Thanks to all of you for your helpful hints.  I'm going to search all the spots to which you've referred me.  That should keep me occupied for awhile! I'm looking at a photocopy of the original, and it clearly doesn't say Brandondale, but that doesn't mean it wasn't misunderstood, misspoken or miswritten in the first place.  I'm certainly aware of Brandondale House; have known of it since I was about nine years old.  Always thought my ancestors were born there, but now am not sure.  They may have been born in Wells in Carlow. In the case of Maria Doyle, however, if she were born at Brandondale, it would have to be to one of the hired help.  Would workers actually have lived on the property in the mid-1800s?  Wouldn't they rather have lived in Graigue-na-managh? About the Griffiths citations, as I understand the role of the Burtchaells (as originally told to me by family researcher Fr Jim Burtchaell), they were essentially land agents for Viscount Clifden.  The Griffiths listings seem to indicate that they rented from Clifden and then sublet to tenants. (I remember asking Fr Jim if they were responsible for burning people out of their cottages, etc., during the famine.)   Linda Ford On Wednesday, May 13, 2015 7:37 AM, Dave H via <fermanagh-gold@rootsweb.com> wrote: Well the Burtchaells Pedigree is done, one of them actually worked in the office responsible for proving Pedigrees, Coats of Arms etc, it's at the NLI in Dublin. DH On 13/05/2015 15:22, bobgraham via wrote: > Griffiths lists 208 hits for surname Burtchaell - some as tenants others as landlords. Mostly hits in Kilkenny and Carlow. I would check out the various townlands where these families lived to see if there is a close match to Buchanan or could be mis-transcribed as. If nothing matches you can try to see if any of the townland listed have had their name changed over the years. > > > Also as we have seen not to long ago there are "sub" townlands/locations within townlands which locals know but which are not to be found in townland lists. > > > Bob Graham > > > > --- This email has been checked for viruses by Avast antivirus software. http://www.avast.com ================================== https://www.google.ie/ ================================== http://www.irishtimes.com/ancestor/placenames/ ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to FERMANAGH-GOLD-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message

Anything is possible and certainly key staff often lived in the big houses while the owners were abroad etc under the eye of the farm manager and you also have to consider that Maria might not have been a local girl to start with. The house would need to be kept aired, fires lit etc. In some cases kids were left behind if parents went touring Europe etc so a Governess was employed. Fr Jim, as you can imagine, would have had access to many records that the public might not get access to, so if he couldn't find them then where else is there to look? Plus... if you consider it was famine times you'll find many had to live at the houses purely to avoid cholera typhoid contamination so weren't allowed mix with people. Many estates were "self contained" during epidemics. They rented, then leased out but most probably had bailiffs employed if tenants were evicted. DH On 13/05/2015 21:02, Linda Ford via wrote: > In the case of Maria Doyle, however, if she were born at Brandondale, it would have to be to one of the hired help. Would workers actually have lived on the property in the mid-1800s? Wouldn't they rather have lived in Graigue-na-managh? > > About the Griffiths citations, as I understand the role of the Burtchaells (as originally told to me by family researcher Fr Jim Burtchaell), they were essentially land agents for Viscount Clifden. The Griffiths listings seem to indicate that they rented from Clifden and then sublet to tenants. (I remember asking Fr Jim if they were responsible for burning people out of their cottages, etc., during the famine.) > Linda Ford --- This email has been checked for viruses by Avast antivirus software. http://www.avast.com