Archive_News_June_14 - ibvm.org | Institute of the Blessed Virgin

LORETO
CENTRAL &
IRISH PROVINCE
ARCHIVES
INSIDE
THIS ISSUE

Introduction

Mother
Coyney’s
letter
accepting
Teresa Ball to
the Bar
Convent

Ball Family
Tree

Letter to
Teresa Ball
from her
sister Isabella

‘A Tireless
Worker for
the Kingdom’
- Anna Maria
O’Brien

Cecilia Ball—
Mother Mary
Regis

Nicholas Ball
and his family

Extracts from
the US
Province
Archives

Laura Mary
Teresa Ball

Extracts from
the English
Province
Archives

Reflection on
Matthew 6:33

Early
Nineteenth
Century
Dublin

Transcription
of Mother
Coyney letter

References
Archive News
Special Edition: Bicentenary of Teresa Ball entering
the Bar Convent, York—11 June 1814
J U NE
201 4
A Most Significant Date ~ 11 June 1814
Frances Ball, having decided that she had a call to Religious Life, waited patiently until her
mother felt ready to let her go. When she reached her 20th birthday, Mrs. Ball reluctantly gave
her consent and Frances prepared to enter the Bar Convent in York, England.
Mrs. Ball suggested that Frances should visit Cecilia who was an
Ursuline Sister in Cork. Frances spent some very happy days with
Cecilia and made new friends while there. Among them were the
McCarthy sisters, both of whom later entered in Loreto Abbey,
Rathfarnham.
Miniature of
Frances Ball
The little miniature portrait we have of Frances Ball was probably
painted during her visit to Cecilia. Frederick Buck, a famous
portrait painter living in Cork, was the subject of an article in Irish
Art Review a few years ago and the portrait of Frances would sit
perfectly beside the samples of his work reproduced in the article.
Nicholas Ball escorted his sister to York. They set out
from Dublin on a sailing ship and the journey took about a
week. They arrived in York on the Feast of Corpus Christi,
11 June, 1814. On the way to the Bar Convent, Frances
visited the old Minster, where as a young child she had been
overpowered by the realisation of the Majesty of God.
The welcome she received in the Bar Convent warmed her
heart. Mary Aikenhead and her companions received her with open arms. There were six other
Irish nuns in the York community, all from Dublin.
Visitors are always most welcome in the Archives!
The Archives are open Monday—Wednesday, 9.30am—4.30pm.
Contact us by phone at 01 6620158 or email [email protected] in advance of your
visit.
We look forward to welcoming you!
Kathleen and Karen
PAGE
2
30th May 1814 - Letter from Mother E.M.J. Coyney, Micklegate Bar, York to Dr. Murray,
stating that she is willing to receive Frances Ball as a member of the Institute, with a view
to training her for the founding of a house in Ireland, subject to the condition that she be
John Ball
Mable Clare She
Bennett
allowed sufficient
time to be formed ‘for that great undertaking’.
particularly requests
(c.1728-1803)
(c.1776-1865)
that ‘it may not be known to one unnecessary person that Miss B. is fixed on for the
projected Establishment, such a report spread abroad would neither be pleasant to the
young lady herself nor to us.’
A full transcription of the letter can be found on the final page of this newsletter.
PAGE
Ball Family Tree
John Ball
m.1776
Mable Clare Bennett
(c.1728-1804)
(-1831)
Thomas
Mable Clare
Cecilia
Anna Maria
Isabella
Nicholas
Frances
(1779-?)
(1780-?)
(1782-1854)
(1786-1871)
(1787-1867)
(1791-1865)
(1794-1861)
Ball Family
In researching the Ball family, the births of two siblings of Teresa
Ball who were heretofore unknown were discovered. John Ball and
Mable Clare Bennett married in 1776 and although it was commonly believed that their first child
was their daughter Cecilia, baptismal records for SS Michael & John in Dublin indicate that their first
child was a son, Thomas, born in 1779. A daughter, Mable Clare, followed in 1780. As these
children are never mentioned in any of the writings about the Ball family it seems likely that they
died in infancy. Unfortunately, civil registration did not begin until 1864 and Catholic burial records
for the period are scarce. As a result, we have so far been unable to uncover their stories.
3
PAGE
4
Letter to Teresa Ball from
her Sister Isabella
TB/COR/7/5
24 Via Deidue Macelle,
Roma
Italia
12th Feby 1850
My dear Sister,
I hasten to reply by this days post to your welcome letter
which came to hand in the afternoon of yesterday. The pleasing intelligence
of my family and relations being in the enjoyment of good health always
affords me infinite satisfaction. With regard to dear Jane1, notwithstanding
the great change always attending the care of a young person, still I am
willing to do anything in the present circumstances to promote her good,
provided I am not held responsible either for her making up a match for
herself without any knowledge or becoming a nun, in either case I should
c o ns i d e r m y s e l f b o u n d t o
communicate her intentions to her
parents without delay. I found her
achievements amiable and can
never forget her attention to me
when afflicted. I hope to see her
settled in the world to her
advantage. She has qualities to fit
her for a wife and for a mother if
she have the good fortune to meet
with a partner worthy of her.
We arrived at the last day of carnival without, as far as regards us, meeting
with anything unpleasant. I send by this first the Roman paper of yesterday
which gives a true account of the proceedings on the Corso last Saturday. I
have directed it to His Grace. He will kindly let you know the contents as
things are so exaggerated that the half in general is quite enough to believe.
The French Ambassador who is likewise the Commander in Chief has
heretofore used such clemency with the revolutionary party that not one
execution has taken place, is now determined to act with promptitude and
severity. On next Thursday two or three are to be shot on the Piazza del
Popolo for stabbing some French soldier.
Upwards of a hundred have been arrested within the last week. This state of
things will keep His Holiness some time longer absent.2 It wouldn’t surprise
PAGE
me if Doctor Cullen goes to Naples for his consecration. There is no certainty of Cardinal
Fransoni coming to Rome just now. He was expected to perform the ceremony.
Things might go on very comfortably here if the thousand soldiers with nothing in their
pockets could be got rid of. The Triumvirate of Cardinals are labouring hard to bring
things to bear, there has been a great turn out of those employed under the Republic
which naturally causes ill will and discontent, a known force for some time and severe
laws will be absolutely necessary.
I hope by this you have received a letter and your enclosure partly directed by Dr.
Oliffe from Malta. It came to
the Irish College I believe by
hand. I forwarded it without
delay, by post four or five
days ago. What a wonderful
constitution His Grace has,
enjoying such health
nothwithstanding the severity
