Wards of Rathwood

Earliest evidence of the Ward family in Rathwood

In 1766, a Religious Survey of Ireland was ordered by the Irish House of Lords. The records from this Survey for the Civil Parish of Abington includes Rathwood and are comprehensive owing to the diligence of the Church of Ireland minister. There is no mention of a single Ward in the Abington Parish. This suggests that the Wards had not arrived in the area by 1766. It is not known when the first farming settlements took place within Rathwood that may have been simply scrubs when the Ward family first arrived.

The earliest evidence of the Ward family in the area is a tombstone dated 1795 in the Abington cemetery. It was erected by Patrick Ward for his wife Margaret Fleming aged 66 hence she has an estimated birth year of 1729. Patrick and Margaret are common names within this Ward family branch, although highly common Irish Catholic names in general. I think it is reasonable to assume this is the earliest known ancestor for the Ward family of Rathwood.

The next firm piece of evidence is an 1815 Survey of Rathwood that is found among the Lord Cloncurry Estate papers. Lord Cloncurry (Nicholas Lawless) had purchased the Abington Abbey Estate that included Rathwood in 1775. This confirms a lease to William Ward and partners. It is believed the eldest son of William was Patrick who would have been named after his paternal grandfather; an Irish tradition strongly adhered to by the Ward family. I have estimated that William's children were born from 1790-1810 and have estimated William's birth year as 1760-1770.

Children of William Ward

The Catholic Parish records for Murroe & Boher that encompasses Rathwood commence from 1814 for births and marriages. Here we find a number of marriages of Wards and children born to Ward parents. Fortuitously, it appears that for much of the 1800s, the only Wards in the Catholic Parish were the Rathwood family. Of the children of William Ward, the only death certificate to have emerged is that of John Ward who died in 1878 at the potentially rounded age of 80. John is assumed to have been born in 1798 and siblings spaced at 2 year intervals in an order relating to when they had their first child.

The children of William Ward are believed to be as follows:

• Patrick Ward (b.~1792) who married Catherine Bourke with two children listed in the Parish records: William (b.1814) and John (b.1819).
• Mary Ward (b.~1794) who married John Maher in 1816. No children have been identified as yet and it is not known where this couple lived.
• William Ward (b.~1796) who married Mary Mulcahy in 1819. No children have been identified. There is evidence that William and Mary remained in Rathwood until the 1850s.
• John Ward (b.1798) who married Margaret O'Shea in 1825 and had numerous children: William (b.1826), Thomas (b.1830), Michael (b.1835), Bridget (b.1838), James (b.1840), John (b.1841), Margaret (b.1849) plus several infant deaths.
• Michael Ward (b.~1800) who married Johanna Mulcahy with four children in the Parish registers: Ellen (b.1826), Catherine (b.1829), William (b.1830) and Sarah (b.1837).
• Thomas Ward (b.~1802) who married Bridget O'Brien with four children in the Parish registers: William (b.1839), Margaret (b.1841), Bridget (b.1844) and John (b.1848).

Lessees bordering the Ward lease in Rathwood include William Mulcahy and John O'Brien such that three brides above may have also been born in Rathwood.

Griffiths Valuation of 1851

Griffith’s Valuation (1851 in many counties, 1847–1864 overall) was a nationwide property valuation carried out under Sir Richard Griffith to determine how much tax each occupier should pay to support the Poor Law system. It is the closest thing Ireland has to a mid‑19th‑century census; it lists every occupier of rateable property for every townland.

Griffiths Valuation 1851, Rathwood extract.

The extract for Rathwood is shown to the right. The columns show:

• Plot number that references a map
• Occupiers
• Immediate Lessors
• Description of Tenement
• Area (in Irish Acres, Roods, Perches)
• Net Annual Value (£/s/d), three columns for Land, Buildings and Total.

There are several Wards to be found as follows:

• Plot 6: William Ward
• Plot 7: Thomas Ward (Little)
• Plot 13: Thomas Ward (Big)
• Plot 14: John Ward
• Plot 14(house), 25(land): Michael Ward.

The 1851 plot numbering approach was quickly replaced and it is difficult to map the old numbering to the new. Thomas (Big), John and Michael are most likely the sons of William from the above list. It seems more likely that the William Ward in the valuation is the son of the eldest brother Patrick, hence a nephew. It is not clear who Thomas (Little) is. The only other known Thomas is John's son born 1830 who would remain in Rathwood until his death in 1909.

The 1850s, Wards depart Rathwood

The famine struck Limerick as hard as anywhere in Ireland. This, combined with limited available farming land, probably contributed to many of the Ward children of the brothers listed above emigrating to Canada, the US and Australia.

By 1858 when the Griffiths Valuation was first updated for Rathwood, William, Michael and Thomas (Little) are no longer listed as lessees. This may indicate that they died in this period. Another possibility is that the land holdings were 'right-sized' for the Wards that remained in Rathwood after deaths and emigration and combined under the leases for John and Thomas (Big). For example, four of five adult sons of John Ward and Margaret O'Shea emigrated to Australia by 1858. Only one son, Thomas remained to continue farming on the plot.

The last Ward lease

John Ward's plot would be the last lease by the Ward family. John died in 1878 and the plot transferred to his only son to remain within Ireland, Thomas.

In the 1901 Census of Ireland, Thomas Ward born in 1830 was listed as the head of the household at Rathwood. Thomas was stated to be a seventy year old married farmer born in county Limerick. His wife Mary was fifty-five and would have also worked on the farm. Six children born to Thomas and Mary Ward were living in the family home in 1901 and none were married at that point. Patrick aged thirty-one, John aged twenty, Anne aged twenty-nine and Bridget aged twenty-four all worked on the family farm. Margaret aged twenty-seven and Mary aged twenty-two worked as dressmakers. The ages given on the census return were slightly inaccurate as was often the case because people were unsure of their year of birth. All of the Ward family were born in Rathwood and all could read and write but none spoke Irish.

Their house was described as a second class dwelling with four rooms and three windows to the front of the building. The house had walls of stone, brick or concrete and a thatched or wooden roof. As Thomas Ward was farming the surrounding lands he was named as the landholder on whose property the house was located. There were five outhouses connected to the house and they were a stable, cow house, dairy, piggery and fowl house.

After Thomas died in 1909, the lease passed to the youngest son John. The eldest son married and moved away from the farm to become a builder in the region. John would move to Australia about 1920 and the lease transferred to his sister, Anne. Anne lived on the farm until 1958. Locals recall she would milk her few cows daily and carry some milk pails to a local dairy for a few pence.