There are actually two adjacent townlands named Ballysheil.
Ballyshiel Beg (231 acres) and Ballyshiel More
(337 acres). There were sixteen households in Ballysheil Beg in
1901 and twenty-eight in Ballysheil More.
Ballysheil Beg is in the Barony of Lower Orion, Parish of
Ballymore. In location on the map, it is south of
Tandragee and east to northeast of Markethill. Clare is not much
of a village and is not on most new maps. It is
adjacent to the Cusher river close to County Clare.
I can not explain the difference in birth dates for Hugh Caughey.
I obtained the birth dates of the family from The
Presbyterian Historical Society as they were recorded in the
Clare Presbyterian Church records. Hugh was
baptized 30 Sep 1866 at the same church. Most of the children
were baptized a month or sometimes several
months after they were born so from that standpoint, either date
could be correct. From correspondence with
relatives of other children of the family, the dates I got from
the Society were correct.
I have corresponded with Michael Perry. He is a descendent of
Mary Jane Larkin, a sister of Agnes Larkin,
wife of Moses Caughey. We exchanged information and I think the
information on the Caughey family was
obtained from me. My grandfather, James Caughey, and his sister,
Mary Jane Caughey, lived with, James
Alexander Larkin, a brother of Agnes and Mary Jane Larkin when
they first came to this country. Mary Jane
Larkin and James Alexander Larkin came to this country together
and first lived with an uncle, a brother of
Agnes Larkin's mother who was a McElrath.
The information on the Kelly family was obtained from Gordon
Kelly and that family is on the Internet as you
have noted.
Hannah Kelly Caughey died 13 Jul 1924. Hugh and Hannah Caughey's
youngest daughter was named Hannah
Ethel Caughey. She is the Hannah that married Bob Willis. They
had two known children, a son and daughter. I
have a picture of some of that family.
There are several Caughey (or at that time Caghey) families
listed in the church records of the Clare
Presbyterian Church in the early 1800s. Their relationship is
uncertain. In Gordon Kelly's research, he said a
hand drawn map of Ballymore Parish and Ballyshiel Beg in 1795
shows that the land was owned by the Earl of
Sandwich. No Caugheys were listed as tenants. This would indicate
to me that the Caugheys listed in the
church records arrived after that date and more than likely were
all from the same family (probably children of
the same parents) since they apparently all arrive about the same
time. County Clare is the historical location
of most of the Caughey families.
The father of Moses Caughey was John Caughey. John Caughey
married Annabella Kelly. A witness at the
wedding was another John Caughey apparently about the same age
and likely a cousin. He married a Betty
McBurney. A descendent of this John Caughey is a John Caughey in
Ireland married to a grand daughter of
Hugh Caughey's sister Annabella Teggart. I do not know anything
more about this John Caughey but
apparently the family stayed in the same general area in Ireland.
I found a book in the library on the history and genealogy of a
John Caughey family where John came to this
country in the 1700s. Around 1900 the entire family changed the
family name to Coy. Unfortunately most of the
early records in Ireland were destroyed and it is hard to
research very far back in time.
Lawrence