An Editorial

This website has been running since August 1999. Since the Rhubarb Leaf has gone online, I received a lot of information and photos from various aunts and cousins, it's been terrific. I'm making an editorial article to tie all of the new information together.

Firstly though, who am I. I'm Don Crowley and I'm a fifth generation Crowley in the new scheme of things. I fit in like this: James (1844), Daniel Stephen (1872), James Crowley (1903), Daniel Stephen (Known as Donal) (1935) and me Donal Courtney (known as Don) (1964).

I started out with the last version of the Rhubarb Leaf from 1974 (by Peadar, May & Eileen) and started updating my own aunts, uncles and first cousins. And then I started asking my Dad and his sister Mary loads of questions. Mary knows loads of her cousins still which has helped me a great deal. I've just come back from a visit to Ireland (I live in the Netherlands). I've been asking more questions, this time about my grandfathers' aunts, uncles and cousins. Amazingly enough I've been getting answers here as well. So I've reorganized the family trees a bit. There is now a family tree of James (1844) & Mary nee Crowley (1840) covering four generations (to Paul Hyland through to Mark Crowley). There is also a complete family tree of all of Daniel Stephens (1872) & Mary nee Mehigan (1881) right through to the present day. This is very large because Daniel & Mary had fourteen Children. So there are also separate family trees for each of the fourteen children who had their family, also right through to the present day. Each generation is colour coded to increase readability and also to standardize all the family trees. For instance Generation three is green coded. My Grandfather James (1903) appears in three family trees on the site. He is green colour coded in all three family trees. This also helps me to break down the information into smaller pieces so as to preserve I hope an overview of the relationships. The colour scheme is as follows:
Generation 1, Generation 2, Generation 3, Generation 4, Generation 5 & Generation 6.

While I've been doing all this I have made contact with cousins and distant cousins. It is a very real pleasure to talk to you all. This site is for all of us (I am your servant on this one). So keep me up to date on births, marriages, stories, corrections etc. And if you have interesting photos, please send them to me. A good website is constantly changing. I have added a web log so that you can see what is changing. It is worth a look. I have also added a page with a list of other families who are connected through marriage to the Crowley's. An occasional name has a link. If anyone wishes me to add a link to his or her family, just let me know.

On the genealogy front though what I am really looking for tangible evidence for the first two recorded generations. I am hoping in the long run to take the family tree back at least one generation to the beginning of the 19th century. I believe there may be a serious chance of finding out who the parents of James (1844) were. In July 2002 I searched the National Archives for information about Crowleys living in Cork city. The result was fruitless. Yet that is a help in itself. There are no Crowleys living in Desmond square in 1901 or 1911. Friars Walk did not really exist then and Pouladuff road has records of two families David O' Leary and two other persons and Micheal Murphy and ten other persons. There were also no results for Hangdog road or Togher road. I now believe that Togher was not part of the city but part of various other townlands. I have obtained a copy of Togher, A brief history by Tom O' Keefe (1997). This is a fabulous record of the area covering townlands. Tom O' Keefe mentions a Crowley family who lived in the "house in the yard" of Lehenagh House. this would have been around 1908. This could be a good lead as Daniel Stephen & Mary nee Mehigan were also living in Togher around this time. 1903 - 1905 They lived in a house on the county side of the railway line. Later they moved up the Togher road to the city side of the railway line near the junction to Hangdog road. There Annie, Charlie and Peggy (1909) were born. My next search will involve the census records of Togher. I also asked a contact to search the records of St. Josephs cemetary to see if James & Mary were buried there. The result was negative. There is a chance that they are buried in St. Finbarrs which is nearer to Togher. But I have heard that there is a disused cemetary in Togher. I shall be looking for tangible evidence about James & Mary before I ask for more cemetary records to be checked.

In the next three pieces I will be covering what we know about them. Next