in the barony of
OWNEY and ARRA, county of
TIPPERARY, and province of MUNSTER, 2 miles (E.) from
Newport, on the upper road to Nenagh; containing 2749 inhabitants.
It comprises 5147 statute acres, as applotted under the tithe act, and valued at £4180 per annum; with the exception of an extensive tract of bog, affording excellent fuel, the land is in general of good quality and in an improved state of cultivation. The scenery is of very interesting character; the banks of the river are bold and rocky, presenting some very striking features, and masses of rock lying in its channel give an artificial rapidity to its course.
In the Roman Catholic divisions the parish is the head of two unions or districts, one called Newport, comprising also parts of the parishes of Kilvolane and Kilcomenty, in each of which is a chapel: and the other called Ballynahinch, comprising also Killoscully, in which latter parish is a chapel. The chapel at Ballynahinch, to which a school-house is attached, was built on ground given by Lord Dunally. About 400 children are taught in four private schools. There are some remains of the old church, and also of the chapel of Kilpatrick; near which is a chalybeate spring, not much used.
You might also recall that an Edward Hill family lived in this parish during the first part of the nineteenth century. Unfortunately, we could find no ordnance maps for this area of Ireland. John Campbell can be found living in Gortnaskehy Townland. According to the valuation survey, he leased a house and garden. This area of Ireland is also high on our list of possible places where the Ryans of South Dakota lived. A large number of Boney surnames can be found living in the parish south of Kilnarath Civil Parish.
|
||||||||||||||||
 |