WM. MAHONY, Coast Guard, Bunmahon. Surnames: CUSACK, LYONS, POLAND, CHAMPION

Coast Guard Records covering Ireland, England and Wales (it was all one service) are available in the ADM175 series of registers at the National Archives at Kew (London) - these can be downloaded free of charge - it's a slightly convoluted process.. I have most of the files relating to Ireland, I'll have a look through and see if I can locate details of your William. The records are not very detailed - most just include a list of postings, transfer dates, promotions and reprimands.

If this family were Church of Ireland the search for baptisms will be difficult, and there are fewer CofI records available online at present..

for ref.:

 death of William Mahoney 28-Jan-1880, retired coastguard Tramore, Co. Waterford reported age 75 (c1805) informant William Lyons of Main St., Tramore
 marriage of William Moore & Harriet Mahony 2-Jun-1866, St. Mary's CofI Clonmel, Co. Tipperary
 marriage of Adelaide Mahony & Thomas Cusack, 17th-Nov-1866, Kill RC Chapel, Co. Waterford

Thank you in advance Shanew for offering to look through the Coast Guard Records; I reckoned the records wouldn't contain much personal details but it might still help-:) The person I'm helping with family research will be pleased!

Yes, Harriet married in a Protestant church but all other members of the family were RC. That is, of course, presuming Harriet IS William's daughter;as there is another Harriet Mahony, Spinster, who died in 1888 in Lismore. 

Once again, many thanks.

just to update on progress - I spent quite a bit of time yesterday searching through the ADM175 Coastguard records, nothing definite on your William at this stage...

There are two basic types of Coastguard records available for Ireland, the first were the Nomination Books, which list the names of Coastguards, by initial letter of surname - i.e. not full alphabetical index, so all the M's together etc. I concentrated on the two earliest volumes of these covering 1821-1829  and 1830-1849 so should cover William's service if his age reported at death is accurate. The entries in these sometimes note place of birth and other useful details. I'm not 100% certain that these books cover all appointments...

The second type of books are the Establishment Books which list details for each coastguard station, usually starting in Dublin and working clockwise around Ireland back to Dublin. These books show names and ranks of those serving at each station, the date they transferred to that station and which station they previously served, and also  records if they were transferred to another station..these cover up to the 1860s, so should cover at least some of the time served by William.

The only William Mahony/Mahoney I've been able to locate in the Nomination Books is as follows :

Name : William Mahony
Residence (when signing on) : Kenmare (Co. Kerry)
Age : 26
Place of Birth : Kenmare
Date of Nomination : 14th December 1822
Transferred to Ballinskelligs Co. Kerry C.G.S. (Coast Guard Station) 18th December 1822.

Age is a little off to be your William, who should have been about 18 at the time....

I followed this William to see where he served :

Ballinskellig C.G.S. (Co. Kerry) 18th Dec 1822 to 5th Feb 1824
Glandore C.G.S. (Co. Cork)  5th Feb 1824 to 30th Nov 1826
Mizen Head C.G.S. (Co. Wexford*) 30th Nov 1826 to 10th Oct 1827
Crosshaven C.G.S. (Co. Cork) 10th Oct 1827 to 30th June 1828
He then seems to have been discharged, possibly retired - a gratuity of £24 19s 3d is mentioned - seems quite  a large amount for such short service..

*there's a well known Mizen Head in Co. Cork, but this case the reference is to the one in Co. Wexford, located between the towns of Wicklow and Arklow.

I checked the later Establishment books for Bunmahon Coast Guard Station but didn't see any sign of a William Mahony serving there, the only Mahony based there that I found was a Daniel who served there from December 1860.

Are you certain that your William served at Bunmahon Coastguard Station, any clues as to other locations he may have served ?

I'll try a few more search options and update here...
 

THANK YOU SHANEW :-)  Wasn't expecting to hear from you so soon! 

Yes, if William's age at his time of death in 1880 is to be believed, and he IS the William Mahony you've found in records, then he would have been 23 when he 'retired' as Coastguard. While young, it's not impossible. First of all, I'm aware that data in irish records are to be taken with a pinch of salt;so William may have been born earlier than his Death Record suggests. Another thought,maybe the Gratuity was high due to an accident? William married in 1835 in Clonmel (if I've the correct William Mahony) and he may have had another occupation by then but Coast Guard just happens to be what appears on his daughter's marriage record in 1866.

