The Moynihan Hedge Schools and Irish Education

My Kerry ancestors arrived in Canada without having had the benefit of an education. This was in large part the result of the Penal Laws. My Irish ancestors could not read and write when they arrived in North America (which explains the variations in the spelling of our surname Moynahan/Moynihan/Minehan)

In the 1800s, my great-grandfather John Moynahan became a teacher (with his sister Nellie) in Essex Ontario and education became a very important part of our family history.

This blog post summarizes what I have learned about education in Ireland before our ancestors emigrated.

1826 Schoolmaster: Cornelius Moynahan

I discovered a "Cornelius Moynahan" who was a School master in  Knockbrane, Kilfeighny in 1826 thanks to Joe Buggy's "Eight Little Used Irish Collections On Ancestry":

1. School Masters and Mistresses, 1826 https://ancstry.me/2KeFgAN 
2. Freemasons of Ireland, 1733-1923 https://ancstry.me/2FgrKsZ 
3. Morpeth's Roll, 1841 https://ancstry.me/2HsniNs 
4. 1841/1851 Census Abstracts (NI) https://ancstry.me/2FgVAgW 
5. Ireland Visitation https://ancstry.me/2FhC6sh 
6. Owners of Land in Ireland, 1876 https://ancstry.me/2FhiuVh 
7. Emigrants from Ireland, 1847-1852 https://ancstry.me/2Kg44bF 
8. Irish Quakers to Pennsylvania, 1682-1750 https://ancstry.me/2vRNcEW

 Matthew Moynahan's Family and the 

Eldest Son Jerry's Education

"Matthew Moynahan and his family were residents of county Kerry, Ireland - besides himself & wife the family consisted of six sons as follows to wit Jerry, Dennis, "Daniel", James, Timothy and Matthew and three daughters s follows to wit Catherine, Margrette and Mary ( they "were all large men and women. My father James being 6 1/2 feet in his stockings and heavy built with large bones and muscles") as seems to have been the custom in Ireland, Jerry being the oldest got a splendid education while the rest of the family had little or none"

Source: The Moynahan-Muras Archives; Memoirs of James Moynahan (1842-1919)

 Kerry Hedge Schools

I am quite happy to include the following information about a hedge school teacher near Rathmore, Kerry (and others) that I located due to the enormous collection of folklore at the National Folklore Schools Collection.

Hedge Schools were secret schools set up across Ireland and it is my suggestion that Jeremiah Moynahan (Matthew's son above) likely received his education there

“There was a hedge school in Shanballa. It was in Jer Moynihan’s Farm. The teacher of this school was called Moynihan “Master”. He was born in Shanballa and in after years his people went to live in Brosna. Some of his people are buried in Nohoval graveyard.”

The Schools’ Collection, Volume 0358, Page 027
Image and data © National Folklore Collection, UCD.

"Moynihan taught in Mountinfant and Mounteain.... Moynihan was a stranger from Kerry. In some schools the teachers were fed by farmers whose sons attended the schools and very often the farmers ..."

The Schools’ Collection,  Volume 0358, Page 016
Image and data © National Folklore Collection, UCD.

Malachy Moynihan's Genealogy 

• Padraig Doyle reported in 2011: "My Name is Padraig Doyle. I live in Kildare, Ireland I am researching my family history (in Wicklow, Kerry,  Dublin) My Mother is a Moynihan aged ~90 (born 1921;  her father was from Bonane in Kerry. My great grandmother was Hanoria Moynihan born 1841 as Hanoria Murphy in Cul na Cuppogue, Bonane, Kenmare, Co Kerry. Her father was Jeremiah Murphy a farmer and hedge school teachers and she married a Michael Moynihan from Beheenagh, Rathmore, Co Kerry. She died 16th January 1934 and is buried in Kenmare, her husband who died in 16 Nov 1886 is buried in Beheenagh. His father was a Malachy Moynihan and they may have had a farm and a pub near Loo Bridge, which I believe was a station on the railway line. I have a lot more information available if there's any connection or a possibility. I'd Love to hear of any?"

The Folklore School's Collection

"The School's Collection" is a collection of folklore compiled by schoolchildren in Ireland in the 1930s.

Approximately 740,000 pages (288,000 pages in the pupils’ original exercise books; 451,000 pages in bound volumes) of folklore and local tradition were compiled by pupils from 5,000 primary schools in the Irish Free State between 1937 and 1939.

I am forever grateful for the National Folklore Collection (NFC) for collecting, preserving and disseminating the oral tradition of Ireland.

Hedge School Links

• 'Inciting the lawless and profligate adventure’—the hedge schools of Ireland 
• The Hedge School  from Traits and Stories of the Irish Peasantry by William Carleton  First published in 1830 by George Routledge & Co, Farringdon Street 
• The Hedge School And Its Landscapes
• The Rise of Hedge Schools in Ireland
• An Essential Picture in a Sketch-Book of Ireland: The Last Hedge Schools Mª-Yolanda Fernández-Suárez
• Ask About Ireland: Hedge Schools
• National Archives materials on the start of the National Schools in 1831
• Wikipedia: Hedge Schools 

The Irish Hedge School - Antonia McManus

Essex Ontario Education

From Irish emigrants who were unable to read and write to teachers in one-room schools in the pioneer county of Essex, Ontario, education has always been an important part of our family history!

My Great-Grandfather

Teacher: John Moynahan (1866-1933)

Source: Essex Free Press: 25 April, 1975

 My Great-Aunt

Teacher: Nellie Moynahan (1865-1940)

Source: St Mary's Church, Maidstone Ontario Centennial Book 1874-1974