NOLAN FAMILY REPORT

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A sample comprehensive report (some names have been changed to protect identity.)

3. Daniel Nolan.

Before looking at the parish records we began with the records of the Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter Day Saints. In the records all variants of the family name appears under 'Nolan'. We searched for Daniel and or William, associated with Kerry.

Under the baptismal records for Kerry one Daniel, son of William and Johanna Nolan (formerly O'Brien) was baptised in 1835. This is not the only Daniel Nolan - There is a Daniel Nolan born in Cork in 1844 and a Daniel Nolan born in 1853 in Limerick. However, the Daniel born in 1835 is the only one with a father named William, since Daniel is referred to as Daniel William we might presume that he was called after, his grandfather and father - Daniel and William.

After this we looked in both the Tithe Applotment and Griffith's Valuation. The Tithe Applotment was carried out before Daniel was born, so it would be his father William, or indeed his grandfather, who would appear. In the Tithe Applotment Book's there are two records for McAuliffe families in the Parish of Duagh in North Kerry. One is William Nolan holding lands in the townland of Derk, in Duagh. The other is Cornelius Nolan holding land in the townland of Foilderrig, Duagh.

In Griffith's Valuation we found more records for the Nolan family of North Kerry. Under an entry for Derk we find that the lands there are now in the hands of William Nolan while Cornelius still holds the lands in Foilderrig. The lands held by William Nolan in Derk, include house, offices worth £20 per annum, and are held from the Earl of Listowel. Other sources help to identify this man as William, husband of Johanna O'Brien (marriage register) and father of Daniel Nolan. Since in the 1850's he holds the lands held by Daniel Nolan in the 1820's we can accept with a degree of certainty that Daniel and William are father and son.

Griffith's Valuation had now helped us focus the search on the townland of Derk in the parish of Duagh in the Bishopric of Kerry. The Birth and Marriage records of Kerry are relatively intact. The parish records of the Bishopric of Kerry are on microfilm in the National Library of Ireland. Because one has to physically search through each entry, and there are thousands, it is generally better to have narrowed the search perimeters by this point.

The parish registers for the parish of Duagh covers the period 1819-1867 (with some gaps in the 1850's) and the marriage records cover the period from 1832 -1864. The birth register indicates that one William and Johanna Nolan had a son, Daniel, who was baptised on the 1st of July 1835. They also had a son William in 1837 and a daughter Bridget in 1838. There are no other records of offspring of William of Johanna in the birth records.

If this is the Daniel we are looking for he would have been in his mid twenties when he married Mary Agnes Boland in c.1860. Searching the Emigration lists produced no results - he was not listed on any of the ships, so we cannot be sure what date Daniel went to America.

From searching through the birth and marriage registers of Duagh we discovered that William (b. 1837), brother of Daniel married one Mary O'Connor in 1863 and had a son, Daniel James, in 1868.

In the records of the Valuation Office we discovered more information on the Nolan family. Because we know that in the great Primary or Griffith's Valuation of 1848-1864, William Nolan was leasing land in Derk, Duagh in 1852 we could start here. The Valuation Office in Dublin holds both the `Cancelled' and `Present' land books of the lands of Ireland. We can use them to trace the land-leasing pattern or ownership of land in a particular area, as long as we know where the family had land. We know that in 1852, when Daniel Nolan, was about 17 years old, one William Nolan, presumably his father, leased `a house offices and land worth 20 shillings per annum, from The Earl of Listowel , in the townland of Derk, parish of Duagh, in the Barony of Clanmaurice, North Kerry.

Year 1852

Lessee William Nolan
Area `house, offices and lands'
Rent £20 0s 0p per annum
Lessor Earl of Listowel
Townland Derk
Civil Parish Duagh
Barony Clanmaurice

We then looked at the later records for this particular landholding.

Year 1860

Lessee William Nolan
Area `house, offices and lands'
Rent £20 0s 0p per annum
Lessor Earl of Listowel
Townland Derk
Civil Parish Duagh
Barony Clanmaurice

There is, however, an interesting altering of the situation about 1863/64. In a different hand and different colour ink, which indicates an altered entry in the valuation books, the valuer's indicate that another William Nolan takes over the land. Entering the new name in red ink indicates a change of ownership, from one William to another, from father to son. This is interesting because William is the second son; Daniel was the eldest and presumably the heir. The fact that William junior gets the land in 1863/64 indicates that Daniel was either planning to emigrate or had already left by 1863/64. It also indicates that William senior ether died or retired in this year. A search of the death records from 1864-1870 shows that William Nolan of Duagh died in 1868, aged 72, indicating he was born in 1796.

Year 1863/1864
Lessee William Nolan
Area `house, offices and lands'
Rent £20 0s 0p per annum
Lessor Earl of Listowel
Townland Derk
Civil Parish Duagh
Barony Clanmaurice

In the Valuation for the years 1865-1875 William junior appears, leasing land in Derk. By the Valuation in 1875 as there is a new record of a Daniel Nolan holding the lands in Derk. This is probably Daniel James, son of William junior - a nephew to the Daniel Nolan who emigrated to America.
Daniel leased lands until about 1913, when one Bill Nolan, presumably his son, took over the lease. Bill held the lands until 1955, when Dan, again presumably his son, took over the lease. In 1958 the lands are recorded as in fee lap, that is, the Nolan's now owned the land and no longer leased it. In the 1960's the lands were sold and there are no Nolan's in Derk to day.

Daniel 1820's/30's-1850's
William Senior 1850'-1864/4
William Junior 1865-1875
Daniel 1875-1913
William (Bill) 1913-1955
Daniel (Dan) 1955-c.1966/67

From these records we see the land-holding history of the Nolan family. Daniel, the eldest son, would have been in line to inherit the land in Derk and had he stayed his descendants would probably live in North Kerry to-day. As he left it are his brother William and his sons who held the land until the 1960's. These records do not, however, tell us why Daniel emigrated. Perhaps he had a desire to see the world and no desire to send up farming in Derk. From the records we can presume that he had left the are by the early 1860's as his brother has the farm by 1863/4. Oral family history indicates that he married in America in about 1860 so it is possible that he left in the late 1850's. Whatever the exact date of his departure Daniel found a new life in America like many thousands of Irish men and women, married, had a family and saw his descendants put roots down in the New World. At home the Nolan family continued in Derk down to modern times.