The ‘Burke’ Enigma

A Detective Story

January 2017

The Reverend Canon Francis Burke (1834-1904), Dean of Elphin, was Rector of Ardcarne Church outside Boyle, County Roscommon from 1876 until his death. In the late 1890s, he employed Maud Elizabeth Mills from Bandon, County Cork as church organist. In 1900, he hired a freshly minted curate, Henry Acheson from County Cavan. This is how my great grandparents Maud and Henry first met. Their youngest daughter Iris always said Francis Burke was Maud’s uncle. This was a puzzle I could never solve – until now. Assisted by a descendant of Francis Burke, what follows is the detective work that finally explained the connection. Many assumptions made - some good, some not. Some speculation and a lot of digging around until the puzzle was likely solved.

In late November, I received a message from a Burke descendant: Hello. Mary Robertson who appears on your tree was my great great grandmother. She married Dean Francis Burke and they had two daughters, one of which was my great grandmother (Mary Emily Burke) and Mary died not longer after Mary was married to Dudley Hill Jameson. It looks as though you have more information on Mary's roots, but it is marked Private on your tree. On our Family Echo tree, we have a Thomas Robertson as her father. Would you mind sharing any further information with me in whichever way suits you? How closely is she related to you? I have newspaper cuttings of Mary Emily's wedding in which Col. Frederick Robertson played a role, a cousin I think. Other cousins were Peytons mentioned in the article. I could send you a copy once I have finished transcribing it. I responded a few days later: So here is my connection to Canon Francis Burke. He was for many years the rector of Ardcarne church outside Boyle Co. Roscommon. My great grand father Henry Acheson from Cavan started his career there as Francis' curate. There he met the pretty young organist, Maud Elizabeth Mills from Bandon - my great grandmother. Now according to Henry and Maud's daughter Iris, Francis was Maud's uncle.

I have been trying to puzzle this out for some time. One possibility is that Maud's mother Marianne Donoghue had a sibling who married a sibling of Francis - making him a sort of uncle-by-marriage to Maud. Or possibly it was a sibling of Maud's father James Parker Mills who married a Burke. But so far I've not been able to find any definitive evidence. I'll send you an invite to my tree so you can see all the individuals. I do have Thomas Robertson as father to Mary. It is funny sometimes when you go back to look at these people you can find something new. I noticed from a newspaper account of Francis' 1904 funeral that the mourners included brother-in-law William Hamilton and Rev. Henry Acheson of Tubbercurry (my G grandfather now with his own parish in Co. Sligo). But I hadn't picked up on the brother-in-law thing. Turns out that Francis had had a third marriage. In 1902 he married William's sister Bessie Georgina. (Which means when William married Mary Emily in 1909, he was marrying his sister's step-daughter. Somewhat unusual.)

'The Abbey' house alongside the ruins of Boyle Abbey where Francis Burke lived and later occupied by Mary Emily and William Hamilton:

Ardcarne Church:

Another response came back: I'd appreciate a photocopy of Francis Burke's funeral. In the book of cuttings (not a journal after all) there are several funerals including Dr William Hamilton's and those of the beleaguered King-Harmans of Rockingham at Boyle (because they lost their only son and the father and mother followed a few years after). I think the book of cuttings and memories actually belonged to Mary Emily nee Burke, my great grandmother. After some research, I replied: I attached the account of Francis Burke's funeral to his profile in my tree (I just sent you an invite to view the full tree - if you can't get to it that way, send me your email and I'll shoot you a copy.) Interestingly only the male mourners were listed - I suppose the women were invisible! Robertsons: I'd been digging around the various Boyle families. The Robertsons are interesting. One of the 'big' families in the Boyle district - along with the Lloyds, Irwins and O'Malleys. For many generations they turned out soldiers and doctors. Through the 19C the various Robertsons occupied three large houses in Boyle - The Abbey (obviously), Abbeyview and Tangier House. Francis must have got The Abbey as part of his marriage to Mary. Mary's father, Thomas John Robertson was a doctor and a medical directory from 1858 has him in The Abbey as does Francis and Mary's marriage notice in the papers.