of the late weather. Will you
present him our untied
respects. Dr. Hines has been
here some time expecting to
have some business done at
the Propaganda. He is Bishop
of whatever place in the West
Indies Mr Briten, father to
Mrs. Cruise, resides.
I am delighted to hear of David’s making some way in his profession nothwithstanding
the hard times. every letter, nearly, lavishes praises on his wife which is certainly very
satisfactory.3 I had a letter last week from her. She expects to be confined this month. I
think Providence is favouring you in a particular manner also, so very difficult others
find it to get on both in and out of the world.
I heard from Tim Sherlock a few days ago nothwithstanding the intense cold of
Florence, he is very stout and rides out nearly every day. He was at Jane Oliviere‘s
wedding and thinks the General a good man.
Mary Ann and John3 join me in affectionate love to you and fond remembrance to all
our friends, excuse this hasty scrawl and believe me your affectionate sister,
Isabella Sherlock
Addressed to: Mrs. Ball,
Loreto House,
Rathfarnham,
Dublin
1 Jane
was the daughter of their brother Nicholas.
2
During the Italian Revolutions, Pope IX had
refused to go to war with Catholic Austria and as a
result had to flee Rome in 1848. He would return
two months after this letter in April 1850.
3 David, Mary Ann and John
children
were Isabella’s
5
PAGE
6
This is a scanned copy of Isabella Sherlock’s (née Ball) letter to her
sister M.Teresa Ball found on the previous page. It was sent to
Rathfarnham from Rome in 1850.The original is in a very delicate
condition on superfine paper.
PAGE
1903 Australian Tableau Anna Maria Ball and her little
sister Frances in the garden.
This is a photograph of students in Loreto Convent, Ballarat, Australia
performing a tableau vivant of the Life of Frances Ball in 1903 - M. Gonzaga
Barry’s Jubilee Year.
( We thank Robin Scott, Australian Province Archivist for this photograph)
7
PAGE
8
A Tireless Worker for the Kingdom
Anna Maria O’Brien née Ball, born 1785.
Completed her education in the Bar Convent, York in 1803. Together
with her sister, Isabella, she returned to Dublin to take her place in
the society open to them. Due to their parents’ concern for the poor,
part of their time would, undoubtedly, have been given to the
underprivileged.
On 12 November, 1805 Anna Maria married John O’Brien, the
younger son of Mr. Denis O’Brien who resided at 33 Rutland
Square, now Parnell Square, Dublin. Denis O’Brien was involved in
the foreign import trade under the name of T. Meade & Co. Their
premises were at 23 Merchant’s Quay and they also had extensive
warehouses in Cook St. Anna Marie and John O’Brien lived at what
is now 22 Mountjoy Square.
Portrait of
Anna Maria
O’Brien
(née Ball)
The Ball family made a contribution to the period 1760—1860 which
is still in evidence today, not only in Ireland but far beyond our shores.
In the later part of the 18th Century, Catholic Emancipation was still
in the future. The Catholic community in Dublin was largely engaged
in trade, since most, if not all, of the professions were closed to it. At
the time a number of Catholic merchant families were very well-to-do,
including the Balls, O’Briens and Sherlocks.
Anna Maria and Isabella Ball went to school in the Bar Convent, York, England. In 1798 a
Rebellion had taken place in Ireland, there was great unrest in the country. It was considered too
dangerous to travel to Cork to the Ursuline Convent where
Cecilia, the oldest of the family, had been educated. Cecilia spent
some time at home, taking part in the charitable works her
mother was engaged in . She longed to enter the Ursuline Order
but had to wait until she was considered old enough to make such
a commitment. At last the day came and a tearful parting took
place as her father accompanied her to Cork. In the autumn of
1809 Anna Maria and Frances travelled to Cork to her
Profession in the Ursuline Convent.
In Cork, Anna Maria met a young lady with very similar interests to her own. Born in 1787, Mary
Aikenhead, felt the strong call to devote her life to those less fortunate than herself. She wished to be vowed
to God in an Order where she could be of active and practical use to them.
Anna Maria O’Brien invited her to Dublin and introduced her to Dr. Murray, Bishop in Dublin.
Anna Maria was particularly anxious to save young girls “from ignorance and danger”. To this end she
opened a house in Ash Street, near the Coombe and, supported by other women, carried on this work.
Mary Aikenhead visited this house with her. Mary Aikenhead wanted to work with the needy and Anna
PAGE
Maria suggested that she set up an Order herself as there was
no Order to do this work at the time. Dr. Murray had long
hoped to set up a Congregation of Sisters of Charity. He
considered Mary Aikenhead a possible candidate for this purpose.
In 1812 Mary Aikenhead and Alicia Walsh set out for the
Bar Convent, York to prepare to found a new congregation, the
Sisters of Charity, in Dublin. From the early days of the new
congregation Anna Maria was ever a devoted and powerful ally.
She often put on the poked bonnet and hood and accompanied the
Sisters on visits to the sick and poor. She took the Sisters, in
her carriage, to distant places which they could not have reached
unaided. Generous donations from the O’Brien family were of
tremendous help to the struggling religious. Establishing a new
foundation, with no other example to follow, was really hard.
John O’Brien’s sister, Maria O’Brien insisted
Mary Aikenhead should go to her house in Rahan for a rest.
She travelled to Rahan by covered barge from Portobello
Bridge.
After her return to Dublin she was persuaded to take over the
care of the house that Anna Maria had opened for young women.
That ministry had been transferred from the Coombe to Stanhope
St by this time. Because of the ground available there
M. Aikenhead decided to build a convent and novitiate there and
the Sisters moved from North William St. to the new convent in
1819.
From Stanhope Street, Mrs. O’Brien and the Sisters visited
the hospital in Jervis Street and the Kilmainham Jail. The
care of the Parochial Schools in King’s Inns Street were given
over to the Sisters and Mrs. O’Brien appointed as Manager.
This was most unusual in those times. Anna Maria took a keen
interest in everything to do with the schools. She purchased two
pianos and a harmonium for it. She took food to poor children
there. She continued to visit the school twice a week until she was
too feeble to do so.
Stanhope Street Convent
by Sr. Eileen Carroll R.S.C.
Charitable works and living
the Christian life in its fullest
sense were central to the Ball
and O’Brien family traditions.
They also used their well
earned money and gifts of
education in their life-long
help and assistance to others.
Anna Maria had the sadness of seeing her siblings die before her.
