West Limerick Families Abroad
By Kate Press and Valerie Thompson
ISBN 0-646-41334-1
Format soft cover A4 270 pages
A LIMITED EDITION
The complete index of names in the book, an index of West Limerick Baronies,
Parishes and Townlands.
A study of the Irish who left West Limerick and travelled to the four corners
of the globe. This work sets out their family trees, logs their emigration and
contains numerous stories of their triumphs, trials and tribulations in their
new homeland.
More than 1000 family names, with subject cross references. Many name
variants are included. There are twenty-seven known variants for the name
Prenderville.
CORRECTIONS AND ADDITIONS:
February 2025 Stephen Lipple advises on Page 187 the entry Andrew Ruttle is actually Andrew Ruddle. He Married the elder sister of Sarah and Susanna Carter, Maria (Mary) in 1841.
Mary (nee Carter) (1823-1880) and her husband Andrew Ruddle immigrated to Queensland in 1853, later relocating to New South Wales (N.S.W).
Sisters Sarah (1830-?) and Susanna (1832-1911) sailed together to N.S.W in 1853.
"I would surmise that Andrew Ruddle who married Mary Carter was the son of James Ruddle listed in the Tithe Applotment Book for Whiskeyhall in 1853 " Catriona Crowe email February 2022.
Go to Index to West Limerick Families Abroad
Still available from Tony Press
at kpress@melbpc.org.auPrice and Method of Payment:
Australian Price Aus $30 PLUS plus postage & packing.
Paypal preferred
A note from the authors
We can't guarantee that the book will positively identify your family but it
covers every aspect of West Limerick and includes
An extensive list of genealogies with the contributors and their addresses
* A brief chronology of Irish History
* A time-line for Irish Records
* A list of records for West Limerick including Census Returns and
Substitutes; Local Histories; Local Journals; Directories; Gravestone
Inscriptions; Graveyard Records and Limerick Newspapers
* A list of Catholic parishes in West Limerick in the Limerick Diocese
with record commencement dates
* A list of Civil parishes alphabetically indexed
* A list of Roman Catholic parishes alphabetically indexed
* An Enquiry into the Occupation of Land in Ireland
* A list of "Missing Friends" - extracts from the Boston Pilot
* An extract from the "Faction Fighters of the Nineteenth Century
in West Limerick".
* West Limerick Convicts
* A collection of 32 local photographs (old and new)
* A List of contributors with addresses
* Indexed
We hope this helps.
Best Regards,
The late Kate Press and the late Val Thompson
Below are some reviews
From Ancestor, quarterly journal of the Genealogical Society of Victoria
Vol 25 No 7 September 2001
WEST LIMERICK FAMILIES ABROAD
by Kate Press and Valerie Thompson. Published by Kate Press, Melbourne, 2001.
ISBN 0 646 41334 1. 217 pages plus appendices.
This book extends the work of Dr Chris O'Mahony and Valerie Thompson in
Poverty to Promise in examining migration from the region of West Limerick.
However, the emigration period covered here extends to the end of the 19th
century and includes migration to Australia, New Zealand, Canada, United
States and Britain, although Australian families form the majority of those
studied.
In the introduction the authors give a general overview of Irish history,
explaining the reasons behind forced and voluntary migration. Extensive
endnotes to the introduction and Appendix C provide many references for
further research.
The book is clearly set out and easy to follow as the authors trace the
origins, places of settlement and interrelationships of a myriad of West
Limerick families. Chain migration and the interconnections between families,
both in Ireland and in their new homelands, are well documented. In most cases
the authors give details of the first known ancestors, the emigrants and the
first generation born abroad, providing good links for family historians to
follow.
There are ten appendices, including indexes of Civil and Catholic parishes
and an interesting extract from An Enquiry into the Occupation of Land in
Ireland in 1844. The surname index includes cross references, and a list of
contributors/family researchers is provided. An interesting addition, if
space had permitted, would have been an index of places of settlement, showing the
patterns of cluster migration.
Reviewer Maureen Doyle
Irish Roots Issue No. 39 2001 3rd quarter
The Lure of Limerick
In 1853 as the parents of Mary Barrett of Shanagolden, County Limerick had
both died, she took advantage of sponsorship offered by local landlord, Lord
Monteagle to travel to Victoria, Australia on the Monteagle. She soon was
employed by Mrs Hollis of South Bourke Street, Melbourne for £25 a year plus
rations. Like many other Irish settlers, out of her wages Mary remitted £6 to
Ireland to assist with the fares of her siblings Bridget, Ellen, Catherine,
Michael and John. Other relatives, Catherine and Mary Corbett, also made the
long journey. Lord Monteagle advanced the remaining sum needed for their
deposits while Lady Monteagle used her influence to ensure that the family
travelled together at a time when, due to the gold rushes, assisted
immigration for single males into Victoria was not generally permitted.