Griffith's Valuation in 1858 has The Abbey leased by Frederick Robertson from Lord Lorton - the Rockingham heir. Frederick (perhaps an older brother to Thomas) died that same year - his executor was Caleb Robertson of Abbeyview. Earlier, in 1846, Frederick of The Abbey advertised the letting of Tangier House. In 1837 Captain John Robertson of The Abbey died - perhaps the father of Thomas and Frederick. John Robertson, in the 1833 Tithe Applotment Books held 4 acres at Abbeytown. His garden contained Boyle Abbey itself which he ordered cleared of debris, according to one account. Thomas John Robertson had at least two sisters - this shows up in a will for Mary who died in 1869 at The Abbey. It lists Emily, and Mary and Francis Burke. Emily died at The Abbey in 1891 aged 81 years. Mary Burke nee Robertson had at least two siblings: brother John born 1830 and brother Annesby born 1831. Their mother, Thomas' wife, was Jane.

Burkes: One of the challenges in researching Francis Burke is I don't know where he was born. He somehow is not in the 1901 Census. Would there be any clues in your scrapbooks? From his marriage registrations, we know Francis' father was Richard - 'landholder'. (Which led me to a Richard Burke in the newspapers. A land agent for the fFrench family of Castle fFrench and Ballinamore in East Galway bordering Roscommon. But he was too young to be Francis' father - he was murdered by a son of the fFrench dynasty during a fit of 'temporary insanity' in 1859 in Ballinamore. fFrench then shot himself. ( I'll do the full story later - it's like a tabloid shock horror work.) From these newspaper articles, we know the Burkes in Ballinamore owned most of the town and had a shop and warehouse, were Protestant - mother by birth, father by conversion late in life, and the father (name not known) had tutored the fFrench children. Church of Ireland, with some wealth and educated. Perhaps this was Francis Burke's family. I get a sense he was a West of Ireland man. But it remains to be proven.) Then I got a lucky break - thank you Google! I did a search for 'Francis Burke Elphin' which led me to a Melbourne death notice in the newspapers digitized by the National Library of Australia. (I'd used this resource a lot as some of my family spent time in gold rush Victoria. In fact, my great grand father was born at sea in 1863 while his

family was returning to Wexford to inherit the family farm.) The notice reported the death of Francis at The Abbey, Boyle etc. and ended "uncle of the Rev. R.G. Boyle of St John's Lilydale Victoria" (The Argus March 30 1904). Which led me down another rabbit-hole! Richard George Burke (1846-1923) worked as a schools inspector before taking an M.A. at the University of Melbourne after which he was ordained in the Church of England. He had three parish postings during his career as a clergyman. A passenger manifest shows him and his family arriving at Melbourne on December 11 1863 aboard the White Star Line's 'Greyhound', having left Liverpool on September 24 of that year. The family was father Edward (1822-1901), mother Rebecca (1828-1885) and children Richard George, Elizabeth Anne, Rebecca, Edward, Benjamina and an illegible name. Edward and Rebecca had a daughter shortly after they arrived in Victoria, Thomasina, who died in infancy. Australian death registrations record the full names of the deceased's parents. From this we can see that Rebecca's parents were Joseph Wilson and Rebecca Carlisle. From Edward's death registration in 1901, we find his parents were Richard Burke (which I knew) and Mary Anne Thornhill (which is new information to me).

So back to finding Francis (and Edward's) origins - Thornhill is an unusual name in Ireland. The 1901 Census records only 157 Thornhills with about 52% in County Cork, 18% in County Limerick and the rest scattered across 10 other counties. I can find no record of a Burke-Thornhill marriage in the remaining records. But the odds are it occurred in Munster some time before 1822. Another reply from Francis Burke’s descendant:

Here's the first clipping material that may interest you after what you sent me on the traveling Burkes: Married on the 29th of December last, at St Paul’s Church, Chiltern, by the Rev R G Burke, M.A., LL. B., brother of the bride, assisted by the Rev. J. S. White Samuel Harris, of the National Bank of Australasia, eldest son of the late John Gribbin, to Benjamina, youngest daughter of Edward Burke, Albert Park, Melbourne. I'm thinking the year may be 1888 since there's a birth of a son announced the following year, but the 1889 was handwritten above the clipping. Since several of the clippings are stuck on top of other words, I'm not sure whether they relate.