She continued her charitable work until two years before her death
on 28 March, 1871. She died at her house in Mountjoy
Square aged 86. Her death brought to an end the last of
John Ball’s family, a family which made a magnificent
contribution to education of the rich and poor alike, to the care
and health of the under-privileged and to justice.
“Seek First the Kingdom of God and his Justice and
all else will be given to you”.
9
PAGE
10
Cecilia Ball ~Mother Mary Regis
Eldest child of John and Mabel Ball
Frances Ball was a pupil in the Bar Convent when her beloved father died in 1804 and
on hearing of her sister Cecilia’s decision to enter the Ursuline Convent in York in 1805
Frances knew that home would never be the same again.
Cecilia Ball had been educated in the Ursuline Convent, Cork and entered there on
11th August, 1805. In November 1809, Mrs. Ball, Isabella, Anna Maria and Frances
travelled to Cork for Cecilia’s Profession. They travelled by stagecoach, lined with
copper, and were assured it was completely bullet-proof. They were escorted by two
dragoons of armed guards. Apart from the journey to York, Frances had never been
outside of Dublin before.
The records of the Ursuline Convent tell that shortly after her Profession Cecilia fell ill,
and for the rest of her life had to endure great physical suffering which amounted to ‘a
long, slow martyrdom, borne with patient submission and perfect abandonment to the
divine will.’ In spite of her delicacy she filled many posts of importance in the convent,
being Superior for twelve years, as well as Mistress General, Assistant Mistress of
Novices, Zelatrice and Assistant to the Superior at different times.
Frances always looked up to her dear sister and believed that Cecilia’s prayers helped
her at all times. The below letter from Cecilia, sympathizing with M. Teresa Ball on the
death of Dr. Murray, is kept in the Loreto Archives.
Blackrock
March, 22 nd, 1852
My very dear Teresa,
I should have ere now expressed my feeling and sympathy for the
trial sent you by an all wise Providence in translating your saintly prelate and
sincere friend to the realms of celestial bliss where he will be much more powerful
by his intercession than when on earth. Happily for himself his days were full and
his crown completed but he has left a void which can scarcely be filled up.
The election for his successor appears to me a subject for much prayer in these
awful times. Oh, how unsearchable are the ways of God. Anna Maria mentioned
your illness but not the complaint. I trust you are now able to give me a line, with
an account of yourself. I feel much also for Mother Aikenhead. As to dear Anna
Maria, she is indeed the strong woman of the Gospel and proves by her example
the power of religion and its influence on all occasions, when required. May we all
be prepared for our summons to our happy country. I have great need of prayers
to obtain patience and resignation to the Divine will, my health is not improving.
At the age of 70 it would be folly to expect or wish it. I rely on your spiritual
children to ask for me a happy death and final perseverance in God’s union. I am
sure of your own petitions – excuse my writing in Lent, but this was on a
particular occasion – mention how M. Aloysia McCarthy is, as our dear
Rev. Mother will be anxious to know. Sr. Ignatius and Xavaria wish affectionate
love and to assure you of their mutual sympathy and feeling on the late
melancholy event, likewise your friends in our community.
Believe me dearest Teresa,
Your fondly attached Sister,
M.F. Regis
PAGE
Obituary Notice for M. Mary Regis
October 3rd, 1854
The sad and to some extent unexpected intelligence of this morning was that our dear and revered
Mother M. Regis had terminated her saintly life during the night, exchanging the darkness of
earth for the bright day that knows no decline, and all the ills of the present time for the joy that
never ends and the peach that is never exhausted.
Startling and afflicting as the news
of her departure was to us, to her
the summons came not
unexpectedly; for her whole
existence had been one continued
preparation for it, and all the
consolations appointed by the
Church for the Christian’s last hour
were secured to her at her own
earnest request even before their
immediate necessity had become
apparent to others.
Combining with great natural
prudence and soundness of
judgement, the wisdom and
moderation derived from lengthened
experience, this truly perfect
religious was a most valuable and
valued resource as an adviser, not
only in ordinary details, but also in
particular emergencies, and while
her holy exemplary life inspired
universal respect, her great kindness
of heart, gentleness, consideration
and amiability attracted the esteem
and love of all who had the
The Grave of Cecilia Ball (Mother Mary Regis) in the happiness to know her intimately.
Ursuline Cemetery in Cork.
She filled the post of 2nd Mistress of Novices for some time; that of Assistant for three years; of
Zelatrice for 6 years; of Superioress for twelve years, and of Mistress General for twelve years also;
and that, notwithstanding severe and almost uninterrupted corporal sufferings which,
commencing shortly after her Profession and generally increasing with the years, made of her
religious life a long abandonment to the Divine Will, which, while it sanctified her own soul and
edified all around her, has no doubt ensured her in Heaven the crown of glory promised to all who
wear the crown of tribulation resignedly on earth.
11
PAGE
12
Nicholas Ball and his family
In researching the family of Teresa Ball, it became clear that relatively little was known
of the family of her brother Nicholas. Letters in the Loreto Archives between
Teresa Ball, Nicholas and his children indicate their closeness but while Nicholas was an
eminent judge, the lives of his children were a mystery. After consulting the book Ball
Family Records of 1908, it was necessary to rely on primary sources for information—
newspapers, journals, church records, probate records etc. This was a painstaking
process but has resulted in the lives of Teresa Ball’s nieces and nephews being brought
to life.
Nicholas Ball (1791-1865)
Nicholas Ball was born in 1791, the sole surviving son of
John Ball and Mable Clare Bennett. He was only 13 when
his father died. Educated at the Jesuit Stonyhurst College
in England, he left in 1808 and travelled to York to bring
his sister Frances home to Ireland. She was leaving the
Bar Convent early on account of her Mother being left
alone after the marriages of her sisters Anna Maria and
Isabella. Nicholas is said to have directed Frances’
studies after her return to Dublin. He had entered
Trinity College Dublin in 1808 aged 17 as a Socius
Comitatus. Known as Gentleman Commoners and
generally the children of the wealthy, a Socius Comitatus