There's also no reason why William couldn't have been from Kenmare. I have a rootsireland.ie sibscription but unfortunately Kerry Church + Civil records are not on their website. I will take a look at nli and see if Church registers for Kenmare exist for early 19th century.

Areas where the family lived were BUNMAHON, LISMORE + TRAMORE.

Thank you very much for the information.

The best place for records for Co. Kerry is the free IrishGenealogy website, which has Catholic and Church of Ireland records for most of the parishes in the county. The dates available however could be a problem if your William was Catholic, as Baptism  records for the parish only go back to about 1819.

The Catholic records for most of the parishes in Ireland including Co. Kerry are available on the National Library Website (free), and have been indexed and transcribed by FindMyPast & Ancestry.

p.s. the Catholic parish for Kenmare is sometimes listed as Templenoe or 'Kenmare and Dourus'. Templenoe is the name of one of the civil parishes included in the Catholic Parish, Dourus is an alternate name for Dawros where there was at one time another chapel for the parish.

Once again, Thank You Very Much Shanew147 for the information re the Co. Kerry parish records. Will be next on my To Do list :-)

Davern

Davern, 

I can add that Lucia Anne (Lucy Ann) Mahony is noted as married to Richard Champion, and were living in Kill in 1865 to 1868. Lucy was sponsor to a baptism there in 1868. So the reason Adelaide got married in the RC Church in Kill must have been because she was living with her sister at the time, in Kill.

Richard Champion was born in Kill: 7 June 1833. Father was another Richard Champion (b. 1812, d. 09 Sept 1872), mother Mary Kearney m. 17 July 1832.  

In 1862, Richard Snr was the Steward of the Gardenmorris Estate in Kill, but noted in his death certificate as a Road Contractor. 

Any further information re what became of Lucy or Richard (Jnr) after 1868 would be most welcome. 

Thank you RonanC for the added information. I checked the free irishgenealogy.ie website re Lucy Ann's father...as advised by the above shanew147. Found a WILLIAM MAHONY born in 1792, Killarney...the timeline would fit a Coast Guard service up to 1822. This William's godmother was a Lucy Mahony...an Aunt?

Maybe Lucy Ann's father married twice;which is why her marriage records gives Elizabeth Poland as her mother's maiden name; whereas her sister Maria's mother seems to be an Elizabeth Keating?

The person I'm helping with this family research is a DNA Match of mine. Finding the connection is probably impossible, due to lack of records, but I'm gathering information anyway! My ancestors also came from the Kill, Stradbally + Bunmahon area.

Good luck with your research! I will let you know if anything turns up re Champion/Mahony.

Regards

I've just found this post while looking for something else.

I'm researching Ballymacaw Coastguard Station, County Waterford, and a William Mahoney was stationed there from 1841 (previously in Exmouth) to 1865, when he was superannuated.  He is in the Griffith Valuation House Books .http://census.nationalarchives.ie/search/vob/results.jsp?surname=mahon*…;

Olivia

Meant to include this too

Olivia

Hello Olivia,

This is wonderful...thank you so much. The person I'm helping will be very pleased to receive the information. 

I'm actually from Waterford but never realised Ballymacaw had a Coastguard Station! I've even discovered a lovely photo of it online. Shanew147 above, had asked if I knew of any other locations where William had served but there seems to have been more Stations than I thought. Think I need to do a Coastguard Station tour next time I'm in Waterford :-)

I'm now wondering if William was possibly english born and his children were born in England? It might explain the difficulties I've had finding certain records.

I notice your reply to me in 2019! I apologise for not answering. I don't know how it happened as I can't even remember reading it;maybe I just didn't scroll down far enough?

Once again, thank you very much. Ireland XO members has proven to be a great assistance.

Best Wishes

You're welcome Davern. The 2019 date above my reoly actually refers to the previous post, I found that confusing too.  I actually posted 2 days ago!

Hi again Davern,

I've just been re-reading your original post, I had dome a quick search for family of William Mohoney a little while ago and found some of the records you mentioned. I also found a death record of an Eliza Napoleon Mahoney in 1878 in Gardenmorris, Bonmahon Registration District. It struck me as unusual at the time, but given your reference to Eliza Poland as mother on a marriage record maybe one or other record was mis-transcribed?

TEST!