Some more digging by me: So good to have original cuttings like this within a context. I did a little more on the Robertsons early Sunday morning and got some good results. I believe Thomas John Robertson's father was John (d 1837 at The Abbey, Roscommon Militia Captain and Adjutant). I don't have his date of birth but I believe he would be the right age as he was appointed adjutant - a very senior role - in 1806. Thomas John's sister Mary's death registration in 1869 describes her occupation as 'militia captain's daughter. I found an article in the 'Irish Penny Magazine' from 1833 describing the Abbey ruins, John Robertson's work to restore them and included two sketches of the Abbey supposedly by John Robertson himself. "The great arches that supported the tower, were 48 feet high, three of them being circular, while the fourth singularly formed a pointed arch; the bases of these columns were for many years concealed, under strata of accumulating rubbish, until about fifteen years since when Captain Robertson, in whose garden this venerable pile is situated, and who has obligingly furnished the sketches of its present state to the Publishers of this work, carefully removed the rubbish, and gave to view these bases of the columns, which may now be seen beautifully traced with various ornamental devices, each studiously differing from the other, and all equally beautiful."

(Captain Robertson's sketches of the Abbey exterior and interior were printed on the front page of the magazine.)

From 'The History of Ireland' by John D'Alton (1845): "The single-arched bridge adjoins the site of the ancient Abbey, of which it affords a sweet view, beautifully softened by the sequestered garden and cottage ornee of Mrs. Robertson, the graceful windings and falls of the river, and the rural ivied bridge of Abbeytown, as represented in one of the engravings for this work."... "The ground portion was for many years concealed under strata of accumulated rubbish, until, some time since, the late Captain John Robertson, in whose garden the venerable pile was enclosed, carefully removed the piles of earth and stones that disfigured or concealed the building, opened vistas of the fine intersecting

arches of the interior, and disclosed the curiously ornamented tracery of the bases." (Mrs Robinson is presumably the widow of Captain John Robertson (d 1837) and would have lived there until her death - date unknown. Then it was in the possession of Frederick - I believe the eldest son - until his death in 1858.) This next one places Caleb Robertson Senior in the family. He lived first at Tangier then built Abbeyview. He was the Rockingham agent. From 'Sights and Scenes in our Fatherland' by Thomas Lacy (1863): "The entrance to the ruins is by the handsome cottage, which is occupied by Mr. Robertson, brother of Captain Robertson, the liberal and polite agent of the noble proprietor. The seat of Captain Robertson, called Abbey View, is situated on a commanding eminence north of the abbey, and is a very beautiful residence." (Lacy visited Boyle in 1855 so his information would date from that time. Captain Robertson of Abbeyview would be Caleb. Mr Robertson, his brother, would be Frederick (d 1858) of The Abbey.

So to pull all this together: John Robertson (birth maybe before 1770 - d 1837 - of The Abbey, Roscommon Militia Adjutant Captain) His children: Mary - b 1792 d 1869 at The Abbey Frederick - b circa 1793 d 1858 at The Abbey Caleb Sr - 1794 d 1875 at Abbeyview - Rockingham agent, Militia Captain John - b 1795 d 1865 at The Abbey Thomas John M.D. - b 1796 d 1872 in Dublin Emily b 1808 (a 12 year gap from the last birth. Maybe she shaved 10 years off her age or maybe the child of a second marriage) d 1891 at The Abbey. Then I got another lucky break. A Dublin newspaper notice of 1827 gave this notice: "MARRIED On the 12th instant in the Parish Church of Clonahurk <Cloneyhurke Church in County Offaly in the Portarlington district, still in use- GA>by the Rev. Robert B. Jelly, Thomas Robertson Esq. M.D., to Jane, second daughter of Annesley Cary, Esq." I found Annesley Cary pretty quickly and with a 19C genealogy I found online, saw that Jane's G grandfather was Annesley Gore, brother to the 1st Earl of Arran. Now we are into the Peerage (and we're off to the races!) I tell people that when you connect to the Peerage, it's like speed chess - the game is to establish the relationships in the fewest possible steps.

(Though I don't trust the Peerage records 100% (Oscar Wilde said it's the greatest work of fiction in the English language) it's all we have at this distance in time.) I traced the connections back to a who's-who of Irish Plantation and Ascendency history. More source material: Right next to it there was one of the many lists of subscribers to funds for Ardcarne and there, in the second column, there is a J P Acheson. This list is different to the usual ones in that it is a list of continued subscriptions in memorial of the people who have died on the list, so presumably J P had died by then. How does he relate to you, or perhaps a she!!!? These both come from the journal of clippings etc; I'm not yet sure whether it was Mary Emily's or her father's, perhaps a bit of both. Sometime over Christmas week: (As it's a small world, it was not too surprising to find that Caleb Robertson junior (1837-1901) retired to Greystones - where I grew up - and is buried in Redford Cemetery there - alongside a lot of my people.)

