Dan Murphy's Castletownbere library notes, Sept 2022: 'James Murphy + Mary O'Leary ... Patrick's mother + Father s/B in Eyeries in book'; 'Mary Sullivan Patrick's sister'

--- newspaper: handwritten notebook (Dan Murphy) date: 2022-09 (visit to Castletownbere library) page: notebook pp. 5-7 --- Transcribed 2026-09-26 by an Opus agent from the photograph Dan Murphy emailed on 15 Apr 2026. The agent's full read-out follows. # Dan Murphy's Castletownbere notes, pages 5-7: transcription Transcribed 2026-09-26 from one photograph. - **Source image:** `_inbox/beara-attachments-2026-09-26/dan-2026-04-15-castletownbere-notes/Castletownbere Notes.jpeg` (2862 x 1435 px, JPEG, no EXIF rotation). - **Provenance (from the email, not from the image):** Dan Murphy (California) emailed this to Luke on 15 Apr 2026 as "pages 5-7 from my notes during our visit to Castletownbere". The visit was in September 2022. The notes were taken at the Castletownbere library, where a librarian looked the family up in Riobárd Ó Dwyer's *Annals of Beara*. Dan's covering remark was: "It says Margaret Sullivan was Patrick's sister. ?? Librarian also suggested Patrick's mother and father s/b in Riobard's book too." - **Method:** I cropped each page separately (page 5 at x 0-950, page 6 at x 940-1905, page 7 at x 1895-2862), cut each page into four overlapping horizontal strips, enlarged them 2x with Lanczos resampling and made contrast-stretched copies. I zoomed doubtful words to 3x-6x. The crops are in the session scratchpad, not in the repository. - **Conventions:** Spelling, capitals and abbreviations are Dan's. `[?]` follows an uncertain reading. `[illegible]` marks a word that cannot be read. `~~text~~` means Dan struck the words through. Square-bracketed italic notes such as *[indented]* describe layout. Anything marked **Inference** is mine and does not appear in the image. ## (a) Pages visible The photograph shows **three** narrow notebook pages (ruled index-card style, blue lines, written in pencil) laid side by side. Each page carries a **circled page number at the bottom right: 5, 6 and 7**, from left to right. These match Dan's description "pages 5-7". - **Page 5** has the heading **"CASTLETOWNBERE"** in capitals at the top right, underlined with a long curving stroke. - **Page 6** has no separate heading. Its first line, "Cast - Librarian Creedon/Brophy", works as one. - **Page 7** has no heading. Its first line, "Cobh = "Cove"", is a note rather than a title. --- ## Page 5 (circled "5") ### (b) Transcription, line by line | # | Text as written | Notes | |---|---|---| | 1 | CASTLETOWNBERE | At the top right, in block capitals. A curving underline starts at the left and runs under the word to the right edge of the page. | | 2 | Dermott Murphy | | | 3 | Super Valu[e?] Store | *[indented]* The letters read "Valu", followed by a small loop that may be an "e". | | 4 | A | *[A capital "A" written above the ruled line, over the start of "Doctor's". It looks like an insertion, making "A Doctor's sword".]* | | 5 | Bob Jackson Doctor's | | | 6 | sword | *[written smaller, directly under "Doctor's"]* | | 7 | McCarthy's bar | "bar" sits under "sword" | | 8 | owner | *[directly under "bar", so the phrase reads "McCarthy's bar owner"]* | | 9 | ~~Adriene McCarthy~~ | *[struck through with one horizontal line]* Spelled "Adriene", with a single "n". | | 10 | Aidan MacCarthy | *[written directly below, apparently as the correction]* | | 11 | Italian workers | | | 12 | did floor | *[indented]* | | 13 | Italians know how | | | 14 | to do tile | *[indented]* | | 15 | Steam boat Bantry / | A long diagonal stroke, like a slash or a comma, follows "Bantry". | | 16 | Beara Is, Glengarriff | *[indented]* The final "ff" is crowded against the right edge. | | 17 | Castletown | *[indented]* | | 18 | (5) | *[circled page number, bottom right]* | No arrows or family-tree sketches appear on this page. ### (c) People and places on page 5 | Name as written | What Dan wrote beside it | |---|---| | Dermott Murphy | "Super Valu[e?] Store". He gives no relationship to our family and no date. | | Bob Jackson | "A Doctor's sword" | | McCarthy's