a) Descendants of Thomas Mahady of Corclaragh
Birth and death details:
Thomas Mahady, farmer of Corclaragh was born in 1789. This is based on his age of 82, as shown on the burial records for the parish of Edgeworthstown on March 12th 1871 and also corroborated by his death certificate for March 10th 1871. As there is no record of any Mahady at Corclaragh in the 1826/34 Tithe Applotments, we must assume that Thomas Mahady was born elsewhere.
Some confusion was caused by the erection of a gravestone by his son, also named Thomas, in Russagh cemetery sometime in the early 1890's, which contains errors as follows:
a) Thomas senior's age at death and the month of death are correct but the year of death is given as 1863 instead of 1871.
b) Thomas Mahady (senior's) wife, named Mary (nee Mahon) is shown as having died in August 1880 instead of on September 4th /5th 1881 as shown on the burial record.
Marriage details:
The wedding of Thomas Mahady and Mary Mahon took place at Boherquill, Co Westmeath on January 28th1837. It is interesting to note that the groom was in his 48th year at this time. The only evidence of age available for Mary Mahon, (the age of 83 at time of death on her tombstone), would suggest that she was born in 1798 and was therefore aged 39 at time of marriage.
Children:
Thomas junior, who was born on January 16th 1840 when his mother was aged 42, may have been the only child born to Thomas senior and Mary. Because of the relatively advanced age of both when they got married this should not be too much of a surprise. Based on the 1901 census Thomas junior is shown as having been born in County Westmeath.
The recording of Thomas junior's mother as "Annie" Mahon must be presumed to be an error.
Land holding as per Griffith's Valuation:
Griffith's Valuation of 1854 is the first record of Mahady's in Corclaragh, where Thomas (senior) is shown as having occupied a plot of 17 acres and 35 perches. The adjoining plot of just under 17 acres was occupied by Patrick Mahady who was almost certainly a brother of Thomas senior as oral tradition would have it that the two Mahady families in Corclaragh in later generations were closely related.
Location before Corclaragh:
The question arises as to where the two Mahady brothers, Thomas (senior) and Patrick came from.
Here we are into speculation but there must be a strong possibility that they could have been the same Patrick and Thomas Mahady who were two of the three Mahadys listed for Moneyhoolaghan in the parish of Streete in the 1826/34 Tithe Applotments. Moneyhoolaghan is one of the smallest townlands in county Longford, measuring just 131 acres in all. It is surrounded by the larger townland of Coolamber where another Mahady, John, is listed in the 1826/34 Tithe Applotments and a Patrick is recorded in the 1827 Ardagh Wills. In trying to link from the 1826/34 Applotments to the 1854 Griffith's valuation it is interesting to note that all Mahady families in the 1826/34 listing for Co.Longford appear in the 1854 listing except for the Mahadys of Moneyhoolaghan/Coolamber and one other a James Mahady from Barne in the parish of Edgeworthtown. However burial records show that this James died at the age of 62 at the height of the famine on November 15th /16th 1847 and presumably his holding was surrendered. One other pointer to a possible connection for the Corclaragh Mahadys with Coolamber is that Boherquille Church where Thomas Mahady senior was married and his son Thomas junior was baptised is literally only a couple of hundred yards away from Coolamber and in the same parish of Streete.
The Moneyhoolaghan/Coolamber Mahadys are therefore the prime suspects to be the link not only to the Corclaragh Mahadys but also to the John Mahady/Elizabeth Moran line.
The second generation
Thomas junior's marriage:
The next significant record is the marriage of Thomas Mahady (whom we will call Thomas "junior" to distinguish him from his father) to Mary Farrell, daughter of Kit(Christopher) and Eleanor Farrell which took place on May 6th 1869. The best man was John Mahon, presumably a first cousin of Thomas junior.
Children;
In the next 16 years 11 children were born to Thomas junior and Mary.