I was aware that there were Achesons in Estersnow (or Eastersnow) parish which adjoins Ardcarne parish. I'd traced them back a bit but can find no direct connection with my lot in Cavan. I found a reference to Caleb Robertson junior as Honourary Colonel of the Roscommon Militia - there was also a Captain Thornhill - Edward B Thornhill of Eastersnow. I wonder if I can connect him to Francis Burke's mother Mary Anne Thornhill? The search continues:

I have wondered whether the reason that Francis Burke and Harriette Burke (married in 1900) do not appear in the 1901 census is that e.g. Harriette (who died in the June of that year) was very ill and they were very preoccupied, or elsewhere. The census, I think, was taken on the last day of March? However, it could also be that they will still appear when the census returns for 1901 are fully digitised. In one of the articles in the journal "A Magic Lantern and Musical Festival", there's a Mr T Peyton and family of Grevisk, a Miss Peyton of Rathdiven, lots of Irwins mentioned (I only mention that name because of the Mount Irwin estate in your email), a Captain Peyton, J. L Peyton (presumably the same as at the wedding of Mary Emily) and Mrs Peyton (of ?Errarona).

In the large wedding article I sent you (I hope it was in readable format for you ... do say if not) more relevant names which make me curious ... a Rev T J Hamilton from London, Mrs J. L Peyton of Dublin, Mrs Peyton of Monkstown plus many others for whom I've worked out the relationships. It is quite fascinating to be forming a picture of this 19th century community. A Miss Meta A Peyton left Ardcarne, where she was a teacher for the Sunday school and helper in the choir, for Canada in 1885, after a presentation (article in THE BOOK) on May 8th of that year. She was going with her family, presumably emigrating. Question: when did your gg grandfather meet Miss Mills the organist i.e. when was he curate to my gg grandfather Francis Burke? Another question: where did you find the names of the brothers for Francis? Is Edward Burke, the same one who sailed for Australia, whose youngest daughter was Benjamina who married Samuel Harris Gribbin? Her brother was Rev R G Burke, you mentioned him earlier, of St John's Latrobe St, Melbourne who (in an article pasted into THE BOOK) was made a presentation of a purse of sovereigns after being assistant minister for 2.5 years and moving on to start a collegiate school at Kyneton on the outskirts of Melbourne. I'll pick out names from the second half of the BOOK next time ... Thornhills do not appear much, but there is a Major Thornhill coming up at a funeral.

Finally, for now, I am attaching a Seapatrick Parish Choir excursion article for you (the one on the right). The outing was to St Mary's church, Newry, where a Mr Mills was organist and choirmaster. Was he one of yours? Another surprising development: I do suspect the circumstances around his wife's illness was why he escaped the census takers. I did a little bit more early morning research and came up with some interesting possibilities. I did find that Mary Robertson had Mills cousins. Her maternal great-grandmother Ann Gore had a sister (or step-sister) Catherine who married Mark Anthony Mills. However these Mills were an old landowning family in Roscommon - father Edward had been High Sheriff of the county- so a direct connection with my East Cork Mills - small holders and shopkeepers - seems unlikely. Mark Anthony Mills had a chequered career of ups and downs, fights and feuds. He deserves a chapter to himself. You had mentioned that the Peytons were cousins. I found an interesting wedding in Ardcarne in 1854. Charles R Peyton, son of Charles J of Carrigard House in Co Roscommon, married Isabella Badham Thornhill, daughter of Edward Badham Thornhill, formerly of Castlekevin Co Cork. Which brought me back to a Thornhill family I'd looked at before.

These Thornhills had added, after a Badham marriage, Badham to their name, mainly in the male line. They had sold Castlekevin - heavily endebted - about 1852 and acquired the Mount Irwin estate near the Sligo/Roscommon border. Edward Thornhill sat of local government boards alongside the Peytons, Robertsons and others. One unsourced tree I found has this family having a daughter Mary Anne Thornhill born about 1805 - so she might have been 17 or 18 at the birth of Edward, Francis' older brother. But no proof yet. Castlekevin is near Mallow and so right in the area where the Mills circulated. So maybe a Mills/Thornhill marriage was the connection between Maud Mills and Francis Burke. But again, no proof yet. One more possible connection - Mary Emily was born in 1872 at 31 Holles St in Dublin. An 1862 directory has 31 as a lodging house belonging to William Chapman - but 13 Holles St is the home of John Badham Thornhill, secretary of the Royal Agricultural Society. Maybe the digits in the address were transposed. So if I line up all my assumption and guesses, without any proof, John Badham Thornhill might be Francis Burke's maternal uncle.

