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Ireland (Historical Counties) => Ireland => Roscommon => Topic started by: ROC on Thursday 26 May 11 12:23 BST (UK)
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Hi, I'm trying to trace where my Great Grandfather Michael McGarry came from.
The 1911 census lists him as being born in County Roscommon, but I can't locate him on the 1901 census and don't know where to begin in tracing him in that county.
A family member believes he came from Ballymoe, which is in Co. Galway near the Roscommon border, but this information may be incorrect.
Here he is in the 1911 census with my Great Grandmother Sara Mary Gordon from Claremorris, County Mayo: http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/pages/1911/Mayo/Claremorris/Claremorris/706703/
I know that Michael was Roman Catholic, he worked as a Railway Foreman and his job on the railway took him to Claremorris where he met Sara.
According to the census, he'd have been born in 1877 and married my Great Grandmother Sara Mary in 1910.
They had two children, Timothy McGarry born in 1912, and Thomas Gerard (known as Ger) McGarry, born 27 April 1916.
He lived the remainder of his life in Claremorris, County Mayo, with his wife and family.
I believe he died sometime in the 1920s, though I am not sure exactly, I have not been able to source a date of death so far.
I have gone through all McGarrys in the 1901 census but can't match him up to any of them. I've tried variations of name spellings, etc, but no luck.
We erected a headstone on his grave at Ballinasmall Friary/Graveyard near Claremorris, but have been unable to put any dates on it so I'm hoping someone here can help me out.
I'd love to be able to find out where in Roscommon he came from and add his parents and family to my tree.
Attached is a large painting we have of Michael.
Thanks!
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Here's possible marriage references for Michael & Sara :
Name: Sarah Gordon
Registration district: Claremorris
Event type: Marriage
Quarter and year: Oct - Dec 1909
Volume : 4 / Page : 73
Name: Michael J McGarry
[same index references as Sarah]
a marriage cert would give Michael's current residence and also his father's name and occupation and might help you locate Michael on the 1901 census...
see :
Introduction to Irish Records (http://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php/topic,442233.0.html)
Ordering Certs from GRO Roscommon (http://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php/topic,433040.0.html)
Details included on a Marriage Cert (http://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php/topic,433042.0.html)
Shane
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Thanks for this, that's definitely them, the Gordons are the only family of that name in Claremorris.
Nice to be able to narrow down the marriage year, I will go ahead and get a marriage cert for them as I'm really eager to find out more and expand on the family tree.
Are there cases where the marriage cert doesn't contain parents' names?
I know from looking online at the LDS records that you'll often see the columns for parents' names left blank. I wouldn't like to pay for a cert only to find the information isn't contained on it.
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Other than the extracted collections, the Irish familysearch records are indexes only. The certs will usually show all the details - although occasionally there can be items left out. Unfortunately there's no way to know until you see the photo copy of the record..
Irish marriage certs dont include mother's name, just father's name - see the marriage cert link above
Shane
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Okay, thanks for the info, hopefully this will help me along to the next stage.
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the marraige cert will give you an address and Father's name which will help
The following may be him in 1901
As this Michael McGarragh is listed living with all railway staff
http://www.rootschat.com/links/0dg8/
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I sent off for the marriage cert yesterday evening so hope to hear something back next week!
Thanks so much for that find, myluck, that is very likely to be him. While I searched for Garry, MacGarry, MgGarry, etc, I never tried McGarragh.
I went through loads of railway staff, but never spotted this guy.
The fact that he's from Roscommon matches up also.
Thank you.
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when you think you have every way a name can be written there is still another one out there!
best of luck
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I'm back again.
The marriage cert arrived, and unfortunately Michael put down 'Claremorris' for his residence at the time of marriage, so I still don't know where he is from. I assume he was living there for his railway job before he got married.
Michael's father is listed as Patrick McGarry and he is a Farmer.
Michael signs his name 'Michael J McGarry', he and Sara were married on 11th November 1909 and both are listed as age 33. His profession is Railway Porter.
The marriage took place in the presence of Elizabeth Gordon (that's Sara's sister) and a Michael Jolan or Tolan.
Priest was a Patrick Kilkenny.
I've gone through the census just now and there are several Patrick McGarrys that are farmers in Roscommon that are the right age group to be Michael's father, so I'm still a bit lost when it comes to narrowing Michael down to a particular place in Roscommon.
If any of you could offer me any advice, I'd really appreciate it! Thanks.
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I notice that one of the Patrick's who is a farmer in Roscommon has a son called Timothy, and Michael named his first son Timothy, so perhaps there's a connection there as it's not that common a name.
http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/pages/1911/Roscommon/Roscommon_Rural/Ballingarel/783436/
My Grandmother (on the other side of the family) always told me they were from a place that began with the letter B but she couldn't remember the place name, and guessed at Ballymoe in later years. So the McGarrys listed in that link are a definite possible, but still, how can I ever be sure?
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As Michael married away from his home he may have been asked for his baptismal certificate and the church records may have noted this
You could ask the Church for what they recorded of the wedding
I have asked someone I know from Mayo with railway interests if there is any other way of finding out more information and will get back to you
If Patrick and Margaret are proven correct
they were married in 1865
http://www.rootschat.com/links/0dk0/
Their children were
Thomas born July 1867
Mary Sep 1869
John Oct 1871 (may have died in Mass USA in 1905)
Michael Sep 1873
Martin Aug 1875
Timothy Oct 1877
Margaret's name spelt Kearns and Kerins on www.familysearch.org
Patrick and Margaret are also listed in Ballinagard in 1901 (note name difference due to misinterpretation of handwriting) Ballingard is just outside Roscommon Town
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Oh, thanks so much for all of this info. Looking at this, I see they already had a son called Michael born 1873, so I guess that can't be them then, unless he died and they re-used the name (I've seen examples of this done in other branches of my family). My Michael would've been born 1877. The census for 1911 does say they had 6 children, with 4 living. So that's possible.