paid double fees and in return received several
privileges, including finishing the degree in three years
instead of four. Nicholas received his BA in 1812 and
was soon after called to the Irish Bar.
Bust of Judge
Nicholas Ball
On October 31st 1817, the Freeman’s Journal announced
his marriage– “Yesterday, Nicholas Ball Esq of Eccles St,
Barrister at Law, to Jane, second daughter of the late
Thomas Sherlock Esq of Butlerstown, Co. Waterford.”
Nicholas and Jane had eight children, all of whom were baptised at the newly
opened Pro-Cathedral on Marlborough Street. He is frequently mentioned in the
newspapers of the time as a donor to various charitable institutions and projects.
He appears to have been close to his sister Frances—there are a number of letters
in the archive addressed to ‘Fanny’, giving her advice on various matters, mostly
legal.
He achieved enormous success in his legal career. He became a bencher of Kings
Inns in 1835 and was nominated King’s Serjeant in 1836 before being appointed
Attorney-General in 1838. In the same year he was elected MP for Clonmel, a
post in which he only served a year, supposedly owing to his distaste for politics.
In 1839 he became a judge of the Court of Common Pleas, a senior court of law at
the time. He remained in this position until his death in 1865.
PAGE
The book Joyful Mother of Children gives an indication of the character of Nicholas—“Nicholas Ball’s
social gifts, his geniality, pleasant wit and brilliance as a conversationalist made him very popular. As
Judge his witty sallies enlivened the hearing of many a tedious case.” An article which appeared in The
Irish Times not long after his death agrees with this assessment of Nicholas – “Everything with him
had its use, even nothings! His desire was to please and be pleased. He was like an indiarubber ball,
and found amusement and topics of conversation at every turn.”
He died in 1865. His funeral was widely reported in the Irish newspapers – his three remaining sons,
Alexander, John and the Rev. Anthony all attended, as did his nephew David Sherlock and brother-inlaw Mr. John O’Brien, husband of his sister Anna Maria. He was described as an “amiable and
accomplished gentleman, an upright judge and a worthy citizen”. It was noted that “men of the
highest rank and of all shades of political and religious belief came to do honour to the departed,
who, during a long, active, and useful life, won the deep and sincere respect of all who knew him.”
Nicholas Ball Family Tree
John Ball
m.1776
(c.1728-1804)
Nicholas Ball
(1791-1865)
John
Thomas
(18181889)
m.1817
Mary
Isabella
(18201867)
Jane
Isabella
(18191905)
Mable Clare
Bennett
(?-1831)
Jane Sherlock
(?-c.1867)
Anna
Maria
(1822?)
Thomas
George
(18211864)
Alexander
(18261911)
Nicholas
Alexander
(18241856)
Anthony
(18301879)
13
PAGE
14
Children of Nicholas Ball &
Jane Sherlock
John Thomas Ball (1818-1889)
John Thomas Ball was baptised in the Pro Cathedral on 1st
September 1818. Encouraged by his parents Nicholas and Jane, he
developed a passion for science, in particular botany and geology, at
a young age. His first trip to Switzerland with his father at the age
of seven was to have a huge impact on him. He wrote of his
wonderment at first seeing a sunset in the Alps – “For long years
that scene recurred constantly to my mind, whether asleep or
awake, and perhaps nothing has had so great an influence on my
entire life.” Nicholas presented his son with a mountain barometer
the following year and John spent much of his time measuring the
height of hills and collecting minerals, shells and fossils.
John Ball
The Ball
Range,
including
Mount Ball, in
the Canadian
Rocky
Mountains.
Having had no formal education up till then, at the age of 13 John
was sent to Oscott College where he vigorously pursed Chemistry
“under every discouragement”. Following his time in Oscott, he
attended Christ College, Cambridge where he studied
Mathematics. Unable to graduate on account of his being Catholic,
he entered Trinity College Dublin in 1840 and was called to the
Irish Bar in 1845, though he was never to practice.
On a trip to the West of Ireland as a young man with the British [Scientific]
Association, he was described by fellow members as being “very much of a wild
Irishman”, doing all sorts of odd things, much to the amusement of those members
“who had seen nothing of Ireland or Irishmen” though they noted he was “as nice a
companion then as he ever was”.
At the onset of the Famine he was travelling in Europe and, wanting to assist,
returned to Ireland and was appointed an Assistant Poor Law Commissioner in
1846. He found this work extremely difficult and after one year he resigned in ill
health and went abroad. He returned to the Department as Second Commissioner
two years later, only leaving in 1852 when he was elected as MP for Co. Carlow.
PAGE
In his capacity as MP, Ball helped to secure
funding for the Palliser Expedition in 1857.
Led
by
Dublin
born
geographer
John Palliser, the expedition explored the
Rocky Mountains in Western Canada,
surveying possible routes for the Canadian
Pacific Railway and cataloguing new species
of plants. In recognition of his involvement,
a mountain range on the Continental Divide
is named the Ball Range, the highest peak of
which is Mount Ball.
In 1858, John sought election as MP for
Limerick and was defeated. It was suggested
that this was due to the opposition of the
Irish clergy to his candidacy as Ball had
refused to side with the Papacy in the
Second Italian War of Independence. Pope
Pius IX had issued a call to Catholics
throughout Europe to raise an army in
defence of the Papal States. Indeed, a fellow
MP for Longford, Myles O’Reilly, had led a
900 strong Irish Brigade named the
Battalion of St. Patrick in the defence of the
Papal States. A report suggests that Ball
“barely escaped with his life from the
excited city”. It was to be the end of his
political career.
The remainder of his days were solely devoted to scientific pursuits and travel.
While wintering in the Alps he met the famous Italian naturalist Alberto Parolini
of Bassano, Italy and went on to marry his daughter Elisa Parolini, herself a
botanist, in 1856. They had two sons, Albert and Nicholas, before her untimely
death at the age of 37 in 1867. Following her death he married again, in 1869,
to Julia O’Beirne of Co. Leitrim.
John Ball
pictured in
Tunisian dress.
He had the
photograph
taken in a
studio in
Paris in
1882.
He was the first president of the Alpine Club in London and published his Alpine
Guides to great acclaim. He went on to travel extensively in South America, publishing his
observations on the geography of Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Uruguay and the Straits of Magellan. It
was said that as a collector of plants he was unrivalled, his innate skills of observation matched by
his extensive knowledge and capacity to remember exactly when and where he had collected each
