Patrick Walsh

Patrick Walsh was born in 1803 and died in Derrycoosh in 1883(1).

When valued in 1856 there were 31 (+2) lots listed in Derrycoosh, all leased from Sir William Roger Palmer.   Ten were occupied by Walshes. In house 12 we find our 3rd great grandfather, Patrick (John) Walsh,  with house, offices and land valued at £2 lb 10 shillings.

It is unknown whether Patrick Walsh was a cattle trader like his son John, but it seems likely that he, and perhaps the rest of the family found their way to market day in Castlebar.

In 1835 Jonathan Binns described the scene of such a day.

"It was market day at Castlebar when I arrived there, and I strolled for a couple of hours among the market people. Great numbers of women, holding a hank or two of yarn of their own spinning, stood in the streets and offered their trifling commodities for sale. Very few of those whom I addressed could speak English; but some of the men about, seeing the disadvantages under which I laboured, very obligingly stepped forward, and offered assistance as interpreters. This sort of politeness is common to the Irish. I ascertained that the women could not earn by spinning more than a penny or two-pence a day, and hundreds of them attended the market whose earnings for the whole week did not exceed sixpence or ninepence; yet notwithstanding this inadequate reward of long and hard labour, their honest countenances wore the habitual impress of cheerfulness and perfect good humour. Scarcely any of the women had shoes, and I felt considerable alarm while threading my way through a dense crowd, lest I should step upon their feet. 

"The corn and meal were brought into the town by horses, mules, and asses, many of which remained in the market with their loads upon their backs. Oats were selling at 5d. and 6d. per stone. But little wheat is produced in the neighbourhood, nor is barley much grown, except to supply the potheen manufactories in the mountains. Rents are about 20s. and acre ; and wages from 6d. to 8d. a day ; but if regular work is afforded, 6d., without diet, is the usual amount. Although their agriculture and customs seem better adapted to the last century, yet if we may draw a comparison between their present practises and the account given by Arthur Young in 1779, some improvement has actually taken place. "To Castlebar," says he, "over an indifferent country and a vile stony road ; about that town the husbandry is admirable. They have tree customs,......."


(1) Islandeady Civ. Reg. deaths, vol 4 page 38, Patrick Walsh died Derrycoosh, 12th Dec 1883 age 80 Informant Patrick Walsh, Derrycoosh, Son

Dog Licenses

Registry of Dog Licenses - Westport, Mayo 1872
Pat Geraghty - Petty Court Records & Dog Licenses

In 1871  Pat Geraghty of Carrownaclea licensed a yellow sheepdog and a black sheepdog, in 1872 besides the red curdog above there is a black sheepdog, in 1873 a black & white sheepdog, in 1874 a red sheepdog, in 1875 a yellow sheepdog, in 1877 a black & gray sheepdog and on another day a black sheepdog.  That entry is interesting because in an adjoining entry Pat Geraghty of Thornhill also registered a black sheepdog....another connection? In 1878 there is a red sheepdog and a black and tan (bitch) sheepdog.

That's a lot of dogs!!!  And most years it was a different dog or dogs from the year before.  Did they work them to hard?  Did they run away?  Perhaps they used them in dog fighting? Or maybe they traded them as they didn't want them to be friends.  I'm in search of dog tales from Ireland in the 1870s!

Of course there was more than one Pat Geraghty in the tiny townland of Carrownaclea, at least in the 1850s, so it seems likely that there were two Pats registering their dogs rather than one Pat registering two.  

And a cur dog?  In 1790 Thomas Burwick described the Cur Dog as "a trusty and useful servant to the farmer and grazier; and, although it is not taken notice of by naturalists as a distinct race, yet it is now so generally used, especially in the North of England, and such great attention is paid in breeding it, that we cannot help considering it as a permanent kind. They are chiefly employed in driving cattle; in which way they are extremely useful. They are larger, stronger, and fiercer than the Shepherd's Dog; and their hair is smoother and shorter. They are mostly black and white colour. Their ears are half-pricked; and many of them are whelped with short tails, which seem as if they had been cut: These are called Self-tailed Dogs. They bite very keenly; and as they always make their attack at the heels, the cattle have no defence against them: In this way they are more than a match for a Bull, which they quickly compel to run. Their sagacity is uncommonly great. They know their master's fields, and are singularly attentive to the cattle that are in them: A good Dog watches, goes his rounds; and, if any strange cattle should happen to appear amongst the herd, although unbidden, he quickly flies at them, and with keen bites obliges them to depart."  It would seem then that the designation was to separate them from dogs used for herding sheep.  

If you want to find your ancestors in Ireland, one of the places to look is in the dog licenses records that have been posted on Find My Past.  I decided to check out the regulations that required the licenses....this is the law as it was amended in 1880.....

Happy dog hunting!