As you've seen, it is from Francis' older brother Edward's Australian death registration that we can see that his parents were Mary Anne Thornhill and Richard Burke. About the sources, Ancestry is good for the basics. Irish records are fragmented. Civil registration only began in 1845 for Protestant marriages and for all births, marriages and deaths in 1864. Before that it is church records - many of which were destroyed in 1922 during the Civil War when the Public Records Office in Dublin was blown up. Many of the surviving records are still not online. The Irish Government genealogy site has recently put the images of most of the registrations online so it is possible to see the details like mothers' maiden name on the births, fathers' names in the marriages, etc. The sources for all this are mainly online newspaper archives. One of the best for Ireland is findmypast.ie. It has lots of regional papers that recorded all the comings and goings of local life. That's a huge help. I was intrigued by the clipping you sent about the parish excursion to Newry and Warrenpoint with 'Mr Mills' the organist. My GGgrandfather was James Parker Mills who spent his career as church organist at Kilbrogan Church in the centre of Bandon, Co. Cork. Advertising himself as a 'Professor of Music', he taught music in local schools and privately.

Here's James and daughter Maudie:

James Parker Mills is buried in Kilbrogan churchyard - his gravestone is in the shape of a church organ:

His father James is also buried in the plot - but frustratingly his stone just says 'James Mills and family'! James Parker Mills was born in Fermoy Co. Cork - I have baptism transcripts for him and his siblings. Father James was a woolcomber and later a shopkeeper in Bandon. So I went looking for a Mills, organist in Banbridge Co Down. I found him in the 1911 Census (attached) and he's born in Co. Cork. His age matches James Parker Mills' younger brother Edward. Edward Samuel Mills was born in Fermoy in 1853. By newspaper accounts, he is working in Banbridge by at least 1881. Also in the Census return living with Edward is an older married couple John and Marianne Allanson. It turns out this Marianne is Edward's older sister (born in Fermoy in 1844.) Marianne and John married in Middleton Co Cork in 1876. I tracked down Edward's 1884 marriage in Dundalk to Sarah Maria Johnston, daughter of a Methodist preacher - and the births of their six children in Banbridge. Now it gets even more interesting. Their fifth child was Charles Parker Mills - more proof. Their second child was (drumroll, please) Herbert Percival Burke Mills. There's a connection!

I could not find your clipping online to confirm the date but I did find in the newspapers that the Rev. O.T.L. Crossley who is mentioned in the clipping was the curate at Seapatrick in Banbridge between 1884 and 1888 when he left the parish. So presumably the excursion to Newry occurred between those two dates. The fact that this clipping is in the Burke scrapbooks in the 1880s tells me that the Burke family knew of, and were interested in, the Mills family long before Maudie arrived in Ardcarne to play the organ. Thanks to you, I've now found an entirely new branch of the Mills clan. One possibility is that James Mills' (father of James Parker and Edward Samuel) wife was a Burke. I know from baptisms and her burial that she was Elizabeth but I don't know what her maiden name was. I have not been able to find a marriage record for James and Elizabeth - they would have married some time before 1844. We're getting closer to the elusive connection between the Burkes and Mills. Genealogy - the itch you just keep scratching!

