Tenants of the Considine Estate in Limerick & Tipperary 1830

Small Sources No. 59:   This is a list of 116 tenants from a rental of the Considine Estate, which had properties in the Baronies of Coonagh, Co. Limerick and in the neighbouring barony of Clanwilliam, Co. Tipperary.  The rental ledger,  entitled ‘H. Considine’s Tenant Book’ is among the Considine Papers in the National Library of Ireland (Ms. 43,073 /1).  The Considine family lived in Derk House, Pallasgreen, Co. Limerick and the head of the family at the time of this record was Heffernan Considine,   a prominent member of the local gentry, whose  official posts included resident magistrate (see our blog on The Petty Session Court)  and member of the Limerick Grand Jury.   During the 1850s  Heffernan Considine owned an estate in the parishes of Grean and Oola, barony of Coonagh, county Limerick and in the parish of Emly, barony of Clanwilliam, county Tipperary.  This region is known as the ‘Golden Vale’ because of its  prime agricultural land,  and is still a major area for dairying.

The list below is taken from the index to the rental.  Figure 1 is an illustration of a part of the original.  It shows only the tenant’s name and the page on which the account of each may be found. The index provides a location for the holdings of only a few of the tenants, but the detailed accounts will each show a specific location for most.   An example of an account is in Fig 2 at the end of the blog.  The accounts are in the Debit/Contra format (see our blog on Rentals for an explanation).  Figure 2  shows the Debit side of the account of Daniel Lahey, who held land in the townland of Cullen for an annual rent of £4.11.8 for the years 1833 to 1836.  The Contra side of the account shows the payments made, but is not included here.

Note that Griffith Valuation was conducted some 20  years  later, so it is possible to track some of those listed to a specific townland through these records.   However, some names are very prevalent in the area (e.g. Ryan, O’Brien,  etc) and this can make it difficult to precisely identify some people with these common names.   Less common names in the list include Glasheen, Gubbins and Bray.  If you are interested in information on specific families,  our e-book title ‘Sources for Irish Family History 2021  lists 6,500  books and articles on over 2,500  Irish families.  The sources listed contain a wealth of information in the form of articles and books. The full details are described in a blog.

The references to ‘Changed to ..’ below are from the original document and indicate that the lessees of the holding had changed.   The index shows only the name and the page for the detailed account of each tenant.  The images of the document above and below were created by Ancestor Network in the National Library of Ireland and are  reproduced here through their courtesy. Ancestor Network will offer 1 free hour of research by a professional researcher to conduct further research on these individuals, or on other tenants of this estate. We can also obtain images of the original documents. Click here and quote ‘LimerickSS59’ in the subject line.  We also publish guides to finding ancestors in both Limerick and Tipperary:  ‘Tracing your Limerick Ancestors‘ (above left) by local historian Margaret Franklin;  and ‘Tracing your Tipperary Ancestors‘  by Noreen Higgins-McHugh.  Both are available here.

Tenant Name                Townland (where stated)  or author comment (in italics)

Armstrong, Rev.                                      Cullen
Armstrong, Robert Rev. ?
Baker, Patrick                                           Emly
Beary, John                                               Barna
Beary, Mrs. Widow                                  Derk
Bourke, David                                           Garrydoolis
Bourke, James                                          Cullen
Bradshaw, Hugh Brady Esq.
Bray                                                           Ballynahinch
Brien, John
Brien, Richard                                         Cullen   (Co. Tipp)
Brien, Dennis                                          Monemore (now Moanmore)
Brien, Michael                                         Monemore
Brien, Morgan                                         Rhodas (now spelled Rodus)
Brien, William                                          Monemore (now Widow Daniel)
Carmody, James
Carroll, John                                             Killeenwara    (possibly Killeenavera)
Cleary, Patrick                                          Cullen
Coffy, William                                                          (usually spelled Coffey)
Connelly, Daniel
Conway, John                                           Garrydoolis
Conway, Thomas
Conway, John
Conway, Owen and son
Coughlan, Patrick
Crowe, Mr.
Dempsey, Darby                                       Monemore
Devereux, Thomas                                   Garrydoolis
Donavan, John                                                            (usually spelled Donovan)
Donavan, Malachy                                    Emly
Donavan, Matt                                           Cullen
Donavan, Sandy                                        Cullen
Donavan, Thomas                                     Emly
Donavan, Widow                                       Emly
Dooly, James                                              Emly
English, Patrick
Fleming, Thomas two holdings
Fleming, Widow

Gerin, Timothy
Glasheen, Widow
Glasheen, John
Glasheen, Maurice
Glasheen, Michael or Hayes
Grace, Widow
Green, James
Gubbins, Joseph
Hackett, James

Hawly ?, Michael

Hanley, John
Hayes, Matt or M.? Glasheen
Hays, John                                           Killeenewara    (possibly Killeenavera)
Hays, Nicholas                                     (usually spelled Hayes)
Heawy ? Revd. Mr.
Heffernan, Otho
Hewit, George
Hogan, John
Holaran, Revd. Mr.                            (usually spelled Holleran)
Horan, Widow
Humphreys, Patrick
Jordan, Michael
Keary, William
King, William Leonard
Laffan, Richard
Lahy, Connor                                              (usually spelled Leahy) 
Lahey, Daniel                                             (see account below)
Lee, Thomas Feleming ?
Leonard, Patrick or King
Long, Maurice
Loohy, Patrick
Lynch, Widow
Madden, John
Magrath, Michael and Co.
Mahony, Denis
Mara, Connor
Meehan, Widow
Mulcahy, Timothy
Mulone, John
Murphy, Edmund
Murphy, John
Murphy, Widow
Murphy, William changed to John
Neil, James
O’Brien, Thomas
O’Brien, John
O’Donnell, Patrick changed to Dennis
O’Donnell, Michael
O’Dwyer, Morgan Esq.
O’Neil, John
Parsons, William Revd. Mr.   (Changed to Armstrong)
Patten, David
Purcill, Philip
Purcill, Thomas                          (usually spelled Purcell)
Quin, Oliver
Quinlivan, John
Ranspott, David                          (a very unusual name – only a very few occurrences anywhere in Ireland)
Ray, Darby
Reordon, Mrs ?                          (usually spelled Riordan)
Rourke, James
Ryan, Charles
Ryan, Clother or Martin
Ryan, Connor
Ryan, John
Ryan, Patrick
Ryan, Timothy and Michael               Ballynahinch
Ryan, Timothy Esq.   (Timothy changed to Thad)
Ryan, William Smith
Sadlier, Clement Esq.
Savage, Michael
Scully, James Esq.
Scully, John Esq.
Scully, Roger Esq.
Short, William Esq.
Torphy, Michael
Tracy, Michael
Tracy, Michael, Hogan
Whelan, Darby
Whelan, Patrick

Some of the articles in our series on Irish Family History sources:

• Petty Sessions– the records of local courts
• Catholic  Church records
• Grand Jury Presentments – records of local councils on payments for public works and staff
• Rentals – management of tenants by estates and the records created
• Middle names – the use (or non-use) of second or middle names in Irish records
• How comprehensive are Irish Civil Records?
• Census returns in Gaelic or Irish language
• 60+ blogs with names extracted  from manuscript sources from many counties (including Cork).   A handy map index to these is available here.