That put a smile on my face Olivia...Napoleon!!...and it just so happens to be the bicentenary of his death :-) I didn't think of checking under Kilmacthomas when I was researching the family. I also found another Mahoney amongst those records, working as a Coast Guard....maybe a relative? 

This is surely William's wife. One or two things convince me. Firstly, the record states that Catherine's husband is a 'Pensioner', which I think would apply to a retired Coast Guard. I usually only come across 'Labourer' or 'Farmer' on any other of the Mahoney records of events in that area. Secondly, the address Gardenmorris. RonanC above, mentioned that Ri. Champion Senior, father of William's son-in-law, was a Steward at the Gardenmorris estate in Kill. William + Catherine must have lived nearby before William moved away to Tramore after his wife's death. 

Nothing surprises me re transcriptions etc of names. I've an ancestor whose maiden name was sometimes recorded as Kinehan but at other times as Kent and even Kirwan! I've also occasionally seen death records on which the woman's maiden name was recorded...and that was possibly attempted in Catherine Mahoney's case.

Great detective work Olivia. I think I can safely go with Poland as Catherine's maiden name...although the 'Napoleon' option would have been fun :-)

Thank you very much.

Kind Regards

EDIT....Sorry, it should read ELIZA Mahoney, not CATHERINE .-)

Hi again Davern, 

After spending the last year researching other things, I returned to William Mahony this week. 

As Shanew147 said previously, there was no William Mahony in Bunmahon Coastguard Station, so I do think that the William in Ballymacaw from 1841 to 1865 is your man.  I traced the Station records back as far as I could for him, and he first shows up as a Boatman in 1834 in Worthing, having transferred from a Revenue Cruiser (record doesn't specify which).  He transferred in 1835 to Bridport, 1839 to Dawlish, then Exmouth the same year, and finally to Ballymacaw in 1841, where he remained till superannuated on 30 Jun 1865. 

His entry in the Ballymacaw Station record has the letters C.G. after his name - this means he was a Civilian Guard (i.e. not Navy, and so not to be called for service during the Crimean or subsequent conflict - The Coastguard Service was part of the Board of Customs up to the 1850s when it was transferred to the Admiralty).  

That explains why I couldn't find any Navy Record for him, but while looking I did find something interesting - a Navy Service Record for a William Mahony born 2 Aug 1853 in Tramore, who signed on as a Boy 2nd Class on HMS Mersey on 14 Jun 1869 in Queenstown. Since he was under 18 his father, also William Mahony, signed a consent form. 

You'll find the record at https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/D7937846 where you can download it free if you create an account.

So William may have had a son as well as those 4 daughters. Unfortunately I can't find anything further about William Junior, his Service Record suggests he didn't serve after 3 Apr 1871.

I must really commend Members at Ireland XO...such brilliant work. Thank you very much Olivia! 

I passed on your findings to the family, and they immediately searched for information on  WILLIAM MAHONY jun. No wonder you found nothing after 1871; the poor boy died in 1873 aged 19. His death was registered in Kilmacthomas by his father William senior. The address was GARDENMORRIS, which ties in with the address on his mother's death record in 1878.

Great to receive details for William junior's place + year of birth. His baptism record will provide his mother's maiden name. However, Tramore baptismal records for 1853 aren't available on nli. I'll subscribe soon to rootsireland and will be able to get it there. I'm guessing his siblings were born outside of Ireland, considering where William senior's did his service.

Once again, thank you very much for the abundance of information!

Kind Regards

I couldn't find a baptism in Tramore for William junior on RootsIreland.  The only 1853 baptism of a William Mahony with father William in County Waterford was baptised in Clonmel on 31 Jul 1853 (earlier than the recorded birth date on the Navy record), mother Alice Walsh, sponsors Samuel Hill and Maria/Mary Mahony, the NLI record is at https://registers.nli.ie/registers/vtls000632167#page/230/mode/1up - I assumed it wasn't the right record

William senior was in Ballymacaw from early 1841, so I would say his daughters were born in Waterford.  They were born 1842 onwards (from Census records, which also record Waterford as place of birth for those who remained in Ireland). No baptism records in Tramore for any of them on RootsIreland, but I have found the Tramore records on RootsIreland very patchy for that time period in my own family research.

I meant to include this link, it's a folder of drawings from 1867 for additions and alterations to Ballymacaw Coastguard Station, copyright of the National Archives:

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1RNl4XPypFyDaMmORwK6wXHPjjBGEKcY…