A New Year’s message: I have trawled too many Burkes on Ancestry this evening, all to no avail. By far the majority were Catholic. Do you have any idea as to when our Burkes became Protestant? I found the following information on someone else's tree. Could it be the same Richard Burke? It fits with what we know, with a slight difference in his spouse's surname. Richard Burke Birth: 1784 - Cork, Ireland Death: 1850 - Cork, Cork, Ireland Marriage: 1805 - Sandy, Bedfordshire, England Spouse: Mary Ann Thornell Parents; Richard Burke and Elizabeth Mercer I have found Rev Francis Burke's last will and testament, in which he leaves £2000 each to his daughters. To Miriam Jane he also leaves his farms (my transcript may have errors; it is in beautiful copperplate but I'm not confident of the Irish names and they don't yield anything on Google ... perhaps you know the places?) of Key Croftspark, Rusheens & Carrimore, and to Mary Emily his farm of ?Tawnanierin & Grallagh with his house in Abbeytown and the lands belonging to it. The first document is a write up by some legal fellow about how The Abbey came to the Burkes after the breaking up of the King Harman estate, from whence it was previously rented. He also bequeaths to both daughters the "tolls of Boyle Fairs". He goes on to bequeath to Mary Emily his present house, The Abbey, Boyle with the lands attached, with the proviso that his beloved wife, Bessie G Burke/Hamilton has the personal use of this residence if she wishes, until Mary Emily has no further Bank house to dwell in (with Dudley, her husband's, work) or Bessie moves

into her own place. He directs Bessie to pay rent to Mary of £50 per annum. He then goes on to leave certain yearly sums to Bessie and his Encyclopedia Britannica and other items to his grandson Thomas Jameson. If you have better information for the names of the farms, I'd appreciate them. Great grandmother, Mary Emily, writes in a letter to her son some years later of having two cottages built on her land and of one of the Gillespies living in one of her dwellings (those Gillespies appear all through the newspaper cuttings book, in particular with regard to music, like your Mills relatives) ... and she meant to reduce the rent he paid since she had enough left her by "Daddy" ... I'm not sure whether she means her father, or Dudley Hill (my grandfather's father). A Joseph Mills married an Ann Burke in Waterford in 1789. Anything to do with you?

My response: Brilliant. How wonderful to have a treasure trove like that to sift through. There is a great resource at logainm.ie - the official placenames database for Ireland. I searched for Tawnanierin and found Fawnanierin - just south of Boyle. Some of the neighbouring townlands fit the bill - Grallagh Mor and Grallagh Beg (big and little), Reycroftspark and Rusheen; two others are Carrickmore and Carrowmore - either could be the Carrimore. https://www.logainm.ie/en/43150?s=Fawnanierin The building returns in the 1901 Census record the occupiers and owners of inhabited houses. Fawnanierin - Tansey, owned by Burke: http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/reels/nai003838048/ Carrowmore - Kenny and Burke (so this is the 'Carrimore') http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/reels/nai003837886/ Rusheen - had various other owners at that time: http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/reels/nai003838021/ Grallagh Beg - Kane/Kane http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/reels/nai003838130/

Grallagh Mor Keenan/Monson http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/reels/nai003838134/ Reycroftspark does not appear in either Census. It looks like it had only a 'herds-house' and was likely farmed in conjunction with neighbouring Carrowmore with no-one actually living there. Some detail of the fair tolls from 1830: https://books.google.com/books?id=5zFbAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA162&lpg=PA162&dq=tolls+of+boyle+fair&source=bl&ots=Unub1DPAoV&sig=bZyYL-Up9cKKz6Y8KH2kqT-25o0&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwj4uK2Bw6nRAhXCzVQKHf9GCdMQ6AEIMTAE#v=onepage&q=tolls%20of%20boyle%20fair&f=false I suspect the right to these tolls were somehow vested with the lands at the Abbey. Francis Burke was executor and witness on Joseph Gillespie's 1893 will (which contains one of those family agreements about access to a room with a fireplace for the widow): http://census.nationalarchives.ie/search/wr/details.jsp?id=IRE/ORIG/WILL/REG/21263/5

Earlier you asked if I knew when the Burkes became Protestant. de Burgh or de Burca is, of course, a Norman name and came to Ireland in 1169. But our Cork Burkes could well be later English settlers. Many of my family names were the early settlers in Bandon and West Cork -Wolfe, Travers, Lucas, Cox, Beamish,Hewitt, Deane and others. Most came from Somerset and the West Country. I checked on Ancestry and there are many Burkes in the Somerset parish records from the 1600s. So that might be their origin too. In the Cloyne marriage licence bonds (indicating a Protestant marriage), the earliest Burke is from 1691; for Cork and Ross the earliest is 1666. So there were Protestant Burkes in Cork from the early days of the Munster Plantation. I had seen that marriage between Joseph Mills and Anne Burke in 1789. It was at Tallow which is just on the Cork/Waterford border so it's in the right area for my Mills. It might be an earlier connection. It was not unusual for some sets of families to intermarry every generation or so - the pool of potential partners was always relatively small. But I did just come across a marriage that might be the elusive connection. http://census.nationalarchives.ie/reels/dm/IRE_DIOC_007246530_00314.pdf

