Though there are many of us descendents of our branch of the REDMOND line, these flow from the maternal side.  There are no male descendents or their issue, now alive.  A further difficulty in passing on information to the now and future generations is the paucity of information on our forebear Redmond’s.
The earliest factual information is that my Great Grandfather -Edward Redmond was born in 1815, died in1908 and is buried in Donaghmore Cemetery,his family home and address is unknown but presumed to be in the Cahore area.  He married Anne O’Connor in 1843 and they had 7 children.  There is no extant record where the family lived until the around the 1880’s when the cottage was built in Glasscarrig South.  This cottage was built and paid for by Captain Michael Redmond, the son of Edward and Anne,who by then had become a ship’s captain for The City Of Dublin Steam packet Company, was living in Dublin and prospering.
John George who became Solicitor-General of Ireland and was in ownership of 2012 acres of land and with a Dublin residence at 45 Fitzwilliam Square decided to build a country residence in the early 1850’s.It was named Cahore House later poshed up to Cahore Castle, still in situ to-day.   Around the 1870’s George must have taken some solicitous interest in the Redmond family as he is known to have arranged for two sons, Edward (my Grandfather) and Michael to be placed in the employment of The City of Dublin Steam packet Company.
Michael Redmond became a ship’s captain and in the 1911 Census his occupation is given as Master Mariner. He was married and lived at 14 Cadogan Road in Dublin. There were no children of that marriage.
Edward Redmond, my Grandfather, became Lower Deck master on the S.S. ULSTER, of which I’ve written about separately. He married Harriett Brennan in 1886.They had 9 children. Rosanna their daughter born in 1892 was my mother. They lived in several addresses in Kingstown, which is now Dun Laoghaire.
The REDMOND name has a vast history behind it. It is believed to be of Norman origin showing up first in Strongbow’s time around 1172.The main concentration of the name was as is still in County Wexford, yet the earliest that I can trace back our branch is the 19th century.
The only census records in the public domain in Ireland are for 1901 and 1911, nothing earlier and because of the political and military turmoil of the War of Independence Irish forces burnt down the Custom House in Dublin in 1921, in an attempt to disrupt British rule in Ireland. In the Custom House were stored a vast amount of historical records, including parish records of births, marriages and deaths going back to the middle ages, they were all destroyed.
If anyone reading this can fill in any more information or detail or correction, please put it on site.
Eddie O’Leary
03/09/2009