species. An honorary degree from Christ College, Cambridge in his later years was particularly
welcomed as he had been unable to graduate from the university as a young man.
Having fallen ill in his beloved Alps, he was transported to England where he died at his home in
South Kensington on October 21st 1889. A fellow of the Royal Society, his papers are held at the
archive of the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew. His sons, Albert and Nicholas, both of whom were
Civil Servants, never married and lived with John’s widow Julia until her death c.1905.
15
PAGE
16
Jane Isabella Ball (1819-1905)
Jane Isabella Ball was born in August 1819. With her two sisters nuns,
it seems likely that she lived at home with her father. The year
following his death and by then in her late forties, she married Henry
Edward Doyle, an artist and curator whose Dublin-born father, John
Doyle, was a well known political cartoonist. The couple were
married at St. James’ Church, Spanish-place, London in February 1866
by Jane’s brother, the Rev. Anthony Ball. A newspaper report at the
time noted that the ceremony “was of a perfectly intimate character,
none but the immediate relatives on either side being present”.
Henry
Edward
Doyle
In 1869, Henry Edward Doyle became the second director of the
National Gallery of Ireland and it is said that his flair, judgement and
eye for a bargain played a major role in building the gallery’s
collection, with him buying paintings by Bellini, van Ruisdael, Joshua
Reynolds and Thomas Gainsborough before their reputation caused
the price of their work to soar. He was also responsible for the
establishment of the National Portrait Collection. Doyle was a close
friend of Cardinal Wiseman and a devoted Roman Catholic. He died
suddenly of heart disease at his home in London in 1892. Jane lived to
be 85, dying in London in 1905. The executor of her will was her nephew Albert Ball,
son of explorer John.
Interestingly, Henry Edward Doyle’s nephew was the creator of Sherlock Holmes –
Arthur Conan Doyle. Conan Doyle had initially attended the Newington Academy in
Edinburgh for his education but went on to attend Stonyhurst College, the alma
mater of Jane’s father Nicholas. It seems Conan Doyle’s mother had consulted with
her
husband’s
siblings
regarding where to send her
son for his education.
Biographers of Conan Doyle
have suggested that it may
well have been Jane Ball who
suggested Stonyhurst on
account of her father having
attended there. It is also
interesting to note that
Jane’s mother’s maiden name
was Sherlock. Could she
perhaps have also suggested
the name of Conan Doyle’s
most
famous
fictional
protagonist?
National Gallery of
Ireland, early 20th
century
PAGE
Mary Isabella Ball (1820—1867)
Mary Isabella Ball was born in Dublin in 1820. She
attended the Bar Convent in York for her education,
following in the footsteps of her aunts.
Mary was very delicate and was lame following an
injury to her knee. Having completed her education
in York, she returned to Dublin. However, the city’s
climate disagreed with her so much that her father
asked the Bar Convent nuns to keep her until he
could bring her to Paris to an eminent surgeon. At
the Bar Convent, in 1844, on the Feast of the Holy
Name, a relic of the Jesuit martyr Fr. Arrowsmith
was applied to the injured leg, which was
immediately cured.
The Bar
Convent,
York.
Mary Ball, having long desired to enter the Bar Convent, was admitted to the
novitiate in York and was known in religion as Sister Mary Alphonsa. She served as
Consultress and Mistress of Novices. Mother Angela Browne described her as ‘the
perfect religious’. She was the first member and later Superior of a foundation in
Scarborough before she contracted tuberculosis and died on 6 March 1867 at the age of 47. She is
buried in the Bar Convent cemetery in York.
Thomas George Ball (1821—1864)
Thomas George Ball was born in 1821. He attended Oscott College from 1831-1838. In November
1838 he entered Trinity College Dublin as a Socius Comitatus, although there is no record of him
having completed a degree. He married Baroness Nathalie Catherine van der Noot de Moorsel in
April 1857 in St. Andrews, Dublin. The Baroness was from a noble Belgian family, though her mother,
Catherine Heyland, was the daughter of Colonel Langford Heyland of Glendaragh, Co. Antrim.
The Ball family lived in Mondellihy House, Adare, Co. Limerick. Thomas seems to have been a
gentleman farmer with his
name
appearing
in
numerous articles regarding
the shows of the Royal
Agricultural Society of
Ireland. He bred cattle and
won many gold medals for
one
in
particular
–
‘The Pride of Adare’. He is
noted to have been a
Captain in the Dublin
Militia and a Justice of the
Peace in Limerick.
The Chateau de Moorsel, Belgium. Home of Thomas’ wife,
Baroness Nathalie van der Noot de Moorsel
The couple’s first son,
Anthony Joseph Thomas
17
PAGE
18
Mary Ball, was born on 23 March 1858 and christened two days later in St. Andrews
in Dublin. Thomas’ sister Jane stood as a sponsor for the child. Unfortunately, a
death notice in the Limerick Chronicle in January 1859 notes that Anthony Joseph Ball
“only son of Thomas Ball Esq” has died of croup aged only ten months. By
November of that year Nathalie had given birth to another son, Francis John Joseph
Ball, who was baptised in St. Nicholas of Myra, Dublin. The couple’s address was
given as 92 Harcourt Street. Anna Maria O’Brien, Thomas’s aunt and sister of
Teresa Ball who would then have been in her seventies, was sponsor. Thomas seems
to have been very close to his family, with a newspaper reporting in 1863 that John
Ball had arrived to Ireland to visit his brother Thomas in Adare.
Thomas Ball took ill in 1864 and died at 85 St. Stephen’s Green, his father’s house,
aged only 43. The newspapers reported that his funeral was attended by his father,
his brother Rev. Anthony Ball, Alexander Ball and David Sherlock, his cousin, as well
as his uncle by marriage, John O’Brien.
Letter from
Thomas Ball
to his aunt
Teresa Ball
after the fall
in 1860 in
which she
suffered a
broken hip.
It would seem that Thomas’ widow and child went to live at Nathalie’s family home,
the Chateau de Moorsel in Belgium, following his death. This was an imposing
residence—a castle surrounded by an impressive moat. It might be imagined that
Nathalie and Francis would have little contact with the Ball family after returning to
Belgium but it does not seem to be the case. Thomas’ youngest brother Alexander
Ball died at the Chateau de Moorsel in 1911. Nathalie also acted as executrix to the
will of the Rev. Anthony Ball in 1879 who had died in Brussels, seemingly living with
his sister-in-law and nephew. Later again, John Ball’s son Albert Ball named Francis’
son Antoine Ball as the executor of his will in 1930. These families appear to have