After arriving in Geelong on the Chandenagore on 21 June 1854, Mary's family
went to Collingwood to join their sister.
Mary Barrett's story came to light in documents associated with the 'Monteagle
emigrants'. These were Australian-Irish who had previously lived within the
influence of a local parliamentary member for Limerick (and later, Cambridge),
Thomas Spring Rice and his family around his estate at Mount Trenchard
overlooking the Shannon Estuary. (This is the same man who during his term as
Secretary of State for the Colonies applied for leave to bring in a bill to
establish criminal courts on Norfolk Island in the 1830s.) The history of this
migration between 1838 and 1858, was told in a 1994 book, Poverty to Promise,
written by Limerick researcher, Dr Christopher O'Mahony and Australian social
historian, Valerie Thompson.
Following the success of this volume which identified about 736 of the
settlers, Valerie Thompson now has joined forces with Kate Press of Melbourne
to broaden the study to include West Limerick people who left the area up
to the end of the nineteenth century including those seeking homes in
places other than the two largest Australian colonies. The new quarto sized
book, West Limerick Families Abroad, is most comprehensive, offering ready
identification of over 1,000 family names, showing not only their Irish origins but also
their issue in the new countries of residence.
Quite apart from the 214 pages allocated to West Limerick families'
biographies, several appendices supplement the text contributing prolific
references for anyone researching this particular county. A chronology of
Irish history is augmented by a time-line for appropriate records before a
more detailed listing of local sources ranging from census, histories,
journals and directories, to gravestone inscriptions and graveyard records. Valuable
schedules including the Limerick newspapers with their dates of publication as
well as parish structures -covering the Roman Catholic, civil, and Church of
Ireland equivalents and dates - appear in alphabetical groupings under both
civil and Roman Catholic headings. Further amplification is offered by the
reproduction of the section dealing with the Monteagle property in the 1844
Enquiry into the Occupation of Land in Ireland in addition to the inclusion of
numerous Limerick entries that appeared in The Search for Missing FriendsIrish
immigrant advertisements placed in the Boston Pilot, published by the New
England Historic Genealogical Society in Boston, Massachusetts. Following a
section on faction fighters and a couple of entries on convicts, the List of
Contributors provides contact details for genealogists eager to link families.
This well illustrated volume, of which only 1,000 copies were printed, is an
essential reference book for libraries and society collections.
West Limerick Families Abroad, by Kate Press and Valerie Thompson, Melbourne, 2001 is
available from Tony Press,kpress@melbpc.org.au, Victoria,
for A$30.00 plus postage and packing
The Irish Times Saturday, August 25, 2001
Australians bring diaspora back to roots.
Details of 1,000 families who emigrated from west Limerick over a 200 year
period have been compiled by two Australian genealogists.
The authors, Kate Press and Valerie Thompson, were assisted by 245
contributors from Australia, New Zealand, the US, South Africa and Co
Limerick.
The newly-published book, West Limerick Families Abroad, is "the tip of the
iceberg," said Ms Press.
A teacher of Irish family history for the Council of Adult Education in
Melbourne, Ms Press said "We have covered a lot of families, but thousands more
left there."
The problem was "some people walk very quietly over the land". Often the
descendants did not even know what county their ancestors came from.
"There is a lot of information about the ones involved in public life or out
here because they were convicted. But a lot of people came as free
settlers. If they paid for
their own passage and were free settlers, they could just disappear into
obscurity," she said.
The project came about as a follow-up to Poverty to Promise, a book by Ms
Thompson, who lives in Sydney, and Dr Christopher O'Mahony, a former Limerick
archivist. It concerns the emigrants who left the Monteagle estate in Co
Limerick between 1838 and 1858.
"We just found there were so many people who spoke to us after that book was
published and wanted more information and wanted it expanded," Ms Press said.
She is a former editor and desktop publisher for the Australian Institute of
Genealogical Studies. She said that already there had been people requesting a
further work, expanding the genealogical study into the surrounding counties.
"There are so many Clare people in Australia. Most of the early Irish
emigrants here are from Munster. The biggest number of Irish emigrants in Australia came
from Tipperary," she added.
When families broke up, some members chose the US or Canada while others
emigrated to Australia. Ms Press herself is descended from the Sheehys and
Shines, who came from the Shanagolden area of west Limerick, while one of
their members went to Canada. "Most Australians, if they look far enough,
will find they have American or Canadian or New Zealand cousins."
The Internet has revolutionised the study of genealogy, which is the third
most popular hobby in the US. "There are so many links being made and so much
material being put on the Internet.
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