Parish Registers
The main surviving series of parish registers for Drumraney contains records of Catholic births and marriages since 1834. There is also a parish Liber Mortuorum, which commences in 1920. These volumes are a crucial source for the history of the locality.
The National Library of Ireland has digitised its collection of Catholic parish registers on microfilm. These are now available online, via a website launched in July 2015. This resource allows users to browse the registers for Drumraney and hundreds of other parishes. Just enter ‘Drumraney’ in the search box at the link here.
The Drumraney registers made available by the NLI are the baptism and marriage records for the period 1834 to 1881. As the images are scans from microfilm, they can be hard to read in places, and some dates are obscured in the margins.
The registers of neighbouring parishes also inevitably contain information on Drumraney residents, as everyday rural life has always transcended local administrative boundaries. A good example of this is provided by the records of the Church of Ireland at Kilkenny West, in which information dating from the 1780s onwards has survived.
The following list of entries relevant to Drumraney is extracted from the typescript copy made by Rev. John Buchanan Burgess in 1943 of ‘records of Kilkenny West Church of Ireland parish, Co. Westmeath, containing Vestry minutes, 1795-1833, 1860-76; Baptisms, marriages and burials, 1783-1862. Lists of clergy and churchwardens; Tithe payers, 1823’. Burgess’s papers are held at the Westmeath County Library, Mullingar. They can also be consulted on microfilm at the National Library of Ireland (Microfilm Pos. 5,309).
Extracts from the Kilkenny West Baptismal Register (Burgess Papers)
p. 37
24/07/1785 Alice Jones
Parents: William & Dorothy Jones, Kilcornan
20/04/1791 Elizabeth Lennon
Parents: George & Eliza Lennon, Drumraney
p. 38
30/04/1793 (born) 08/07/1795 (bap. publicly) Solomon Cambie Lennon
Parents: George & Eliza Lennon, Drumraney
10/05/1794 (born) 08/07/1795 (bap. publicly) Charles Lennon
Parents: George & Eliza Lennon, Drumraney
13/05/1795 (born) 08/07/1795 (bap. publicly with her two brothers George & Solomon Cambie) Marcella Lennon
Parents: George & Eliza Lennon, Drumraney
11/10/1796 (born) 24/10/1796 (bap.) George Lennon
Parents: George & Eliza Lennon, Drumraney
07/02/1797 (born) 09/02/1797 (bap.) Sarah Dorrington
Parents: John Dorrington & Elizabeth Hackett, Walterstown, Drumraney
10/03/1797 James Wilson
Parents: Thomas & Anne Wilson, Kilcornan
07/02/1798 (born) 25/02/1798 (bap.) Alicia Lennon
Parents: George & Eliza Lennon, Drumraney
p. 39
21/10/1798 Andrew Wilson
Parents: Thomas & Anne Wilson, Kilcornan
01/02/1799 Catherine Lennon
Parents: George & Eliza, Drumraney
19/02/1800 Marcella Lennon
Parents: George & Elizabeth, Drumraney
p. 40
16/05/1802 James Beatty
Parents: George & Nancy Beatty, Drumraney
11/07/1802 George Handcock
Parents: Richard & Anne Handcock, Dorrington
p. 42
16/11/1806 Francis Tone
Parents: Francis & Bridget Tone, Walterstown, Drumraney
p. 55
13/06/1827 (born) 16/06/1827 (bap.) Mary Clandinen
Parents: William & Fanny Clandinnen, Drumraney
p. 63
22/01/1849 William Henry Taylor
Parents: Stewart & Eliza Anne Taylor, Walderstown, Drumraney
02/03/1850 Charlotte Taylor
Parents: Stewart & Eliza Anne Taylor, Walderstown, Drumraney
26/10/1851 Mary Jane Taylor
Parents: Stewart & Eliza Anne Taylor, Walderstown, Drumraney
p. 66
24/11/1853
Anna Maria Kylan
Parents: William & Maria Kylan
Police Sergeant in Walderstown, Drumraney
Extracts from the Kilkenny West Burial Register (Burgess Papers)
p. 44
05/04/1785 Margery Lennon, Drumraney
no date: Landon Lennon, Drumraney
p. 45
06/07/1793 Charles Lennon, Drumraney
03/06/1799 John Dorington Hackett Esq., Walterstown
03/11/1800 John Hadfield [Hatfield], Ardnasagra [Ardnagrath]
p. 74
08/06/1817 Francis Tone, Walderstown, Drumraney
25/01/1818 Ellen Hacket, Dorrington, Drumraney
11/02/1818 James Wilson, Drumraney
p. 75
17/05/1819 Charles Lennon, Drumraney
14/10/1820 James Wilson, Drumraney
01/07/1820 Anne Wilson, Drumraney
09/02/1820 William Clondillon, Drumraney
24/03/1821 Thomas Lynch, Drumraney
02/11/1821 George Lennon, Drumraney
p. 76
03/07/1825 James Wilson, Drumraney
20/09/1825 Henry Johnston, Dorrington, Drumraney
13/06/1828 John Dorrington Hacket, Dorrington, Drumraney
p. 77
07/10/1835 William Burtle [Bertles], Drumraney
19/04/1836 Frances Clandinen, Drumraney
p. 78
05/02/1837 Susanna Beatey, Drumraney
22/03/1837 Sarah Beatey, Drumraney
27/03/1837 Charlotte Beatey, Drumraney
p. 80
22/02/1848 Thomas Wilson, age 84, Drumraney
p. 82
21/09/1861 James Beatty, age 86, Drumraney
Note: The evident fall-off in Drumraney baptisms at Kilkenny West after 1806 was probably due to the opening of the new Protestant Church in Drumraney in 1811. The registers of the latter church were destroyed in 1922. The absence of a corresponding fall-off in Drumraney burials at Kilkenny West can presumably be explained by the quite understandable tendency for families to continue to use their customary plots.
Some information on the church at Kilkenny West, a site most famous for its connection to Oliver Goldsmith, is available at Buildings of Ireland.