kept their connection over many years. Nathalie remarried in 1881 to a Mr. Emile
Cumont who would unfortunately die only four years later. She lived to the ripe age
of 91, dying in Moorsel in 1929.
Their only child, Francis, seems to have taken after his uncle John and had a great
interest in Natural History. He was a President of the Royal Zoological Society of
Belgium and appears to have worked as a lepidopterologist at the Royal Museum of
Natural History in Brussels. He was also a correspondent of Walter Rothschild—
scion of the Rothschild family, zoologist and collector. Francis married Kathleen
Mary MacMahon of Co. Clare and had two sons. Kathleen died in Moorsel in 1938
with Francis passing just two years later in 1940.
St Anne’s, Blarney
October 22, 1860
My Dear Aunt,
I upset very much to hear, by a letter received this morning from my mother that you have met
with a very serious accident, which I sincerely trust may not have the effect of confining you to
the house for any considerable time. She mentions that it resembles in its nature the one from
which Aunt O’Brien is still suffering. I sincerely hope it may not have the same lengthened
effect. I was just starting this [morning] for Killarney at an early hour, when the doctor came to
see me not as the day was too wet and stormy
but I shall certainly go tomorrow and you shall
hear from me by tomorrow’s post. Nathalie
sends her kindest love and regards, with her
condolences on your misfortune.
Ever my dear Aunt,
Your affectionate nephew,
Thomas Ball
PAGE
Anna Maria Ball (1822—)
Anna Maria Ball was born in 1822. It seems probable that she was educated at the Bar Convent like her
sisters. Following in the footsteps of her aunt Cecilia, she became an Ursuline nun in Cork.
Unfortunately, little is known of her life in Cork.
Nicholas Alexander Ball (1824—1856)
Nicholas Alexander Ball was born in Dublin in 1824. Educated at Oscott College, he was admitted to
Trinity College Dublin in October
1841 and completed his BA degree in
the summer of 1845. In April 1849,
he applied to be admitted to the Irish
Bar.
L’Hotel Nevet, Montpellier where Thomas and
Nicholas were staying.
Letters in the Loreto Archives from
his sister Mary suggest that he was
frequently ill and appears to have
been suffering from TB. Though he
seems to have regularly travelled to
warmer climates in an effort to relive
himself of his symptoms he was to die
in Montpellier, France aged only 32. It
seems that he had been living
temporarily in the Hotel Nevet in
Montpellier with his brother Thomas. He is
buried in the cemetery there.
Alexander Francis Ball (c.1826-1911)
Alexander Francis Ball was born c. 1826. By 1851 he had joined the
31st (Huntingdonshire) Regiment of Foot as a notice in the Freeman’s
Journal in that year states that he has been made Lieutenant. He
received a medal for fighting in the Crimean War from 1854-1855.
Upon his retirement from the Army he acted as a Registrar for his
father in the court room. A month following his father’s death, in
February 1865, the then Lord Lieutenant, Lord Wodehouse, appointed
him a Resident Magistrate. It was noted in the Lord Lieutenant’s
announcement that Alexander “has for some years acted as registrar
to his father and from his previous habits and position, he will make
an excellent public officer.” The appointment was to serve as a
“graceful recognition of the great claims and eminent public services of
the late Judge Ball” and that it would be accepted by the public as “a
compliment to the country and a tribute to the memory and worth of
a good man”. A Resident Magistrate (abbreviated RM) was a
stipendiary magistrate appointed to a county to sit among the Justices
of the Peace at Petty Sessions in that county. They did not usually have
legal training and many, like Alexander, were ex-British Army
personnel.
Badge of the 31st
Regiment of Foot in
which Alexander Ball
was a Lieutenant.
19
PAGE
20
In 1911, The Irish Times reported his death at the age of 85, the last of Nicholas’
children. His probate record refers to him as “Alexander Francis Ball of the Chateau
John Ball
Mable Clare Bennett
de Moorsel, Belgium”. The Chateau was the home of his brother Thomas’ widow
(c.1728-1803)
(c.1776-1865)
and it seems that he had been living with her prior to his death. The executor of his
will was to be his nephew Nicholas Ball, son of botanist John.
Anthony Ball (1830-1879)
Anthony Ball was born in August 1830. He attended Oscott College and records
suggest that he matriculated at London University in 1850. He joined the novitiate of
the Brompton Oratory in
September 1853 and was ordained
25 November 1855. He left the
Brompton Oratory in February
1862 but continued to work in the
Diocese of Westminster. By late
1862, he was located in the Church
of St. George in Walthamstow.
Brompton
Oratory,
London
In 1866 he performed the marriage
of his sister Jane to Henry Edward
Doyle at St. James’ Church, Spanish
Point. The Church Directory of
1869 lists him as ministering in St.
John of Jerusalem Church which had
been built in 1864 for the Sisters of
Mercy on the Grounds of their Hospital—St. John of Jerusalem and St. Elizabeth—
located on what is now the site of Great Ormond Street Children’s Hospital. By
Papal Order, he was made a Knight of the Order of Malta . He died in 1879 at the
age of 49 in Brussels with his will proved by his sister-in-law Nathalie Ball de
Moorsel.
Extracts from the US Province Archives
With thanks to Elizabeth Crotty IBVM, US Province Archivist
In response to the death of Mother Ignatius Hutchinson, the first Superior in
Toronto, who died less than four years after arriving in Canada, Teresa Ball
wrote to Teresa Dease...
Letter from Teresa Ball to Teresa Dease
April 25 1851
“Like St. Peter who was required to feed the flock, you are obliged to be head,
when chosen to govern your community...What have we to fear when God
appoints us to govern? Is He not powerful enough to assist us? Sufficiently
wise to guide us? Has He not a principle of goodness ever urging Him to
benefit us?”
PAGE
21
Laura Mary Teresa Ball (1849-1912)
Laura Mary Teresa Ball, a Loreto Sister, was the great-niece of Teresa Ball. They shared a
common ancestor in John Ball Senior by his first marriage in 1776 to a Miss Byrne of
Saggard. Laura’s paternal grandmother, Laura Frances Noel, was the daughter of an English
solicitor. She exhibited landscapes and portraits in Dublin and taught painting and drawing to
ladies at 28 Dame Street. Upon the death of her husband John Ball Junior in 1812, she
returned to London to her mother and left her children, John, Mary and Cecilia, to the care
of the Ball family. The childless Anna Maria and John O’Brien gladly adopted the three
children and raised them as their own.
Laura Ball entered the novitiate in Rathfarnham in October 1865 and was perpetually
professed in April 1868. A member of the General Council, she was first elected in August
