The Nationalist Friday
October 18,1996
Then and Now
THIS is a miscellany of local history genealogy, and
readers comments, published now and then, and
compiled by Michael Purcell of
the Co. Carlow Heritage Society.
In a previous column, I stated that genealogical
enquiries for County Laois should be directed to
Tullamore. Co. Offaly. A reader asked me to give
details of what records are available for Laois
in the Offal y centre.
The Roman Catholic parish registers have been indexed
for: Abbeyleix, Aghaboe. Arles. Ballinakill.
Ballyfin, Clonasleee. Doonane, Emo.
Mountmellick. Mountrath, Portarlington,
Portlaoise, Raheen. Rathdowney, Rosenallis and
Stradbally. Also available are Griffith's
valuation. tithe applotment and memorials of the
dead records. indexation is in progress of the
1901 census. There are also directories and
miscellaneous local records in the centre.
I have been informed that Killeshin may be selected
as the region in which the proposed Laois
Genealogical Centre will be situated. If so, it
will be a great boost in attracting people to
the area and because of its proximity would also
benefit Carlow Town. It certainly would be more
practicable than the present directive, whereby
researchers and tourist’s have to travel out
side the county in search of information. Such
as a centre would also be well served by
genealogist Mary Walsh who lives in the
locality.
A letter from Wanda Adams. 7752 Highway 42, Tenmile,
OR. 97481, U.S.A. recalled the Rutledge family
link with Carlow. Wanda is a direct descendant
of Edward Rutledge who at the age of 26 was the
youngest signer of the American Constitution in
1787. She believes that Edward‘s father Dr. John
Rutledge emigrated from Carlow circa 1735 to
Carolina. Records reveal that a John Rutledge
was licensee in l730 of "Barnaby’s
Inn", which was located where 112 Tullow
Street now stands. The premises was named,
"The Old House", in the 1920s
in recognition of the fact that it was one of
the oldest established licensed houses in
Carlow.
ln 1617 Sir Barnaby O'Brien and his wife
Mary Farmer were granted a
licence to keep taverns and to make and sell
wines and spirits in the "fair, thriving and
flourishing" town of Carlow. According to the
Marlborough Clarke Douglas papers, (1851-1923),
the location of what is now 112 Tullow Street
was where one of the inns was established.
Named in 1618 "The Cather Inn", it
was known to Carlovian’s for almost the next 300
years as "Barnaby's Inn". J.J. McDonald
acquired
the premises and in 1900, placed a sign in the
window stating, "Barnaby's out, McDonalds in!".
Because of its location we can be sure that the
building suffered damage in the siege of Carlow
in 1641. It was demolished and rebuilt in 1680
by Thomas Spaight. The structure was rebuilt
again in 1699 following the extensive fire which
engulfed much of the town the previous year.
A memorial dated 1730 names the occupant as
John
Rutledge, he had extra rooms built at the
Mass
House Lane (now College Street) side of the
premises.
The B.M.D. registers for the Church of Ireland
chronicle four entries in the Rutledge name but
only one slots into the time frame, that is
Sedley Rutledge baptised in 1744.
Despite the fact that Michael J. O'Brien in his book
'Irish settlers in America', states that Dr. John
Rutledge was a native of Longford. I am almost
convinced that our John from "Barnaby‘s inn“, is
the same person referred to by Wanda Adams.
If factual, he was one
of two signers with a Carlow background, the
other bring Pierce Butler, a son of a Baronet,
born in 1744 at Ballintempe, Co. Carlow.
Because of the right of primogeniture. Pierce could
not inherit the Carlow estates so (at the age of
eleven!) he had a commission as major purchased
for him in the British Army. He married on
January 10th, 1771, to an heiress of a large
estate in South Carolina. Two years later he
left the British Army and in 1775 became
associated with the struggle for American
independence. Pierce died in 1822 and was buried
in the graveyard adjoining Christ Church in
Philadelphia.
Further evidence of a Rutledge connection to Carlow
is the listing of the marriage in 1819 of
Robert
Rutledge from Co. Mayo to Margaret, daughter of
Henry Bruen M.P. of Oak Park. Later in 1898.
Thomas Bruen Rutledge. Co. Mayo, married
Mary
Caroline, daughter of William Brown Clayton of
Browns Hill.
Any further information on John Rutledge would be
appreciated, and can be posted direct to Wanda
Adams., or
mjbrennan30@gmail.com
information has also been requested by Mary Burn of
New York regarding Julia Murphy from Enniskerry,
Co. Wicklow.
Julia was deported to Australia in 1844 for stealing
potatoes. Her parents. Tom and Bridget Byrne,
and two brothers Tom and Edward remained in
Enniskerry.