Description | Papers relating to the family and lands held by the Ormsby Family, Ballinamore Estate, Co Mayo.
This collection is made up of documents and papers referring to the estate and family matters of the Ormsbys of Ballinamore, Co. Mayo from the mid-seventeenth century to the 1930s. Ballinamore is situated on the right hand side of the road from Balla to Kiltimagh on the River Pollagh in the parish of Killeddan. The collection demised to Mr. Anthony John Ormsby of Toronto, Canada. Mr Ormsby inherited the collection from his father Gerald Ormsby, who was the only surviving son of John Yeadon Ormsby, who sold Ballinamore in 1938, with the papers being in Canada since that date.
The papers making up this collection have come to us from at least three sources. Firstly there are those which accumulated at Ballinamore over the years, and these are by far the largest source and the basis for the collection. Secondly, it appears that some documents came into the possession of the Ballinamore branch of the family when the Knockmore branch died out in the 1860s. The two Semple marriage settlements (LE40/129 & LE40/130) for example are both dated around 1840 yet they do not appear in the listing of the papers made around that time (LE40/333), so one assumes they did The papers making up this collection have come to us from at least three sources. Firstly there are those which accumulated at Ballinamore over the years, and these are by far the largest source and the basis for the collection. Secondly, it appears that some documents came into the possession of the Ballinamore branch of the family when the Knockmore branch died out in the 1860s. The two Semple marriage settlements (LE40/129 & LE40/130) for example are both dated around 1840 yet they do not appear in the listing of the papers made around that time (LE40/333), so one assumes they did not become part of the collection until a later date. They were also tied together separately from the other marriage settlements. Other documents may also have come from the Knockmore branch, especially items referring to the O'Malleys. Thirdly, the papers of George Ormsby joined the Ballinamore collection in Canada on his death in 1935, when he left his papers to his nephew Gerald Ormsby of Toronto. George Ormsby's papers are composed of two main groups - a collection of old documents and letters relating to the Ormsbys of Cummin, also spelt Comyn, in Co. Sligo, which came into his possession in 1907 and his own personal papers, mainly comprised of letters and genealogical trees relating to his interest in the history of the Ormsbys and related families. sby (LE40/146). Adam Ormsby had no children either and he left his property to his two nephews - Thomas Ormsby of Cummin, Co Sligo and Anthony Ormsby of Ballinamore. The Cummin Papers (LE40/360-410) refer to the grandchildren of this Thomas. Anthony had three sons, two of whom - Thomas of Ballinamore and Christopher of Dublin - are well documented in the collection. This Thomas of Ballinamore had seven sons and much of the correspondence of the collection centres around this generation of Ormsbys. The eldest of the seven sons left three sons and the youngest of these three - James Yeadon Ormsby - married his cousin Anne, eldest daughter of Croasdaile Miller of Milford, Co. Mayo and they had ten children. John and Anne's third son was John Yeadon Ormsby who sold Ballinamore in 1938 and their fourth son was George Ormsby (LE40/360-464).
The collection had been arranged according to physical format, the main sections being Deeds (a different section for each century), Maps, Marriage Settlements, Wills, Appointments, Degrees, Financial Matters, Legal Matters, Letters and George Ormsby's papers. The first eight sections are easily distinguishable and most of the documents are originals or contemporary copies. The financial and legal matters contain more varied groups of documents, many of them connected with court cases, especially from the early 19th century. These two sections and the letters are in some instances subdivided according to the persons to whom they relate. Each section and sub-section is arranged chronologically and in general the whole list has a chronological basis.
Most of the pre-1840 documents in the first eight sections have been listed before (LE40/331-333). Some documents show evidence of two previous listings, for example Christopher Ormsby of Ballinamore's marriage settlement 1669 (LE40/117) is also numbered '14' and '89'. All the documents have been numbered in pencil according to the present listing but nothing else is written on them at this time, some documents do have other pencil annotations.
The deeds have been divided into three sections relating to the 17th, 18th and 19th/20th centuries. The first section LE40/1- LE40/62) has been numbered and in general described according to the list of c.1840 (LE40/331). Fifteen of these early documents are missing (see LE40/12-LE40/26). These early documents trace how the Ormsby family came to possess their estates in Counties Mayo and Roscommon. The other two sections contain many examples of the land documents so common among 18th and 19th century estate papers. - leases, mortgages etc. Each document in the second and third sections is described under a number of headings, such as 'type', referring to the different types of documents, 'party' refers to the people involved, @ROD' is short for Registry of Deeds where some of the documents were registered to give them legal standing. The Maps and Plans section contains only six items but these include a map of the Ballinamore demense itself in 1795 (LE40/113).
The Marriage Settlements are listed as they were in the original list of c.1840 (see LE40/331). There are eleven settlements in all and copies. The copies would have been kept in their ioriginal placings if they had appeared to complement the other documents amongst which they were found but this did not appear to be so. A note has been kept of the original placings of all documents. The Wills section has been subdivided into four subsections according to document type - originals, probates, letters of administration and copy wills. There are twenty one wills in all dating from 1664-1887 and relating to five different families, Ormsby (14), Ruttledge (4), Elwood (1), O'Malley (1) and Semple (1). There are eleven documents relating to the appointment of various members of the family to positions of importance within Co. Mayo, except for LE40/167 which relates to County Sligo. There are five documents relating to the degree section.
The section relating to financial matters contains a wide variety of documents and has been subdivided into three subsections - two of these containing a particular type of document - quit rent receipts and actual bills. The other subsection contains all the other documents including bonds, legacy duties, children's living expenses and a valuation of the contents of the house at Ballinamore etc. The section relating to legal matters has been divided into two subsections - the first refers to court proceedings and costs in cases involving the Ormsbys, Ruttledges, Elwoods and Trenchs and the second refers to court procedings concerning minors.
The letters section has been largely subdivided according to the writers of various letters. Attention should be drawn to the letter books of Adam Ormsby (LE40/254-6) as the cover a period of more than ten years and are two continuous series containing over two hundred letters. There are four small sections at the end of this part of the list entitled miscellaneous, lists of documents, narratives and newspapers.
George ormsby's Papers are mainly composed of letters to George Ormsby in connection with the history of the Ormsbys and associated families. There are also some genealogical notes and histories. These papers make up the second section of George Ormsby's papers. In 1907 following the death of Adeline Ormsby of Plymouth, Devon, George Ormsby came into the possession of some old documents and a series of letters which had belonged to Adeline's father Adam Ormsby of the Cummin family (LE40/360 & LE40/428). Microfilm copies of LE40/1-324 & LE40/360-410 are available in the National Library of Ireland. This list was composed initally by Brigid Clesham, Archivist in May 1986. |