Creator(s): Murphy Family, Ballymore, Co Tipperary (1689-1903)
Administrative History ↴
The Baldwin family of Cahir and the Murphys of Ballymore, near Carrick-on-Suir, were prominent members of the Catholic middle class of south Tipperary in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, and were part of the social circle of Charles Bianconi (1786-1875), the transport pioneer. The Baldwins owned a tannery in Cahir, while the Murphys moved to South Tipperary from Co Kilkenny in 1689 and came to farm lands at Ballymore .
The families were united when Mick Murphy of Ballymore married Biddy, daughter of John Baldwin [died c.1819]. This John Baldwin had a brother James, who served for a time as private secretary to the Duke of Bedfordshire, a son John Junior who served in Wellington’s army in Spain and Portugal, and later served in Columbia, and a daughter Mary Anne. Mary Anne lived with her sister Biddy Murphy and her husband Mick at Ballymore after her father’s death, and was apparently provided for by Bianconi while attending the Ursuline School in Waterford. Thomas Baldwin would appear to have been a brother of the elder John, while Edmund was a younger son, brother to John Junior and Mary Anne, as well as to Eliza, another sister. John Baldwin Murphy, a Dublin based lawyer, was evidently the son of Biddy and Mick Murphy. His brothers Daniel and Michael emigrated to the United States in 1849.
The Murphy and Baldwin families were connected by marriage and friendship to many other prominent Tipperary and Suir Valley families, including the Burkes of Braenor, and the Ryans, Everards, and Minikins of Cashel. A Dr Edmond Murphy, evidently descended from the Ballymore family, married Elizabeth Clanchy, the daughter to TJ Clanchy, the prominent Cork butter merchant and nationalist figure, in 1899. Their daughter Sheila gathered together the documents which make up the related collections IE CCCA/U6 (Murphy-Baldwin Correspondence), IE CCCA/U76 (Murphy Papers, Ballymore, Co Tipperary), and IE CCCA/PR11 (Papers of TJ Clanchy (d1897) & Family).
Archival History ↴
Xerox copies of family documents presented by Miss Sheila Murphy to Cork County Library, from where they were later transferred to Cork Archives Council in 1972.
Immediate Source Acquisition ↴
Official Transfer
Content & Structure
Scope & Content: Murphy Family, Ballymore, Co Tipperary (1689-1903) ↴
The collection consists of photocopies of a small number legal documents, letters and notes relating to the Murphy family of Ballymore, Co Tipperary. An unsigned note (U76/5) provides an account of Patrick Murphy’s arrival in Tipperary from Co Kilkenny in 1689, and of the first few generations of Murphys at Ballymore and elsewhere in South Tipperary. Family history notes and draft family trees present attempt to document the family’s descent more fully (U76/6-7).
The legal documents relate mainly to Mick Murphy, and include an 1807 lease by him of lands at Ballymore from a Daniel Murphy (possibly his father), the lands being owned by Sir Thomas Judkin Fitzgerald (U76/2). Murphy leased further land from the Fitzgeralds in nearby Lislowryn in 1818, this land coming into the possession of his son Michael in 1849 (U76/3-4). A residuary account of the elder Mick Murphy’s will gives an overview of his estate and goods on his death in 1834, and his arrangements for his family.
His sons Daniel and Michael, both parties to the 1849 deed, emigrated to the USA that same year, and sent letters from New York and Illinois to their mother and their brother John Baldwin Murphy (U76/10-12; copies of these letters also occur in U6 Murphy-Baldwin Correspondence). Also present are two earlier letters received by Mick Murphy from his brother-in-law John Baldwin Junior, then on military service under Wellington in Spain and Portugal (U76/8-9; also in U6). The latest item, a 1903 business letter with the letterhead of TJ Clanchy’s Great Munster Dairies, is evidence of the link between the Murphys and Clanchys, Dr Edmond Murphy marrying Elizabeth Clanchy, daughter of TJ, in 1899 (U76/13; a copy of this item is in PR11 Papers of TJ Clanchy (d1897) & Family).
The collection is useful for those studying the genealogy of Murphy families of South Tipperary, and provides evidence of connections with the Baldwins of Cahir and the Clanchys of Cork. It is significant that Daniel and Michael Murphy, sons of Mick, emigrated to the USA in 1849, despite Daniel’s interest in lands at Lislowryn being assigned to Michael that same year. This suggests they were struggling financially as farmers, and were endeavouring to reestablish themselves in America, their brother John having become a lawyer in Dublin. The family’s land interests in south Tipperary seem to have ended at this time, as documented in some of the items present. The Napoleonic war adventures of their uncle John Baldwin and the families’ later Clanchy connections provide colour and context to the collection, and link it with the related collections U6 and PR11.
Appraisal Destruction ↴
Permanent Retention
Arrangement ↴
The collection originally consisted of two parts, U76 and U76a, the former containing items U76/1-6, items 7-13 making up U76a. On review in 2012, it was found that the items in U76a were copies of items described in other collections. It was decided to form a single U76 collection, numbered from 1-13, with indication given where items were copies of documents described in other collections. The revised numbering supersedes all earlier numbering.
The first part of the revised collection consists of documents relating to Mick Murphy and lands in South Tipperary. The second part is made up of documents relating to the family history of the Murphys. The third part is made up of copy items relating to other family members.
I Mick Murphy (d.1834), Ballymore, and family lands in Tipperary, 1807-1849 (4 items)
II Murphy Family History, c1800, 1970 (3 items)
III Copy Letters relating to Murphy and Clanchy families, 1811-1903 (6 items)
Conditions of Access & Use
Access Conditions
Open to researchers holding a current reader's ticket
Conditions Governing Reproduction
Subject to rules governing reproduction of materials of CCCA