bar | "owner". This is a business, not a person, but the owner is named on the next line. | | ~~Adriene McCarthy~~ | Struck through. | | Aidan MacCarthy | Nothing is written beside the name. From where it sits, it seems to be the name Dan meant in place of the struck-out one. | - **Places:** Castletownbere, Bantry, Beara Is[land], Glengarriff and Castletown. They appear in the steamboat note. - **Family content:** there is **nothing about Patrick Murphy, his parents or siblings, Margaret Sullivan, Kate Murphy, "Tailor Sullivan", Ballycrovane, Gort or Eyeries Village** on this page. - **Inference (not in the image, not checked for this note):** "A Doctor's Sword" is the title of a 2015 Irish documentary about Dr Aidan MacCarthy of Castletownbere. His family kept MacCarthy's Bar in the town. Bob Jackson is, I believe, one of the film's producers. The struck-through "Adriene McCarthy" is probably Adrienne MacCarthy of the bar. Page 5 therefore reads as general notes on the town, not family research. The steamboat line probably records a boat service linking Bantry, Bere Island, Glengarriff and Castletown. ### (d) Confidence for page 5 **High.** The pencil is dark and the hand is clear. The only doubtful points are the ending of "Valu[e?]" and whether the mark after "Bantry" is a slash or a comma. This page has no genealogical content. --- ## Page 6 (circled "6"): the family lines ### (b) Transcription, line by line | # | Text as written | Notes | |---|---|---| | 1 | Cast - Librarian Creedon/Brophy | "Cast" is abbreviated, followed by a short dash. "Creedon/Brophy" is at the right, smaller and in darker pencil than "Cast - Librarian", so it may have been added separately. Faint marks above this line are unreadable; they look like offset from a facing page or an erasure. | | 2 | Dorothy Brophy | The "y" of "Dorothy" ends in a long stroke running down to the left through the next line. | | 3 | irishgeneology.ie | Spelled "geneology" as written. A stray dot sits over the second "e". | | 4 | Lauragh | *[indented]* The "u"/"r" letters are cramped, but "Lauragh" is the most likely reading. | | 5 | Eyeries Parish | *[toward the right]* | | 6 | Diocese of Kerry | | | 7 | Castletown civic records | *[indented]* The word reads "civic": all five letters are short, with no tall "l" for "civil". | | 8 | *[blank ruled line]* | | | 9 | Laighean → Lyne | Large letters. The arrow is drawn as a dash with a hooked head. | | 10 | (Līne) | In parentheses, beneath the arrow, in darker pencil, with a bar (macron) over the "i", apparently a pronunciation mark. | | 11 | James Murphy + Mary O'Leary | Lighter pencil, smaller hand. The "L" of "O'Leary" is heavily darkened, as if traced over. | | 12 | Patrick's mother + Father s/B | *[indented under line 11]* "mother" is lower-case and "Father" has a capital F. "s/B" is lower-case s, slash, capital B. | | 13 | in Eyeries | *[small, at the right, directly under "s/B"]* The letters of "Eyeries" are cramped but readable. | | 14 | in book | *[small, directly under "in Eyeries"]* | | 15 | Mary Sullivan Patrick's sister | *[indented]* **The first name is "Mary", not "Margaret".** See the check below. | | 16 | *[blank ruled line]* | | | 17 | "O'em" Ogham | "O'em" is in double quotation marks, with a small dot to the left of the opening quotes. | | 18 | (6) | *[circled page number, bottom right]* | **Check on "Mary Sullivan" (line 15).** I examined the word at 6x with contrast enhancement. It has four letters: M, a, r and a final "y". That final letter is a z-like stroke with a straight descender to the lower left. It is the same letterform as the "y" in "Mary O'Leary" on line 11, and in "Murphy", "Dorothy", "Brophy" and "Kerry". Dan's "g" is different. In "Ogham", "Lauragh" and "Laighean" it is a closed loop with a descender. No further letters follow, so nothing could be read as "Margaret" or "Marg[aret]". Dan's covering email says "Margaret Sullivan", but **his note says "Mary Sullivan"**. **Layout of lines 11-15.