ballian

[almaz]

According to the 1891 census my great grandmother was born in Ballian, cannot find this on any maps. can anyone help please?.

[dzug]

Try http://www.streetmap.co.uk/ - there's a very similar place it finds on a search -Ballianlay

Theres a Ballina in Ireland I think

Probably other misspellings possible too - are you looking at a copy of the original or a transcription?

[Buenchico]

I think Dzug's provided the answer in his second sentence.

Between 1801 and 1922 the whole of Ireland was under British rule, so any births in Ballina would be recorded in the UK census throughout the 19th century. Many Irish towns were known by both their original Gaelic names and Anglicised versions.

I suspect that Ballian is the English version of Ballina (or vice versa!). This is not simply based a hunch. A web search has shown that the group which campaigned to get Broadband access for the towns of Killaloe and Ballina was known as the Killaloe/Ballian Community Broadband Project. This leads me to think that, while Ballina is the modern form of the name, Ballian is still accepted as an alternative.

If you want to check whether my answer is correct, why not phone the local tourist information office (in Killaloe):
00 353 61 376866.
Or, if the tourist information office is closed at this time of the year, try Killaloe library:
00 353 61 376062.
Another place where they ought to know about alternative place names is the local post office:
00 353 61 376111.

Hoping this helps,

Chris

[spudqueen]

If you could order her birth certificate you may find more clues on there.

[spudqueen]

Ooh - worth checking other census'es out aswell as people often put different birth places on different censuses!