I received what I call a treasure in the mail from a newly discovered 3rd cousin in Ireland. In going through her father's papers she discovered letters written to her father, Denis Murphy of Ballyhooly (Co Cork) from a Thomas A. Murphy of Seattle. The letters were written in 1964 and 1965 and Thomas signs them, "your cousin". It seems that he was very interested in tracing his ancestors and he was relying on Denis to get information for him. Denis' daughter sent me an envelope with several of the letters, as well as three different packets of information typed on onion-skinned paper. Some are very faint and impossible to copy. I have started to enter the information in my computer and have completed what I will call Part I. The heading on these pages read, "The Marriages and Baptismal records for the Murphy Clan. (Extracts from the Catholic Parish Register of Castletwon roch and Bally hooly, Diocese of Cloyne, Co. Cork, Ireland, from the period of Sept 19, 1811 to Oct. 1845.)" Part II doesn't have a heading, but it SEEMS to be baptismal dates - e.g. the first one on the 1st page reads: 1812, Feb 10, Thomas, son of Edmond Murphy and Anne Power, Killathy. Sponsors: Thomas Smith & Margaret Clark. PART III's heading reads: " Extracts from the Catholic Parish Register of Castletown Roche and Ballyhooly, Diocese of Cloyne, Co. Cork." "1st volume of Marriages, 19th of Sept, 1811 to October 1845." The first enry reads: 1813 Feb. 18 - Daniel Keeffe to Elizabeth Murphy Witnesses: Connor Murphy & John Sullivan For whatever help/leads this may be for any Murphy, I'd be happy to send you what info I can. However, you have to know that practically every family has a Mary Murphy and just about every other one has a Denis. It would seem then that you'd have to have two names/ a date or rough idea of the time frame / a town / so I can sift through what I have. I doubt I will be able to get to transferring (into my computer) the info for Parts II and III until after Christmas, but I will keep any requests that come in and I will acknowledge receipt of them. In return I ask * If anyone has any info about a Thomas A. Murphy of Seattle - especially children of - I would appreciate it. * In one of his letters he says he found that as of 1800 there were many Murphys with origins in Ballyhooly living in Clinton Co., Iowa. Anyone know anything about any of these folks? Please contact me directly. Regards, Eileen, cnd

Eileen The Mallow Heritage Centre in Mallow has baptismal and marriage records for the Diocese of Cloyne in County Cork in which Castletownroche and Balllyhooly are located starting in the early 1800's. There is a search form you can send away for information (for a fee). I have found them to be very helpful. Castletownroche and Ballyhooly are several miles northwest of Cork City between Fermoy and Mallow. Both my grandparents came from there. These are small towns. From Grove White's history of the area, total area of Castletownroche parish in 1881, 6,484a., 2r. 23p.; houses, 338; pop. 1696; families 319; R.C.'s 1,620; Prots 76; Val $6.018 5s. 0d. My ggg-grandfather was Daniel Mehigan. From information provided by the Mallow Heritage Centre, he married Judith Murphy in the Roman Catholic Church of Castletownroche on February 4, 1837. Witnesses to their marriage were Michael Riordan and Thomas Keeffe. In reporting the baptisms of their children, also in the Castletownroche parish, the townland of Rathnadarihy is mentioned and was probably their residence. A witness to the baptism of their son Robert Mehigan on May 2, 1841 was Anastasia Murphy. A witness to the baptism of their son Daniel Mehigan on July 6, 1856 was Margaret Murphy. There are also a number of Keeffe's who witnessed baptisms. Griffith's Valuation shows Daniel Mehigan leasing property from Robert Webb in Castletownroche. I have been concentrating on my Mehigan line (my grandfather's name changed to Meehan a number of years after they came to USA, Cambridge, Massachusetts area) and have not really done anything more yet with the Murphy connection. The names I am searching in the Castletownroche area in addition to Mehigan are Bushe, Duane, Joyce, Scully, Murphy, and Doherty. I'd be interested in any information on these names you have. Hope the above helps. Best of luck in your search. Bob Meehan Dunwoody, Georgia USA