Kerry Chronicles: Nohoval Cemetery

In 2019, our brother Patrick Moynahan sponsored our very first trip to Ireland so that we could walk in the footsteps of our ancestors. Back home in Canada, our research has continued and the stories we find are being shared under the banner "The Kerry Chronicles".

My brother Patrick at the Rathmore cemetery in Kerry, Ireland in spring of 2019

Our visit to three cemeteries in Kerry, Ireland was unplanned. Nohoval Cemetery was the third cemetery we visited, wildly overgrown and extremely difficult to walk through. 

 

The three cemeteries in Ireland that we visited in 2019

 

We found many more Moynihans / "Moynahans" on that 2019 visit.

Since then, I have learned some new facts that I wished that I would have known before our visit ... and that I want to share now.

My brother inspects the headstone of Daniel D. Moynihan of Shinnagh Aged 92 (1816-1908) and his beloved wife Annie (Buckley) Moynihan (1826-1900)

I have pulled from many sources to write this Nohoval cemetery blog post: photographs from our 2019 Ireland trip; the Casey Collection known as “O'Kief, Coshe Mang, Slieve Lougher and the Upper Blackwater"; The Irish National Folklore Collection; Ancestry Trees and information from paternal atDNA and Y-DNA  testing results.

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.

Folklore Thursday: The Bealnadeega Ghost

As part of "The Kerry Chronicles" there will be "Folklore Friday" posts featuring stories found in The School Collection. The "Folklore Thursday" posts will be primarily about text from the collections that mention Moynihans or Ó’Muineacháins or stories about places or other events in Kilcummin parish in Co. Kerry. 

This week's "Folklore Thursday" story is about "The Bealnadeega Ghost" who was reported to have killed two men, one of them being Malachy Moynihan of "The Bower", Kerry.

Excerpt:

"It is said that in olden times 

there lived in Bealnadeega a Fairy 

and when the people were going from Killarney to Cork 

in cars conveying goods 

they used to meet her on the road. 

When two men used travel together 

she would never attack them, 

but used to always attack a lone man." 

The Schools’ Collection, Volume 0451, Page 008
Image and data © National Folklore Collection, UCD.

Announcement: The Kerry Chronicles

My brother Patrick at the Rathmore cemetery in Kerry, Ireland in spring of 2019

For decades we have been collecting our ancestor's stories by tracking their footsteps since they first arrived in Canada and America in the early 1800s.

In 2019, our brother Pat Moynahan sponsored our very first trip to Ireland so that we could  search for our ancestor's stories there.  We have many stories to share and will start with "The Kerry Chronicles" (and later the Galway, Clare, and Cork Chronicles ).

We are launching "The Kerry Chronicles" because we found new information in large part because of an unplanned stop at O’Carroll's Cove Beach Bar & Restaurant.