The Wandering Genealogist: And now, those missing pictures from yesterday

Be warned - this post is all about genealogy - just sign off now. I won't be offended. In fact, I won't even know if you got this far.

Athy was on the program and the 45 minute drive was uneventful. Finding parking was a challenge. Eventually I found a spot, and after some wriggling back and forth, I was parked and set out for Emily Square mere metres away. I was met with this sight.

There I met Keith Langton, and over lunch at the Town Cafe, we discussed Fennell and Whelan contacts. We were soon to meet Ger Gibson, whose maternal line were Whelans, blacksmiths in Barrowhouse. And those Whelans are potentially my Whelans too.

We drove to Barrowhouse and St Mary's church and graveyard where we met John Langton and Ger Gibson. Here's Ger by the churchyard gate, made by his ancestor - one of the Whelan blacksmiths.

In the graveyard we visited a Fennell grave that was quite modern when compared to those around it. I'd seen it and photographed it in 2017, and was grateful for the information inscribed thereon. But I never paid attention to the grave immediately beside it. A large table tomb had a difficult-to-read inscription that we finally decoded.

This tomb was erected by Nicholas Fennell of Mount Brook,
in memory of his mother Elizabeth Fennell,
who died Dec. ??? 1831 or maybe 1861, aged 67 years.

Now at first when we had only made out Nicholas Fennell and 1831 I thought we'd found the grave of my 4x great grandfather. But we continued to read and now there's another puzzle. Mount Brook is the right location for our Fennells. But was Nicholas the grandson of the other Nicholas and was Elizabeth Fennell her maiden or married name? Solving this is my next project.

Just a few steps away, Keith noted a headstone for Daniel J. Whelan and the dates indicate that he could have been the brother of Bridget Whelan Fennell. There was a Daniel Whelan as witness at her wedding. Add that to the todo list as well.

Then we headed to the ruins of the Fennell house, that I had visited in 2017, when led there by Keith's uncle Noel Burke. Almost blown away in the wind, and electrocuted by the wire fence, we persisted and hung around a bit.