That Elusive HEARTY Clan!

I joined TIARA's annual research trip to Northern Ireland for a week in May searching for the ancestors of Mary Hearty, my great great grandmother.

Owen Hearty was the father of Mary Hearty who traveled as a single woman on one of the “coffin ships” bringing Irish immigrants to New York in 1848. She married Swedish immigrant Eric Adolf Helsten in 1849.  They lived in Haviland Hollow NY until they bought a tannery and moved to Gaylordsville CT.  She received two letters from her father (1849, 1851), signed “your father Owen Hearty” and the return address said he was from Dorsey (letters mailed from the neighboring parish Newtownhamilton).  Her marriage certificate says she was born in Dorsey Townland, Creggan Parish, County Armagh. Dorsey is located in the Barony of Upper Fews and Union of Castleblaney.

Her father’s letters do mention various cousins: Owen Mooney, Peter Garvey, Ellen Mooney and Francis Hearty.  There is also a sister Elizabeth (Betty) mentioned.  But no mother.

The above is what is known from information on "this side of the pond."  What can be found in the Irish records about Mary's family?  Some the following,  I determined before my trip and confirmed when in Belfast.

∞∞∞

We have Owen Hearty in the Tithe Applotment list, in 1828 in Dorsey.  Owen is no. 91 and has 4 Acres, 2 Roods, 12 Perches and a half yearly Rectorial Tithe of 3s. 8 1/2 d., he is listed along with Arhur Heatey and Patt Heatey in Dorsey.  

The tithe applotment is a list of farmers.  If he was included in that list, he wouldn’t have been included in the Ordnance Survey taken in 1837 because he didn’t own at least 5 acres [only two properties were listed for Dorsey].  

The Griffith’s Valuation was taken in the Dorsey area in 1864.  There are 5 Hearty families listed in Dorsey:  Bernard Herty Sen, Francis Herty, Mary Herty, Mary Herty and Patrick— but not Owen Hearty.  If he were still living and living WITH someone, he would not have been listed because, only the “leasee” was included.  

The Cancellation Books update the ownership of the lands listed in the Griffiths.  Dorsey Electorial Division, Union of Castleblayney, Parish of Creggan, Barony of Upper Fews, pages 10, 11 includes the handwritten notations of “(Owen)” after the name Patrick Herty.  It also includes, the second “Mary” crossed out and “Patrick” written above and “(Mary)” right after that.  The crossed out names mean that land was next leased to the person whose name was written above it.  The name in ‘(,)” is an unexplained notation.

∞∞∞

I went thru the rent leases from the landlord,  Walter MacGeough Bond in the family Estate stored at PRONI — there were two Hearty leases:

[D301/2/211]

(1) Terence Hearty (Acreage: 8.3.10), 1 Nov. 1800

• in the part of Dorsey called Tulinlavin, yearly rent 8.8.2

• length of lease: 3 lives, including himself, his eldest son James, and princess Amelia

(2) John Hearty, Tulllinlavin, 1 Jan 1801,

• written on front: Terence Mackin and Pat Hearty “Mary”

• the map inside includes land bounding the property of Bernard Hearty.

• length of lease: 3 lives including himself, his eldest son Patrick (age 10), and princess Amelia

Most of the extensive MacGeough Bond family files were not for Dorsey or didn’t included any leases related to Owen Hearty [I don’t know his parents, so don’t know if these two leases apply to Owen — a father, cousin, uncle, possibly.]

∞∞∞

I went thru the only Catholic Register from that time period in that area that is still in existence:

Creggan Parish Upper, Crossmaglen, Marriage Records and Baptisms 1796-1803, 1812-1829, 1845-1881 [MIC 1D/43/1]  [The current Dorsey townland is 4 miles northeast of Crossmaglen.]

• 15 February 1814: Owen Hearratty and Cath^e McKenna

wits Felix Hanratty and Patk M^cVeagh

• 16 March 1823, Mary and Brid^t of Edward Herherty

and Mary Herherty of Thomas Rubb

and Anne Callaghan and Mary Herherty

• 23 July 1824, Anne of Jam^e Heart and Mary Quin

Gs Owen Heaherty and Brid. Owens

• 26 Dec 1824, John of Edw^d Keane and Mary Gregory

Gs Owen Heaherty and Brid^t McNally

• 6 August 1819, Owen Heaherty and Rose McConnel

Wits Bryan McCauve and Mary Megill

• 29 July 1818, Edm^d of Owen Heaherty and Cath^e Kelly

Gs Pat^k Hearherty and Sara Humphy

• 23 Oct 1797, Pat^k Heaherty and Cathe Nouds

Wits Adam Lamb and Anne Reilly

• 2^d July 1797, Peter s. to Owen Heaherty and Cath^e Holland

Gs Edm^d Heaherty and Bridget Heaherty

• 9 Dec 1796, Pat^k. s to Th^s Murry and Mary

Heaerty Gs Patt M^cShory and Anne Ronghan

• 23 Oct. 1796, Anne of Michael Hearty and Marg^t Donoehy 

Gs Thomas Hearty and Marg^t Callaghan

It is hard to tell if Owen Hearty married 3 times or if this is three different people.

There was no birth record for Mary Hearty in this parish register.

Parts were very hard to read.  Maybe this wasn’t the part of Creggan Parish that she was baptized.

∞∞∞

I checked the Workhouse records for County Armagh and did not find Owen Hearty, Mary’s father in them. 

I looked for the school records — none survived for Dorsey when Mary Hearty or her sister Betty Hearty would have attended. The Dorsey description page in the Ordnance Survey said that Dorsey had a National School (1837) which the sisters  could have attended.  

∞∞∞

The Hearty family/clan has been in the townland Dorsey for many years. 

According to the Dorsey page on the Creggan Historical Society’s site, Turlagh O’Heartye was in the 1664 Hearth Money Rolls valuation, and James Herety & Owen Herety were in the 1766 Census of Creggan.  So the Hearty family [O’Hearty clan] has been there for hundreds of years.  Mary and her father Owen Hearty were most likely descendants of Turlagh, James and Owen, but I could not find any connection between the generations.

My great great grandmother Mary Hearty Helsten was the daughter of a poor tenant farmer, Owen Hearty.  We do not know who was her mother or grandparents. We do know she had Garvey and Mooney cousins.  Possibly she had Garvey and Mooney grand or great grandparents along with Hearty grandparents.  But that is unknown at this point.  Unfortunately, as a poor tenant farmer, there is a lack of records.  They were not part of of a wealthy family like the MacGeough Bonds who were the land owners of the small plot Owen farmed and lived on.  That family is well-documented with thousands of pages of family and business records archived at the Public Records Office in Belfast (PRONI).  

The few records that do exist for all the folks living and working the land are actually ways to document in order to “tax.”  The Hearth Money Rolls (1664) were to tax folks based on how many hearths they had — taxing for warmth and cooking ability in your cottage!!  The Tithe Applotment Rolls (1828) was valuing the piece of land for collecting tithes for the official church, whether you were a member or not!  I guess as much as my ancestors probably felt unfairly taxed, hundreds of years later, I can be thankful that the officials kept good records!

∞∞∞

After a week of searching in the Public Records Office (PRONI) in Belfast, Northern Ireland, my elusive HEARTY and  RICHARDSON ancestors remain elusive.  If you think I don’t know much about the pedigree of my HEARTY family — I know even less about my RICHARDSON pedigree in Ireland!

©2015, Erica Dakin Voolich
The link to this page is http://genea-adventures.blogspot.com/2015/05/that-elusive-hearty-clan.html