Exploring Galway Roots and the 1916 Easter Rising

Thank you to my dear friend, Judy Dundas, for allowing me to use her artwork this
St. Patrick's Day.  Four-leaf clovers were Celtic charms, offering magical protection
and warding off bad luck.

Thanks to a post from a fellow blogger, Linda Stufflebean, at Empty Branches on the Family Tree, this Saint Patrick's Day week, I have been exploring the fascinating archives provided by the National Museum of Ireland and the Irish Community Archive Network (iCAN).

Drumharsna Castle, built sometime in
the 1500s, was occupied in 1920 by the
Auxiliary Division of the Royal Irish
 Constabulary (the Black and Tans)
This castle was near the Quinn home.  

Bill and I have visited the National Museum of Ireland in Dublin, but their digital collections offer even more to discover online. Plus, the Museum’s YouTube channel is fantastic!

iCAN was completely new to me, and I was excited to find numerous links to community archives in Clare and Galway—areas of particular interest to me. As Ireland’s leading organization supporting digital community archives, iCAN has already helped create 46 online archives across Clare, Cork, Galway, Mayo, and Wicklow and is expanding to include other areas. 

If you’re just starting your Irish genealogy research, Introduction to Your Galway Genealogy from the Galway County Heritage Office provides a great starting point—not just for Galway, but for Irish research in general. From there, I recommend checking out the links to videos on that page, which guide you step by step through Irish census records, Tithe Applotment records, civil and church records, and the Primary Valuation.

William Joseph Quinn
1894-1959

I’m particularly interested in the 1916 Easter Rising and the events in County Galway during that time. My husband’s grandfather, William Joseph Quinn, was a member of the Kinvara Company Irish Volunteers. While exploring iCAN, I found his name on a participant list and also found a map of the 1916 Rising activities in County Galway. The iCan pages War of Independence in Galway and Galway County’s Easter Rising, 1916 — Digital Heritage Project provide a wealth of information.

If you’d like to learn more about William Joseph Quinn, his service, and his family’s history, I’ve written several posts detailing his story and listed them below for easy access.

The Family of William Quinn and Bridget Brannelly

The Irish Uprising

The Irish Uprising: Obtaining the Records

The Irish Uprising: 1914 and 1915

The Irish Uprising: 1916

The Irish Uprising: 1917 to 1919

The Irish Uprising: 1920

The Irish Uprising: 1921

The Irish Uprising: The Quinn Home

The Irish Uprising: Michael Fahey

Friday's Photo: In Remembrance of the Kinvara Company Irish Volunteers 1916 - 2016

If you want to know more about the families I research, click here to like my Facebook page, where you will see each post and other genealogical finds. 

Diana

© 2025

Drumharsna Castle, 2016, digital image, from the privately held photo collection of Diana Quinn, Virginia Beach, VA, 2025.

William Joseph Quinn, photograph, ca.1927; digital image, original in the privately held photo collection of D.B. Quinn, 2025.

Friday's Photo: William Quinn - What would he think?

William Joseph Quinn 1894 - 1959

I didn't know William Joseph Quinn. I wish I had. My mother-in-law described him as a very kind man. My father-in-law said his father was in some of the best English prisons. 

I am sure that this photo can be found on my blog several times, but this is the one that was displayed at the Kinvara Community Centre, both in 2015 and 2016 to honor those who served in the Kinvara Company Irish Volunteers in 1916.

This is also the photo that I found in the Tract, Kinvara's Community Magazine, with a description of the 2015 display. Follow this link and go to pages 40 to 42. 

What would he think of all of this? I hope that he would have been proud!  

Kinvara Company Irish Volunteers 1916 - displayed at the Kinvara Community Centre

Diana

© 2016

Friday's Photo: In Remembrance of the Kinvara Company Irish Volunteers 1916 - 2016

I write this on my journey home from a vacation spent with my husband and daughter in Ireland and the UK. This trip took us to my husband's family homes in counties Clare and Galway as well as to Dublin, Belfast, Lancashire, and Liverpool. 

The first part of our trip, on the western coast of Ireland, was by far the most interesting. We stayed in a converted carriage house in New Quay, County Clare just down the road from the said to be home of my husband's Murray family (more about this house in an upcoming post). 

One day was devoted to the Kinvara Company Irish Volunteers Centenary Commemoration. My husband and daughter participated in a mass at St. Colemans Church dedicated to those from Kinvara in County Galway who served in the Kinvara Company Irish Volunteers. William Joseph Quinn (Bills grandfather and Emily's great-grandfather) was one of many Kinvara Volunteers honored. After a history walk throughout the village, this stone was dedicated to those who served. 

There's more to come as we met many very nice people, talked to close and distant cousins, found new records, and, thanks to a very interested volunteer, received a fabulous tour of the community where many generations of  Quinns lived out their lives. 

Diana

© 2016