Looking for Relatives/Descendants of Denis and Terrence O'Toole of Donard

Terry:

Welcome to Ireland Reaching Out!

I assume your O'Tooles were RC. The RC parish for Donard civil parish would be Dunlavin and baptismal records for that parish go back to 1815. You don't provide an approximate year of birth for Denis and Terrence but I will assume they did not emigrate young with their parents. The subscription site Roots Ireland does not have any Terrence O'Toole baptismal records in Dunlaving but there was an 1817 record for a Dennis Toole. See below. Do you have any other information on Dennis and Terrence?

Roger McDonnell

Name:Dennis TooleDate of Birth:
Date of Baptism:07-May-1817Address:CastleruderyParish/District:DUNLAVINGender:
CountyCo. Wicklow
Denomination:Roman Catholic
Father:Thomas TooleMother:RoseOccupation:
Sponsor 1 /
Informant 1:John Hayden Sponsor 2 /
Informant 2:Bridget Kerwin 

Terry:

The 1833 Tithe listings for Donard parish show three Toole individuals: Denis, HB and James. Not sure how they connect to Dennis and Terrence.

http://titheapplotmentbooks.nationalarchives.ie/search/tab/results.jsp?surname=toole&firstname=&county=Wicklow&parish=donard&townland=&search=Search

Roger

Roger, thank you very much for your timely response.  The tithe listings for Denis that you passed along are very likely my great, great grandfather's.  He was, apparently, a relatively wealthy man, having inherited from his father, Terrence (Tirlogh) of Ballymooney, later Donard, quite extensive agricultural holdings.  I'm attaching the account of Denis' life contained in the printed chronicle of the O'Toole clan written by Denis' son, Patrick.  Denis, as well as his father, Terry, were heavily invloved in the rebel movement that started in the later years of the 1700s and continued into early 1800s.  In addition, Denis apparently viewed himself as a s a scourge of the Orangemen community in Donard.  Dennis' antagonism to the protestant community along with his participation in the revolutionary activites following the failed uprising of '98 resulted in a warrant being issued against him.  This led to his decision to relocate in the US , specifically St. Louis or upriver from here, in Iowa.  Dennis' history is recounted in the file that I've attached, in detail and with great emotion and pride.

Dennis married Anne O'Byrne (or Byrne), probably in the early 1830s.  Anne's family was from Donard, so the marriage would have been solemnized in the parish in Donard.  My great grandfather Terrence (Dennis' eldest son) would have been born in Donard, somewhere in the years 1835 - 1837.

Thanks, again, for your very helpful work.  If this information or Fr. Patrick's printed account in the attached file helps, I'd be most grateful for anything that your further research turns up.

Terry:

Thanks so much for sharing your family story. Denis O'Toole was quite the man.

Very surprising that none of the baptismal records are available on Roots Ireland. Is it possible that since the family was well-off, the baptisms were conducted at the house by a priest that was a family fried?

Roger

Roger, thanks for this.  Yes, I suppose it is possible that the baptism was done at home, but, regardless of whether done in parish church or at home, you would have thought that care would be taken by Terry (Tirlough), Dennis' father, or by Dennis himself to ensure that a record was made of Terrence's birth as a baptismal certificate is so important in the administration of the Catholic church, in Ireland and here too in the States.  If I understand your first reply, the parish in which Donard would be located, would be Dunlavin?  I'm surprised that Donard would not be its own parish.  It has a Catholic church (which I visited when I was in Donard in 2007).  The church was abandoned and rundown but  appeared to be of some antiquity.   Originally, my branch of the O'Tooles was from Ballymooney but they family was moved by Tirlough (Terry) to Donard.  According to Wikipedia, Ballymooney is described as a "townland" near Donard.  (See, https://www.townlands.ie/wicklow/lower-talbotstown/donard/donard/ballym…)  Wikipedia identifies Ballymooney as falling within the parish of Donard.  I can't tell whehter the "parish" of Donard is an RC parish or whether "parish," in that case, designates an t Anglican (Church of England) parish.

Once again, many thanks on helping us sort through  all of this..

Terry:

You are correct Donard is a civil parish which was set up connecting to the Anglican parishes. The RC church in Donard (Church of the Holy Trinity) was a subordinate chapel to the RC church in Dunlavin (St. Nicholas of Myra)  https://www.dublindiocese.ie/parish/dunlavin/

Roger