** These five lines share one pencil tone, lighter and smaller than the lines above. This suggests they were written together, probably during the lookup. Line 12 is indented beneath line 11, and lines 13 and 14 hang under the "s/B" at the end of line 12. There is no arrow, bracket or tree sketch linking the names. ### (c) People and places on page 6 | Name as written | What Dan wrote beside it | |---|---| | Creedon / Brophy | Beside "Cast - Librarian". | | Dorothy Brophy | On the line directly under "Librarian ... Creedon/Brophy". **Inference:** she is the Castletownbere librarian, and "Creedon/Brophy" may give two surnames for her, such as maiden and married names. The note itself does not say so. | | James Murphy + Mary O'Leary | The next line reads "Patrick's mother + Father s/B / in Eyeries / in book". There is no date and no townland. | | Mary Sullivan | "Patrick's sister". There is no date, no place and no husband's name. | - **Places and records:** Cast[letown], irishgeneology.ie, Lauragh, Eyeries Parish, Diocese of Kerry, Castletown civic records, and "Eyeries" in line 13. - **Surname note:** "Laighean → Lyne (Līne)". - **Word note:** "O'em" Ogham. **The sentences about Patrick's family, exactly as written:** > James Murphy + Mary O'Leary > Patrick's mother + Father s/B > in Eyeries > in book > Mary Sullivan Patrick's sister **How the first block can be read.** The words fix the text but not the grammar, so here are two readings. Both are **inference**. - **Reading A (layout):** line 12 glosses line 11. On this reading, James Murphy and Mary O'Leary are named as Patrick's mother and father, and "s/B in Eyeries in book" means they should be found under Eyeries in the book. The book is presumably Ó Dwyer's *Annals of Beara*; the note says only "book". - **Reading B (separate notes):** "James Murphy + Mary O'Leary" is a couple the librarian found or mentioned. "Patrick's mother + Father s/B in Eyeries in book" is a separate reminder that Patrick's parents should appear in the book under Eyeries. This matches Dan's email wording: "Librarian also suggested Patrick's mother and father s/b in Riobard's book too". - In neither reading is James Murphy + Mary O'Leary marked as *confirmed* parents. "s/B" (should be) is a statement of expectation. **What the page does not contain.** There is **no** "Margaret", no Kate or Kate Murphy, no "Tailor" or "Tailor Sullivan", no Paddy or Patrick Sullivan, no Ballycrovane, no Gort, no Seamus/"Seamus Mór", no Peig/Harrington, no Joe Murphy and no Crounhane. "Eyeries" appears twice, as "Eyeries Parish" and "in Eyeries", but the phrase "Eyeries Village" does not. There are no dates, and none of Patrick's birth years, 1850 or 1858. No husband is named for "Mary Sullivan". **Further inferences, not in the image:** - "Mary Sullivan" is presumably a married name, meaning a Murphy sister who married a Sullivan. The known sister married to a Sullivan is Kate, wife of Paddy (Tailor) O'Sullivan. This note may therefore be (i) a different sister, (ii) a slip between Mary and Kate, or (iii) the librarian's reading of a book entry. Dan's email memory of "Margaret" is a third first name for the same claim. - "Laighean → Lyne (Līne)" appears to record an Irish form of the Lyne surname (Ellen Lyne's family) and a pronunciation rhyming with "line". - "irishgeneology.ie" is presumably the civil and church records site irishgenealogy.ie. - "Castletown civic records" may mean civil (state) registration records. The word as written is "civic". ### (d) Confidence for page 6 **High for the family lines.** Lines 11-15 are fainter than the rest of the page but every word is legible at 3x-6x. I am certain of "Mary Sullivan", "Patrick's sister", "James Murphy + Mary O'Leary", "Patrick's mother + Father s/B", "in Eyeries" and "in book". The top lines are **high** too. "Lauragh" is medium-high because of its cramped middle letters. The unreadable ghost marks above line 1 are the only [illegible] material on the page. --- ## Page 7 (circled "7"): Lynch, Ballycrovane, the cousin sketch ### (b) Transcription, line by line | # | Text as written | Notes | |---|---|---| | 1 | Cobh = "Cove" | "Cove" is in double quotation marks; the opening mark is faint. Stray faint pencil marks sit above the "=". A small