Step 2) My first mistake: Cragg near Tulla (re BUTLER and FITZPATRICK ancestors)

Two of my great-grandmother's siblings, James and Maria BUTLER, arrived on the Forfashire, in 1882. They were sponsored two years earlier by my great-grandmother, Margaret BUTLER, in 1880 from her new home in Sydney. According to the Immigration Deposit Journals, which recorded Margaret as their sponsor, James and Maria listed Cragg, Kilmihil Post Office in County Clare as their most recent address:

Based on this information, I decided to stay as close to possible to Cragg in County Clare during my short two day stay to County Clare in July 2014. When I looked up Cragg in County Clare on Google Maps, I found a small area named Cragg, near Tulla. So, I assumed that this could have been the Cragg mentioned by James and Maria in their Immigration Deposit Journal records. Little did I know at this stage that there was more than one Cragg in County Clare.

Based on this idea, I booked a B&B at Tulla, the closest accommodation I could find to Cragg, near Tulla - Clondanagh Cottage, Tulla.

On the first morning of my stay at the Tulla B&B, I visited Cragg, near Tulla - a lovely green area with small cottages and a soccer field.

To make sure I was in the right place, I stopped the car and spoke to a local jogger. She assured me that I was in Cragg. However, my first clue that I was probably in the wrong place, the wrong "Cragg", came from another Cragg local. After driving up and down the street of Cragg a few times, I stopped and spoke to a man in his garden about my quest - to find the location of Cragg where my BUTLER, and possibly FITZPATRICK, ancestors lived before they migrated to Australia. He explained that the term "Cragg" was often used to describe the grounds or townlands surrounding a larger town. He had never heard of the surnames of BUTLER and FITZPATRICK in association with this Cragg and suggested that the Cragg I was looking for may be in another area of County Clare.

I went back to my records (well, James and Maria BUTLER's records) and realised that the Cragg I was looking for may be closer to Kilmihil. Cragg, near Tulla, was about 45 km from Kilmihil. 

So, off I went to Kilmihil in my search of Cragg.

Next step on my Kimilhil journey: 

Step 3) Revisiting the town of Kilmihil, County Clare (re BUTLER and FITZPATRICK ancestors)