I will get onto the Church today and see if they recorded anything.
We'll get to the bottom of this eventually!
I was unable to find Ballingarel on a map, Ballinagard makes more sense. I will mention that town name to my Grandmother and see if it means anything to her but she is unlikely to remember much about this now.
I still have no idea when Michael died, so I can't request a death cert just yet. I've looked through the registers online but none seemed to really fit.
There is a family mystery associated to this Michael, so he may not have been in Claremorris anymore when he died. I will PM you more information about this as it may ring a bell with the person you are seeking further info from.
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received PM thanks!
there is not much difference between 1873 and 1877 when looking at family history in that era - ages were often guessed at
Look at the couple Patrick and Margaret on the census; they went from age 55 & 54 in 1901 to each being 71 in 1911! Michael went from 23 to 32 (+9) and Timothy from 21 to 29 (+8)
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That's true, I've encountered that many times while working on my family tree.
Sara was 35 when she married, I know this as I already had her birth registration details, but her marriage cert says she is 33. I have seen cases where the age was out by 12 or so years.
While browsing irelandoldnews.com I came across an article from the early 1900s that said people were lying about their ages on census documents to get a pension (or some such payout) earlier than they were entitled to it.
Hah, that Patrick and Margaret certainly took a jump in age!
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My Grandmother [on the other side of the family] confirms to me that Ballinagard is the town that Michael McGarry comes from.
I wouldn't depend on her memory 100%, but she always told me it was 'Ball' something and when she heard me say 'Ballinagard' she jumped at it immediately. So I'm happy enough to pursue Ballinagard further now!
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I still haven't been able to find out when Michael died, if anyone would be able to help me out with locating a date so I could request a cert, that would be excellent.
I've tried familysearch many times but I haven't spotted anything that suits.
I'm a bit baffled at this point, he is buried at Balinasmal Friary in Claremorris, but we were never able to put dates on the grave and this is something I would like to do.
Any help on this appreciated, thanks!
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If he died before 1958 he should be listed in civil registration index- with the details there you'll be able to order the death certificate to find the exact date, etc.
https://www.familysearch.org/search/collection/list#page=1&countryId=1927084
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Another possibility is Ballinagare which is a few miles north of Castlerea. McGarry name found in that general area. Have not had chance to look up census.
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Thanks for your replies.
I haven't been able to locate anyone on the civil registration index that matches up.
This is the only one I'm seeing for Claremorris that died in roughly the right time period, but my Michael was born in 1877 [or possibly 73] so this can't be right: https://www.familysearch.org/search/recordDetails/show?uri=https://api.familysearch.org/records/pal:/MM9.1.r/MFXP-HMW/p1
I don't really have any idea when he died, apart from his last son being born in 1916, so he had to have been around then, and he died before his wife, she died 1945.
As he is buried in Claremorris, I would have assumed he died there where his wife and kids were.
So I'm looking at a window of 1916 to 1945.
I'm still planning a trip around whichever Ballinagare/gard it is when I get some more information together.
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Familysearch.org is a great site but there are one or two duplications and typos
if you ordered the genuine certificate it could prove useful
also asking the obvious here are there records for the cemetery?
I will follow up with my contact when i can but unable to at present for more information
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Perhaps I should just go ahead and order that cert then, maybe the birth year has been entered incorrectly.
There are other McGarrys in Claremorris [not related] so it is possible this is one of them, but might be as well to order that cert and see. At least I can rule it out then.
I enquired at the Church a long time ago and was told there are no records for the graveyard other than a transcription list of the graves done by a FAS scheme in recent years, and as we do not have any dates on the grave, this is no use unfortunately.
And thank you!
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From the research done so far it looks like Michael McGarry born 1873 in Ballingard is your Michael. Have downloaded the info. Born 24 Sept. 1873 to parents Patrick McGarry and Margaret Kearns. Address given as Ballinagard, Roscommon parish.
As 'MyLuck' has pointed out, ages given in census do not always tally with year of birth. Trust me, I have found this out lots of times in my own families research and others. The link to the name Timothy is also a very good clue.
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VH, thank you very much for the info. I am happy to go with that Michael.
Just to update, I ordered the cert for the only Michael McGarry that died in Claremorris during the right time period, and it's not my Michael.
This is the cert I ordered: https://www.familysearch.org/search/recordDetails/show?uri=https://api.familysearch.org/records/pal:/MM9.1.r/MFXP-HMW/p1
I'm a bit lost as to what my next step should be. I am now wondering if Michael died somewhere other than Claremorris.
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Hi ROC,
The Michael you are talking about sounds very familiar- pretty sure he is my great grand uncle. His brother Timothy (1880) is my great grandfather. There are many family members still living in the Ballinagard area. My uncle, who is living in London, has told us a story about how his grandfather Timothy went to work on the railway as a young man and how his brother went with him. His brother stayed on and became station master in Claremoris. He will email on any further details he can find on Michael and his family. Unfortunately we don’t know any dates to do with Michael’s death but if it is the same family line we have loads of info about Timothy and his family.
Good luck.
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Hi there! This is a very exciting development for me. I would be delighted to hear of any information you may have and I can supply you with some further details by private message. Thanks so much for taking the time to reply to this thread!