Irish Families

Continued from The First Tree

Balfry families in Limerick and Cork. The wider picture

As already mentioned, transcripts of many of the church and civil birth, marriage and death records are now available via the rootsireland.ie website. All available records for all variations of Balfry or Belfry spellings for Ireland thus found are summarized in Table 1 comprising 92 individuals in 18 families (a few individuals may be duplicated by appearing as both baptisms and later marriages).

Table 1
This table is large, so I have included it as a picture image. If you click on it you should be able to zoom in and out or download it to your graphics program.

Unfortunately the records are not complete. There are none before 1787 and there is a ten year gap between 1854 and 1863 - a crucial period. Furthermore while the birth/baptism records give the full names of both parents, the marriage records do not provide the first names of the spouses’ parents. This is regrettable because it does not enable the couple to be linked reliably to any family group. Only seven deaths were recorded as in Table 2.

Table 2. Civil Death Records (number in square brackets refers to Table 1)

Date	Name, Age	Occupation	Address	Informant	Notes
1868 Oct. 7	George Balfry, 19 (b 1849)	Apprentice Engineer	Henry St., Limerick No. 4	Elizabeth Balfry	[Fam. 9] Phthisis
1868 Nov. 6	Bridget Balfry, 60 (b 1808)	Nurse	Kilmallock Workhouse	James Nelson	Chronic hepatitis
1872 May 3	George Balfry, 64 (b 1808)	Servant	Henry St., Limerick No. 4	Elizabeth Balfrey	[Fam. 9] Bronchitis
1873 Apr. 24	Edmund Balfry, 68 (b 1805)	Shoemaker	Caherconlish, Co. Limerick	William Balfry	Asthina
1898 Sep. 22	Elizabeth Balfrey, 85 (b 1813)	Widow, Shopkeeper	Adare, Co. Limerick	Jane Balfrey, daughter	[Fam. 9]
1903 Mar. 4	Michael Balfrey, 81 (b 1822)	Labourer, bachelor never married	Ballybricken, Limerick No.4	D. Boland	Valvular disease, Asyllum
1906 Sep. 22	William Balfry, 46 (b 1860)	Boot maker	Caherconlish, Limerick	Hanora Balfry, wife	Debility

Considering the number of persons involved, it is remarkable that only 5 family groups could be associated with Mike’s Tree. They are families number 7, 14, 16, 17 and 18. All the rest just do not appear to fit anywhere. The families are split into two clusters. The largest centered around Caherconlish and Limerick and a three family group around Doneraile, Co. Cork. The relationship between the two clusters cannot be determined.

To complete the data, eight females left the Balfry Clan through marriage. They are listed in Table 3. The only one that can be identified is Mary Balfrey (father William, shoemaker) family No. 17 in Table 1, who married Patrick Lee in 1911. Unidentified persons from spurious records are in Table 4 and the 1901 and 1911 Irish census details are in Table 5 which demonstrates just how few Balfrys were left in Ireland at the beginning of the 1900s.

Table 3 Female Marriages out of Balfry Families

Date	Name	Spouse	Locale	Witness
1815 Feb, 5	Ellen	Guatternum Quirk	Doneraile, Cork	John Balery
1821 Feb 25	Ellon (Ellen?)	James Hynes	Ballybricken	Mary Balfrey
1821 Dec. 18	Johanna	Tom Noonan	Doneraille
1833 Feb. 15	Johanna	Michael Connell
1836 Feb. 15	Catherine	John Ryan
1841 Feb. 22	Mary Anne	John Ryan
1852 Dec. 27	Ellen	? O’Brian
1911 Feb 22	Mary (father William, shoemaker)	Patrick Lee

 Table 4. Unidentified persons in records from various sources

Date	Name	Event	Locale	Source
1826	John Balfry	Birth	Ireland	USA Census 1860, St. Luis, Miss.
1827	John Balfry	Birth	Ireland	USA Census 1860, Bergen, N.J.
1851 June 29	John Balfry	Marriage to Ann Neil	Dublin, St. James Church, Ireland	irishgeneaology.ie
1828 Dec. 2	William Balfry	Marriage to Bridget Mahoney	Southwark, Surrey	UK Surrey Marriages
1802	Anna Balfrey	Birth	Limerick	IGI, parents not given
1841	Maria Belfry William Belfry John Belfry	Born 1796 Born 1828 Born 1824	Swaffam, Norfolk St. Luke , Middx. St, Luke , Middx.	UK Census 1841 (all 3 born in England) Also in 1851 to 1881 Censuses
1867 Jan. - Mar.	William Balfre	Marriage	Marylebone, London	UK BMD register 1a 745

Table 5 Irish 1901 and 1911 Census records (number in square brackets refers to

Table 1)

Name	Place	State & Age	Occupation	Comments
1901 Census
William Balfry	59 Caherconlish Co. Limerick	Head, 60	Shoemaker	b 1841 [Fam. 17]
Hanora Balfry	do	Wife, 46	Housekeeper	b 1855
John Balfry	do	Son, 22	Labourer	b 1879
Bridget Balfry	do	Dau, 15	Scholar	b 1886
Ellen Balfry	do	Dau, 12	Scholar	b 1889
Catherine Balfry	do	Dau, 9	Scholar	b 1892
Mary Balfry	14 Hundred Acres East, Caherconlish	16	Servant, (pos. William’s dau)	b 1885
Jane Ward Balfry	27.2 Sexton St., Limerick City	Head, 45 Single	Retired Grocer	b 1856 [Fam. 9?]
Michael Balfrey	Ballybracken	70	Farm servant (same as in Table 2?)	b 1831
1911 Census
Hanora Balfry	27 Caherconlish	Head, 62	Widow	b 1849 [Fam. 17]
John Balfry	do	Son, 34	Agric. labourer	b 1877
Ellen Balfry	do	Dau, 19		b 1892
Katie Balfry	4, Carrigareedy, Caherconlish	18	Servant	b 1893
Bridget Balfry	4, Baskethill, Kilmurry	25	Servant	b 1886

Turning to other sources, there are in the USA Censuses of 1870, 1880, 1900, and 1910 a William John Balfrey, shoemaker, (b. 1827 in Ireland) with wife Mary neé Janes (b. March 1836 in Ireland) and children all born in Siskiyou, CA., Catherine (b. 14 Dec. 1866), William John (b. 1 March 1868) and Michael H. (b. 31 May 1870). A mystery family until Charlene Noyer volunteered the information that this William was the son of William Balfrey and Catherine Hickey (Table 1, Fam. 4). But where do they fit in? Who was this William’s father?

Continue to The Final Tree