1888 in the time of M. Michael Corcoran. She was to be re-elected General Consultor twice
more, in 1894 and 1900. A serious opponent of the proposed union of the global institute,
relations between her and M. Michael Corcoran were sometimes strained. She died in
December 1911 in Rathfarnham at the age of 62.
John Ball
(Teresa Ball’s father)
(c.1728-1804)
John Ball Jnr
(1767-1812)
m. 1776
Miss Byrne
of Saggard
m.1806
Laura Frances Noel
(1786-1863)
Mary Ball
(1803-1862)
John Ball
(1808-1849)
John Ball
(1844-1870)
m. 1838
Nicholas Ball
(1846-1884)
Cecilia Ball
(1809-1895)
Marianne Barry
(1818-1901)
James Barry Ball
(1848-1926)
Laura Mary
Teresa Ball
(1849-1912)
PAGE
22
Extracts from the English Province Archives
With thanks to Clare Walsh, English Province Archivist
Teresa Ball to Canon Toole
G/SG/1/1ii
14 September 1851
Dear Revd Sir,
We prefer the house near the school to commence. Five Sisters will go over when you
appoint the time to attend the Poor School St Teresa’s and the infant school.
One of our Sisters will give besides, private lessons on the Piano Forte and in painting.
Singing will be taught to all who have voices.
From the Manchester Annals
MN/CC/AN/1
29 June 1858
The Feast of St Peter and Paul. A public Bazaar of articles of considerable value was opened in the
large room of the Royal Exchange. The proceeds of the sale were to be devoted to the payment of a
portion of the mortgage still due on our Convent. These articles were mainly contributed by friends
of our House and Institute but the greater portion was contributed by our Revd Mother M. Teresa
Ball of Loretto Rathfarnham and by our other friends in Ireland.
From Teresa Ball to M. Alphonsa Ellis, Manchester
G/SG/1/3i
Rathfarnham, 8 October 1858
Very dear Mother Alphonsa
We had a ceremony of six yesterday. I could not sooner write to congratulate with you, on your
Convent being so nice and all things going so well.
I only regret you are so thin: do take nourishment or you will not be equal for the work God places
before you to accomplish.
From the Manchester Annals
MN/CC/AN/1
15 February 1861
Having received news of the serious indisposition of our Venerated Revd Mother M. Teresa Ball of
Rathfarnham Revd Mother Alphonsa Ellis our Superioress accompanied by Rev. Canon Toole and,
with the authority of the Bishop went to Dublin to pay a visit of charity and respect to one whom we
all so much venerate, and whose name will be ever held in benediction in our Institute for the
virtues with which she has adorned it, and for the zeal and ability and unremitting solicitude and
toil with which she has promoted its interests and extended its establishments in Europe, Asia and
America.
PAGE
“Seek First the Kingdom of God and God’s
Righteousness and all other things will be
added unto you.”
Reflection on Matthew 6:33 and its consequences for Teresa
Ball
That which touches or stays with us of what we hear and see is something which
already finds an echo in our own hearts.
When the young Frances Ball, just about to be left alone in school, heard the
words ‘Seek first the kingdom of God and God’s righteousness and all other things
will be added unto you’ she possibly did not pay much heed. At 18 they came to
her a second time and, this time, they made an impression which set the course
of all her future life.
What was the echo in the heart of this woman who later showed such courage to
risk foundation of 39 Loreto houses in 5 different continents? What gave her the
freedom to allow very young sisters to go to seemingly impossible outreaches?
What filled her heart as she sent them to ‘Go set the world on fire with the love of
God’?
At a time when theology and religious practice put more emphasis on
prohibition, on a God of laws and rules who demanded obedience she is inspired
by a God of abundance, a God who wants to gift us with all God’s being and
God’s way. This God called her simply to trust and to seek, a very active trusting and a seeking which did not allow her to say ‘enough, let me settle’.
She would have concurred with Pope Francis in much of what he says in ‘The
Joy of the Gospel’. She would possibly go beyond, encouraging women to play a
greater role in Church and Society, in rekindling fires of faith in what are termed
Post-Christian societies.
She invites us today to trust and seek this God who is our all, who is giver of
gifts, who invites us to live in right relationship with all of Creation, to be
‘righteous’. Deeply rooted in this trust, we will have the ‘ inner freedom’ of
Mary Ward and be bold enough to follow God’s call wherever it may beckon.
That same trust which enabled Delphine Hart at the age of 23, accompanied by
eleven others with an average age of 18, to set out for India, to sail up rivers
with groups of orphans in their care, later to set sail for Kenya and establish a
new province of the Institute, will enable us today to take up the challenges that
face us. Challenges of social media, of secularization, restlessness, breakdown of
family life, injustices towards the vulnerable call us to be messengers of the
abundance of our God who alone satisfies our hungers.
Stephanie O’ Brien
Archivist for Eastern Africa.
23
PAGE
24
Early Nineteenth Century Dublin
When Teresa Ball sailed from Dublin in 1814 to enter the Bar Convent in York, the city she left
behind was one of contrasts.
In 1814, Dublin was home to almost 200,000 people and as the city barely stretched beyond the
two Circular Roads, it was a busy, crowded place. The many poor of Dublin could be found in the
narrow laneways and alleys which, maze-like, covered the city. They lived in cramped, un-sanitary
accommodation which allowed disease to thrive. There were no solely residential areas. Instead,
traders and merchants lived above their shops or warehouses and many craftsmen worked in their
homes. On the other hand, the fine city mansions and recently erected public buildings proclaimed
Dublin’s status as the second city of the British Empire. There were many amusements available for
the wealthy of the city—dances, balls and concerts took place and indeed, as we know, the Ball
family frequented these pleasant
events.
While mail and passenger boats left for
Britain via Howth, the city’s trams and
railways had yet to be built. As such,
the only transport available was stage
coach or hackney car. Travel by such
means could be a dangerous
undertaking as roads leading to the city
were often frequented by thieves and
bandits. Guidebooks of the period
recommended to visitors not to travel
Dublin’s outskirts by night.
As a result of the Penal Laws,
education for Catholics in the late
eighteenth and early nineteenth
centuries was largely the preserve of
the hedge schools which were the
object of much British derision.
Various travellers to Ireland noted the
‘craze for popular education’ amongst
the Irish people. In the late eighteenth century, some free schools had been established by the