blue-ink loop below the "=" is a stray mark, not text. | | 2 | Jeremiah J. Lynch 1871 | "J." is small and raised between "Jeremiah" and "Lynch", like an insertion. "1871" is at the far right of the same line. Its third digit has a flat top stroke like Dan's "7", unlike his round-topped "2" in "2. G Grand" below, so I read "1871" rather than "1821". | | 3 | Ballycrovane | *[indented]* A small bluish double-dot speck at the right, below "1871", is not writing. | | 4 | pallbearer "cro-văn" | "pallbearer" is at the left, with its last letters cramped. "cro-văn" is at the right, in double quotation marks, with a breve over the "a". | | 5 | of Ellen "van" | "of Ellen" is at the left, directly under "pallbearer". "van" is at the right, in double quotation marks, directly under "cro-văn". | | 6 | *[blank ruled line]* | | | 7 | Johanna Lynch nee Sullivan | "nee" is written small and raised over the start of "Sullivan", with no accent visible. "Lynch" is small and cramped. | | 8 | Jere's mother | *[indented]* | | 9 | [Jeremiah's mother] | Dan's own square brackets. Written in darker pencil, the same dark tone as "(Līne)" and "Creedon/Brophy" on page 6. It looks like a later expansion of "Jere's". | | 10 | *[blank ruled line]* | | | 11-16 | *[dot diagram, described below]* with labels at the right: `cou Grand` / `2. G Grand` / `3 G² Grand` / `4 G³ grand` | The "2" and "3" after "G" are small raised figures (superscripts). The last "grand" has a lower-case g. | | 17 | "Translations" | In double quotation marks, set well apart above the line. | | 18 | play Brian Friel | | | 19 | (7) | *[circled page number, bottom right]* | **Dot diagram (lines 11-16).** It contains dots only, with no names. - **Top:** one heavier pencil blob near the centre of the page, with a tiny tick to its right and a small stray dash further left. - **Row 2:** two dots, one each side of the apex. - **Rows 3-6:** one dot at the left and one at the right in each row. The two columns spread slightly outward as they go down, forming a wedge or inverted-V. - **Labels:** each of rows 3-6 has a label at the right edge: "cou Grand", "2. G Grand", "3 G² Grand" and "4 G³ grand". **Inference:** this is a generic cousin-degree chart. A common ancestor sits at the top and two sibling lines descend. Grandchildren are first cousins ("cou" = cou[sin], with the "1" implied), great-grandchildren ("G Grand") are 2nd cousins, and so on down to "4" (4th cousins) and "G³ grand". It names no one and does not place Patrick's family on the chart. ### (c) People and places on page 7 | Name as written | What Dan wrote beside or under it | |---|---| | Jeremiah J. Lynch | "1871" on the same line, then "Ballycrovane" on the next line, then "pallbearer / of Ellen" at the left below that. The link to him is by position only. The page does not say "born", "of" or "from"; "1871" and "Ballycrovane" are simply placed under and beside his name. | | Ellen | "pallbearer of Ellen". No surname is given. | | Johanna Lynch nee Sullivan | "Jere's mother" and "[Jeremiah's mother]". | | Brian Friel | "play" and "Translations". This is a play and its author, not kin. | - **Places:** Cobh (= "Cove"), and Ballycrovane with the pronunciation "cro-văn" / "van". **Family-thread points:** - **Ballycrovane** appears on this page **only in the Jeremiah J. Lynch entry**. It is not attached to any Murphy. The page has no James or "Seamus Mór" Murphy and no Peig Uonhi or Harrington. - The only **Sullivan** on this page is Johanna Lynch nee Sullivan, Jeremiah's mother. There is **no** Margaret, Mary or Kate Sullivan, and no Tailor, Paddy, Patrick, Gort or Eyeries. **Inference and cross-reference (not from the image):** - "Ellen" is almost certainly Ellen (Lyne) Murphy, Patrick's widow. The repository already records that at her Butte funeral in August 1935 the "Pallbearers were led by Judge J. J. Lynch" (`research/docs/jjm-dossier-2026-09-26/register/nexus-people.md`). Dan's note agrees with that and adds a Ballycrovane origin, a year of 1871 (probably a birth year, but unlabelled) and a mother, Johanna née Sullivan. - "Cobh = 'Cove'" and the "cro-văn"/"van" marks are