In the Cloyne marriage licence bonds index, there is a bond issued in 1842 between James Mills and Eliza Burke. This fits all the known facts - Elizabeth Mills died in 1898 in Bandon. She was born about 1818 so in the right range. Their first child was Mary Anne - born in 1844 and, following the naming convention of the time, was named for the mother's mother - so maybe Mary Anne Thornhill. Their third son was Richard - after the mother's father - none of James' brothers named a son Richard . And remember that James' fourth son, Edward Samuel Mills named a son Herbert Percival Burke Mills. All this goes to the claim that Francis Burke was Maud Mills' uncle. If James and Eliza's marriage is the right one, then Francis was Maud's great uncle. Adding it all up I think it is a match - but I'd like to see some more evidence. The marriage, based on the bond, took place in the diocese of Cloyne, maybe Litter parish where the Mills were in the 1820/30s or Fermoy where all their children were born. The marriage records for both for that year are in the Church library in Dublin. Problem is there are 89 other parishes in Cloyne and usually the wedding was in the bride's home parish - and we don't know that yet. To further lengthen the odds, only 10 of those parishes have surviving marriage records from 1842.

I think I may have found another Burke family connection. I was looking through transcripts of Cork weddings and found one in Aghern (near Fermoy) from 1863. Richard Burke, 'gentleman' of Cloyne married Jane Baker, daughter of the parish clerk of Aghern. The groom was the son of another Richard Burke, the sexton of Cloyne Cathedral. What really caught my eye was the second witness - Edward Burke. And the officiating clergyman was Francis Burke! This wedding was on August 4 1863 - about six weeks before Edward and his family left Liverpool bound for Australia - perhaps a last visit home? The only Francis Burke in the clerical directories for the 19C was 'our' Francis; he would have been freshly ordained in 1863. I believe Richard Burke senior might be an older brother of Francis'. Like Edward and Francis, they were all involved in the church to one extent or another. Richard died in 1892 aged 79 after serving as verger and sexton at Cloyne Cathedral for 39 years. He lived in the vergers' lodge in the grounds of the cathedral and is buried in the graveyard there. In the sources I found he usually used the Connaught spelling - Bourke. His will is here: http://census.nationalarchives.ie/reels/wr/007604244_00063.pdf I found the attached listing showing Richard, James Mills (who trained as an organist at Cloyne before moving to Bandon) and Francis Emmanuel Harrison, organist, who married Richard's daughter Margaret Anne. Of course, this means Richard was James Parker Mill's uncle which might have helped in getting the position at Cloyne. Collectively,

this list made up the 'Vicars-Choral' for the cathedral. The John Daly listed may be the same as the executor for Richard's will. (In 1772, a David Burke was appointed a Vicar-Choral at Cloyne; in 1803, a (presumably later) David Burke was similarly appointed so there might be a long-standing connection between the Burkes and the cathedral.)

One last connection involves the Thornhills. Edward Badham Thornhill's family had lived for several generations at Castlekevin outside Mallow. The house still exists and is still occupied: http://www.buildingsofireland.ie/niah/search.jsp?type=record&county=CO&regno=20902518 ) By 1853, the estate, like many in Ireland at the time, was heavily indebted. Under a government programme - the Encumbered Estates Court - the lands and house were sold. These Thornhills then acquired an estate at Mount Irvine (sometimes Mount Irwin) in Sligo just a few miles from Boyle.

Mount Irvine is in the parish of Kilfree. Francis Burke's first two curacies were in Kilfree parish, first at Kilaraght then at Kilfree itself before he moved to Boyle. Edward Badham Thornhill sat on the Poor Law Guardians for Boyle alongside the Robertsons. Maybe he also sat on the Parish Vestry and played a part in getting Francis selected? Edward did have a sister Mary Anne Thornhill but it appears she married a clergyman, Benjamin Johnson, and moved to Canada. But perhaps 'our' Mary Anne Thornhill was a cousin. I saw your find of a Bedfordshire marriage between Richard Burke and Mary Anne ‘Thornell’. Although that tree doesn't have any sources to back it up, it's worth pursuing. I'd be very curious if your scrapbooks have any reference to Cloyne, or Elizabeth (Mills) or indeed Richard Burke of Cloyne?