The following children are recorded in the Edgewothstown parish records as being born of this marriage:
NAME Date of birth Date of baptism COMMENT Mary March 13th 1870 never married-lived at home Died 14/1/1947 Thomas May 1st 1871 married @ Knightswood, Leney, Westmeath; wife:Mary Ryan Ellen May 7th 1872 May 7th 1872 My grandmother, married Patrick O'Brien of Clonca, Feb.10th 1896 Christopher Jan 4th 1874 Wife from Naas; Owned pub in Mullingar, believed to have had two daughters and possibly, only one son, Nicholas. John April 20 1875 Went to Cincinnatti; married, wife's surname Gilligan; children Ethel, Marge, John, Hazel, Tom Patrick January 28th 1879 never married: inherited farm Died 24/6/1960 Michael January 1st 1881 presumably died in 1882/1883 James April 16 1882 died after Great War, Dec 3rd 1918 from 'flu; single, farmer Michael March 7th 1884 no record Ann June 12th 1885 twin: died at a young age Catherine June 12th 1885 twin : died at a young ageOn the week the twins Anne and Catherine were born Mary Mahady died on June 20th and was buried the following day. There were 10 children in the family alive at Mary's death ranging in age from 15 down to the infant twins. It is not too surprising that Thomas junior got re-married within two years to Bridget Kiernan of Muckerstaffe on May 9th 1887. Bridget was 45 when she married and had no children and died on 14/11/1917 at the age of 75. Thomas died on November 13th 1923. The age at death of 84 as reported on his death certificate is consistent with his birth record for January 16th 1840 by which record he would have been 83 years and 10 months at death.
b) Family of Patrick Mahady
Patrick Mahady was almost certainly the younger brother of Thomas Mahady senior and is shown in Griffith's valuation as occupying an adjoining holding in Corclaragh of 16 acres 3 roods and 37 perches. Edgeworthstown burial records show that Patrick Mahady died on August 3rd /4th 1882, his wife having pre-deceased him on April 26th /27th 1872.
Patrick and his wife had one son John who was either born in 1850 based on the 1901 census or more likely was born in 1845 or 1846 based on his death record. There was also a daughter Bridget who was born in 1843.
We do not know who Patrick's wife was, but in the Streete parish records there was a Patrick Mahedy who was married to one Mary Daly and who had a child John born in 1843 and two daughters Mary and Catherine born in 1841 and 1845 respectively.
John and Bridget, the two children of Patrick Mahady who we are certain about lived together in Corclaragh until 1899 when Bridget died from dropsy, aged 56 on 20/12/1899. Two months later on 15/2/1900 John married Mary Kiernan aged 45 from Muckerstaffe. She is understood to have been a sister of the Bridget Kiernan who had earlier married his first cousin Thomas junior in 1887. They had no children and John died at the age of 72 in 15/4/1918 and his wife died on 27/12/1920. Their holding of just under16 acres was acquired by Patrick, the son of Thomas junior.
It is probable that there are no descendants from this line.
Some other family relationships in the Mahedys of Corclaragh line are as follows:
(i) The family plot at Russagh cemetery contains a grave of a Nora Mahedy who died in 1937 and a Thomas Mahedy who died in 1978.This relationship has yet to be clarified.
(ii) A daughter of Thomas, born 1871, Bridget Mahedy, was described in her will as a cousin of the family and lived on a farm at Monkston, Monilea, Mullingar in the 1960's and her sister Mary was married to Patrick Stafford of Taughmon.
Third Generation
Of Thomas junior's eleven known children only four are believed to have married. This produced a total of 22 /24 children in the next generation as follows:
James: 4(5?) children; possibly Mary (born1893), James P.(born1896), Bridget (born1897), Delia and possibly an Elizabeth.
Ellen: 12 children: Mary Catherine(later Sister Catherine), Bridget( later Sister Clare), Helen, Anne, John, Margaret, Elizabeth, Marcella, Peter, Anthony, Josephine and Patrick.
Christopher: 3(?) children : Nicholas and two daughters.
John: 5(?) children: John, Hazel, Margaret, Ethel and Tom.
Fourth Generation:
James's line; nothing known except Delia believed to have died in 1971/1972 in Granard without children.
Ellen's line: 7 of the Ellen's (married name O'Brien) 12 children had children, producing a total of 21 in the next generation as follows;
Helen (married name Kinerney): 2 children, Helen and Marie
Anne (married name Reilly): 5 children Tommy, Kevin, Peter, Betty and Maeve
John (O'Brien) 4 children: Jack, Thomas, Mary and Jim
Margaret (married name O'Connell) 2 children: Brian and Moira
Elizabeth (married names Towey) 1 child: Patrick
Marcella (married name Burns) 4 children: John, Anne, Moira and Patrick
Anthony (O'Brien) 3 children Clare, John and Eileen
Christopher's Line: Nicholas lived in Dublin married with children
John's Line: 3 of John's children got married and had children as follows;
Ethel (married name Burke): 1 daughter Eileen
Hazel (married name Steele): At least one child
Tom: At least 4 children
Contributed by Brian O'Connell