Jesuit Fr. Thomas Betagh in Dublin but these catered exclusively for boys. Indeed, among Fr.
Betagh’s pupils of was the future Archbishop of Dublin and confidant of Teresa Ball, Daniel Murray.
The Pre-Emancipation chapel of St., James’ which
was located at Watling Street from 1740-1854. It
had been added to over time, leading to its odd
shape. It would be replaced in 1854 with the
present day church of the same name on James’
Street.
As a result of this situation, the children of Dublin’s wealthy Catholics generally went abroad for
the education, usually to Britain. Nicholas Ball attended the Jesuit run Stonyhurst while Frances,
Anna Maria and Isabella were at the Bar Convent in York. While Cecilia, the eldest, had attended
the Ursulines in Cork for her education, by the late eighteenth century it was too dangerous for
her sisters to travel there. This was partly as a result of the 1798 Rebellion. “Travel...was
unthinkable. Mail coaches had been stopped and burned on all the main routes. Martial law was in
force and ordinary law suspended for a long period.” Indeed, even in 1809, when the Ball family
travelled to Cork for Cecilia's profession with the Ursulines, they went by bullet-proof, guarded
stage coach.
While Catholic Emancipation was not realised until 1829, the early decades of the nineteenth
century were ones of profound changes for the Catholics of the city. One of the areas in which this
is most obvious is that of church building.
PAGE
The penal chapels of eighteenth century Dublin bear little resemblance to our modern-day
churches. Sometimes known as ‘Mass Houses’, they were generally situated in out of the way
locations - down laneways and at the rear of houses. Often they were temporary or makeshift
structures and were built in irregular shapes to fit their small sites.
TheirClare
exteriors
were unadorned
Mable
Bennett
so as not to bring attention to the building’s use. While some (c.1776-1865)
chapels would have contained
confessionals and pews, most people would have stood during Mass. There was little or no religious
instruction or pastoral care to be found in these chapels for the Catholics of Dublin.
The penal chapels had been ignored and tolerated by the government for many years. However, due
to the makeshift nature of these buildings, they were often dangerous. In one notable incident in
1745, a floor had collapsed during mass in a chapel on Cook Street and several people, including the
priest, were killed. Despite a number of similar incidents throughout the eighteenth century which
lead to calls for suitable churches to be built, it was not until the easing of the Penal Laws that new
structures were erected.
Dr. Rev. William Meagher described Dublin’s Catholic churches as ‘…crouching timidly in the
darkest and most loathsome alleys and lanes of the city.’ In the early decades of the nineteenth
century, Roman Catholic churches began to leave the laneways and emerge into the city proper. The
new churches were often classical in style, on a par with the public buildings of the city and reflecting
the changing status of the Church in Ireland.
Frances Ball and her siblings had been baptised in the penal chapel of SS Michael and John, which at
that time was located on Rosemary Lane but which later moved in 1815 to the site of the old Smock
Alley Theatre on Essex Quay. It is interesting to contrast this with her brother Nicholas’ children,
who were all baptised in the newly built Metropolitan Chapel or ‘Pro-Cathedral’ on Marlborough
Street. Archbishop Murray would lay the foundation stone for this chapel in the same year that
Teresa Ball was professed—1816. Located just off Sackville Street, it was a bold statement for the
Catholics of the city.
Over the coming decades, Dublin would be inundated with new buildings which catered for its
Catholic poor. Schools, asylums, hospitals, orphanages, refuges and other charitable institutions
would be found in every part of the city. The Ball family, in particular Anna Maria, would be pivotal in
the development of this Catholic charitable infrastructure, acting as benefactors to many projects. As
early as the 1850s, only 21 years after Catholic Emancipation, all of Dublin’s penal chapels had been
replaced by grander, bigger, more centrally located churches.
The Metropolitan Chapel or ‘Pro-Cathedral’ on Marlborough
Street which was begun in 1816.
25
PAGE
26
Transcript of Mother Coyney’s letter to
The Most Revd. Doctor Murray,
Cumberland Street, Dublin
30th May 1814
My Lord,
I have consulted our Bishop on the subject of your Lordship’s letter who agrees
to our receiving Miss Ball as a member of our holy Institute with a view to training her
for a Foundress of a house of the same in Dublin, in the event of such a project being
realised, and that she be allowed sufficient time to be formed for that great undertaking,
which could not be at least under five years, from the commencement of her
noviceship. As we cannot hold out a probability that we can contribute to such an
Establishment either by sending a colony from this Community, or by penury resources,
this good work must solely rest with Miss Ball and her friends, whose decision we shall
be glad to know as soon as possible. But one favour I particularly request that it may
not be known to one unnecessary person that Miss B. is fixed on for the projected
Establishment, such a report spread abroad would neither be pleasant to the young lady
herself nor to us. With my respectful regards to Mrs. Ball and our affectionate
remembrance to our young friends I beg leave to subscribe myself, My Lord,
Your Lordship’s obedient servant and daughter in J.C.,
E.M.J. Coyney
List of resources used in the research of this newsletter:
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Joyful Mother of Children, A Loreto Sister (1961)
An I..B.V.M. Biographical Dictionary of the English Members and Major Benefactors
1667-2000, Sr. Gregory Kirkus I.B.V.M. (2001)
Ball Family Records, W. Ball Wright (1908)
‘Dublin in 1829’ in Catholic Emancipation Centenary Record, edited by Rev.
Myles V. Ronan (1929)
‘Mrs John O’Brien, her life, her works, her friends’, by Beatrice Bayley Butler
and Katherine Butler in Dublin Historical Record XXXIII (1980)
Laity and Clergy in the Catholic Renewal of Dublin, Cormac Begadon (NUI
Maynooth Phd, 2009)
Alumni Dublinenses: a register of the students, graduates, professors and provosts of
Trinity College in the University of Dublin, edited by George Dames Burtchaell
and Thomas Ulick Sadleir (1935)
A Dictionary of Irish Artists, Walter G. Strickland (1913)
Burke’s Peerage, John Burke (1952)
‘Obituary: Mr. John Ball’ in Proceedings of the Royal Geographical Society and
Monthly Record of Geography, Vol. 12, No. 2 (Feb 1890)
The Irish Times
The Freeman’s Journal
www.churchrecords.irishgenealogy.ie
UK Probate Records
Cemeteries Montpellier