pronunciation notes. ### (d) Confidence for page 7 **High** for all the words. **Medium-high** for the "7" in "1871", which could conceivably be a 2, though the flat top favours 7. **High** that the dot diagram contains no names. Its reading as a cousin-degree chart is **inference (medium-high)**. --- ## (c) Everyone named on pages 5-7 | Person, as written | Page | What Dan wrote with the name, exactly | |---|---|---| | Dermott Murphy | 5 | "Super Valu[e?] Store". No relationship is given. | | Bob Jackson | 5 | "A Doctor's sword" | | ~~Adriene McCarthy~~ | 5 | Struck through. It follows "McCarthy's bar owner". | | Aidan MacCarthy | 5 | Nothing beside the name; it follows the struck-out name. | | (Librarian) Creedon / Brophy | 6 | "Cast - Librarian Creedon/Brophy" | | Dorothy Brophy | 6 | The line under "Librarian ... Creedon/Brophy" | | **James Murphy + Mary O'Leary** | 6 | Line under: "**Patrick's mother + Father s/B** / **in Eyeries** / **in book**" | | **Mary Sullivan** | 6 | "**Patrick's sister**" | | Patrick | 6 | Named only in the two phrases "Patrick's mother + Father" and "Patrick's sister". No surname, date or place is given for him. | | Jeremiah J. Lynch ("Jere") | 7 | "1871", "Ballycrovane", "pallbearer / of Ellen" | | Ellen | 7 | "pallbearer of Ellen". No surname. | | Johanna Lynch nee Sullivan | 7 | "Jere's mother" and "[Jeremiah's mother]" | | Brian Friel | 7 | "Translations" and "play" | **Places and sources named:** - Castletownbere (5), Bantry (5), Beara Is[land] (5), Glengarriff (5), Castletown (5 and 6), "Cast" (6) - irishgeneology.ie (6), Lauragh (6), Eyeries Parish (6), "in Eyeries" (6), Diocese of Kerry (6), Castletown civic records (6) - Cobh = "Cove" (7), Ballycrovane (7) **Surname and word notes:** Laighean → Lyne (Līne) (6); "O'em" Ogham (6); Ballycrovane pronounced "cro-văn" / "van" (7). **Every sentence about Patrick's parents or siblings, as written.** These appear only on page 6. 1. `James Murphy + Mary O'Leary` / `Patrick's mother + Father s/B` / `in Eyeries` / `in book` 2. `Mary Sullivan Patrick's sister` **Checked against the questions in the brief:** - **Margaret Sullivan:** not on these pages. The note reads **"Mary Sullivan"**, and I verified the letters at 6x. Dan's email of 15 Apr 2026 recalls it as "Margaret Sullivan". - **Kate Murphy:** not on these pages. - **"Tailor Sullivan" or Paddy (Tailor) O'Sullivan:** not on these pages. - **Ballycrovane:** on page 7 only, under **Jeremiah J. Lynch**. It is not linked to any Murphy, and there is no "Seamus Mór" and no Peig Uonhi or Harrington. - **Gort:** not on these pages. Joe Murphy and Margaret Crounhane are also absent. - **Eyeries Village:** the phrase does not occur. "Eyeries Parish" is at the top of page 6. "in Eyeries" is attached to the James Murphy + Mary O'Leary lines. - **Dates:** the only date anywhere on the three pages is "1871", beside Jeremiah J. Lynch. Page 6 gives no dates for James Murphy, Mary O'Leary, Mary Sullivan or Patrick. **Inference (labelled):** the page 6 couple, "James Murphy + Mary O'Leary", is the same pair as the research's candidate parents "James Murphy and Mary O'Leary of Eyeries Village". The note does not say where the names came from: the book, irishgenealogy.ie, or the librarian. It also does not confirm them; "s/B ... in book" records an expectation. Nothing on these pages supports the Ballycrovane pair (Seamus Mór / Peig Uonhi) or the Gort pair (Joe Murphy / Margaret Crounhane) as Patrick's parents. ## (d) Confidence by page | Page | Grade | Basis | |---|---|---| | 5 | **High** | Dark, clear pencil. Minor doubts only: "Valu[e?]" and whether the mark after "Bantry" is a slash or a comma. No family content. | | 6 | **High** | The family lines are lighter and smaller but fully legible at 3x-6x. "Mary Sullivan" is certain, not "Margaret". "Lauragh" is medium-high because its middle letters are cramped. The only [illegible] material is the ghost marks above line 1. | | 7 | **High** for the words, **medium-high** for "1871" | The third digit reads as a 7, but could conceivably be a 2. The dot diagram has no names, and reading it as a cousin chart is inference. |