The County of Kerry suffered a drop on population of 19% between the Census of 1841 and 
the Census of 1851 as a result of An Gorta Mór – from starvation, disease or emigration. While this was the overall drop, it varied from from 52% drop in Killahan (or Dunquin 48%) to Kilflynn 9% (or Killarney 8%). Do you know what your Civil Parish suffered? See full list here.
Since last month (Jan 2023) we have fresh evidence from five Kerry Catholic parishes of the death rate and other first-hand accounts These were published in The Death Census of Black 47: Eyewitness Accounts of Ireland’s Great Famine (Open Access). I will summarise the five reports from Kerry over the next couple of weeks, with the parishes of Ballylongford & Tarbert to-day but I would strongly recommend reading the accounts of the Kerry parishes in full through this Open Access or your local library.
The Catholic union of Ballylongford and Tarbert was located on the south-west coast, in north Kerry, in the barony of Iraghticonnor. Ballylongford Catholic parish was coextensive with Aghavallen Civil Parish and Tarbert Catholic Parish with Kilnaughtin civil parish.
‘The 1831 census reported parish populations of 5,698 (Ballylongford/Aghavallen) and 4,371 (Tarbert/Kilaughtin) respectively. In 1841 41 per cent of the housing was classified as fourth class and the female illiteracy rate was 74 per cent. The population of the Union was overwhelmingly Catholic. The Public Instruction Commissioners identified 93 per cent of the 1831 population as Catholic but the Protestant numbers were artificially boosted by the presence of military fortifications, a customs office and a lighthouse on Tarbert Island.
McCarthy’s 780 deaths in the six-month period during the Famine amount to a yearly total of nearly 1,400. By this time the parish’s population had dropped to perhaps about 10,500, which implies a catastrophic mortality rate of about 130 per 1,000 people.’
So very interesting, thank you
The report in the book from Ballylongford was written by Rev Daniel McCarthy, the parish priest of my ancestors. He baptized their five babies in the 1840’s at Ballylongford. Three of the five had died before the family emigrated to the USA in 1849. Thank you, Kay, for making me aware of this new report on the Famine in 1847. The report makes my ancestors’ experience in Ireland and the hardships they endured ever more real for me. I appreciate very much the work you do in revealing these important pieces of Kerry history
Brilliant information, thanks Kay
Hello Kay,
Thank you for once again compiling and sharing information about mid-19th Century conditions and events in County Kerry. One question I have is whether people with skills and modest means (e.g. shop keepers, trades people) living in towns were among the first to emigrate, as conditions became increasingly dire. My great-great grandmother, Catherine Hartnett, whose family once lived on Church Street in Listowel), by 1849 was in Toronto and as a widow married a John Griffin from Lixnaw, a wagon maker. Her first husband, Edward Condon, might have been the nail maker at “Pound Lane” in Listowel per the 1846 issue of Slater National Commercial Directory of Ireland. I believe in contrast, most, later, Irish emigres were “unskilled”, many of whom helped to build American and Canadian railroads and worked in Appalachian coal mines (and so forth). Thank you.
William, thank you for your comments. While emigration touched all classes, it was mostly those in the over populated country areas who emigrated in droves. They were usually the people who were best capable of getting themselves and their families away to relatives in the U.S., Canada, Australia, New Zealand and the UK. To do this they needed some money which they would have got from the same relatives, maybe sold some stock from a small farm they tenanted, or if very lucky got a landlord to give them passage and subsistence funds to settle in return for vacating their tenancy.
I will ask Vincent Carmody, who is the expert on Listowel to contact you re Catherine Hartnett. He actually lives in what was then ‘Pound Lane’, now Upper William St., Listowel
Thank so much, Kay.
Yes, I think I found “Pound Lane” on a Griffith Valuation map, and from that, inferred its current name, Thank you for your continuing help to us all.
It is Lent and the slogan on the Trócaire mite box is “Nasteha’s family have lost everything and it’s not just”. That was a Ballylongford family in 1847. Fr. McCarthy’s testimony is frightening. There but for the grace of God…..
I am looking for information about my great, great grandmother, name of Mary Roche of County Kerry, born 1840. She came to the United States and here there are records of husband and children only. She died in 1880.
Great information, thank you so much!
My relatives came from Ballylongford .My great grandmother ,Hanoria Scanlan married a Royal Marine ,Giles Griffiths Cook from Somerset ,who was stationed at Tarbert .Many of her siblings emigrated to America .Thsnk you for all your interesting information .