Ancestral Places: Ballymote, Sligo, Ireland
Way back in May 1994- I spent 4 days driving around Ireland. A day in the town of Ballymote was included, based upon a clue as to the origins of my 3 rd great grandfather, Thomas Cavanagh. Thomas was tried at Sligo in March 1821 under the name of "Thomas Kaveny", and sentenced to 7 years for the crime of “house robbery.” He was a native of Sligo, his calling was a reaper, and he was described as aged 25, 5’ 6” tall, with brown hair, blue eyes and a fair and freckled complexion. Thomas arrived in Sydney on the 15 March 1822, on the ship “Southworth”. Just prior to a planned visit to the UK, a distant cousin had told me in a brief phone conversation that she had found a request for Thomas to have his wife Mary, who was from a place called Emlaghfad, to be sent to join him in Australia. Emlaghfad and Kilmorgan was a Roman Catholic parish in Sligo, and the parish has been re-named as Ballymote since my visit there. Ballymote is an ancient market to...