Wexford Estate Workers and Suppliers 1856

Small Sources 1: This was our very first “Small Sources”, originally posted on our Flyleaf Press web-page in 2013, but now being repeated on this page. This list includes those mentioned in the farm accounts of the Wingfield Estate in the Civil Parish of Kilpipe, near Gorey Co. Wexford in 1856-57. They include day-labourers, suppliers and a few customers for farm produce.

The original manuscript is in the National Library of Ireland Ms 19,004. The items supplied or purchased are also noted as they may be useful. For instance, Robert Leggett supplied the farm with ‘ointment to cure a cow‘, salt and oatmeal which suggests he was a local retailer. Labourers and small tradesmen are particularly difficult individuals to find in the records so hopefully this list may be useful to someone. If you can make a connection, please let us know.

The names in the list include many that are common in Wexford including Nolan, Byrne, Ryan and Boland. Furth

er information on some of these families may be available through our e-book title ‘Sources for Irish Family History 2021‘. It lists 6,500 books and articles written about specific Irish families. It provides access to a wealth of published information on 2,500 Irish families.

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. If you need help in following up on anything related to this source, or any other Irish research, you can outline your requirements here and we will let you know what we might be able to do for you. 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 “Wexford SS1” in the subject line.

Fig 1. Extract from the document showing the layout and content.

Suppliers:
Robert Leggett (ointment to cure a cow, salt, oatmeal )

Chris? O’Neill (bread for kitchen, sugar)
James Nolan (Lime)
John Farrell (Potato basket)
Thomas O’Neill (‘square of glass’)

Tradesmen:
James Dunn (‘for bottoming 2 cans‘) possibly a local tinsmith
Michael Quigley (for ‘bottoming 2 cream tubs‘) possibly a local cooper

Day-workers:
Pat Byrne
William Kealey
Patk. Kenney
John Byrne
William Byrne
Ellen Carroll
Ann Byrne
Kate Kiltey
Thomas Kiltey
Eliza Byrne
John Ryan

Thomas Byrne jun.

Thomas Byrne sen.

Buyers of farm produce:
Thomas Griffin – ‘4 cocks of hay’
James Boland – turnips
Nath Pierce – grass (i.e. probably allowing him to graze a cow)
Peter Ward – hay

Further articles in our series on Irish Family History sources include:

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
70+ blogs with names extracted from manuscript sources from many counties (including Cork). A handy map index to these is available here.