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aghadowey,

If you will re-read my original post you will see that I raised the question and then asked if that was the case, in all instances. 

It was, and still is, something to explore and the subject matter need not be hidden away in some dark closet, as some might do.  While you may use your example of the R.C. family in Galway, about 25 years ago, and Tony could find another one for Fintona, it does not follow that in all cases the religion of the parents have nothing to do with the naming of their child.  I too could tell of examples that would buttress my argument (?) that when you do not have any more information than just the name it is necessary to ask questions, even if they raise the hackles that we would like left alone.

As you stated, using the Christian name of Elizabeth does not give any indication of the family's denomination in itself - but it could, if there were other questions asked. Would you not ask the other questions for fear that the answers might offend?

 I began my search in 1982 on lark because I just happened to be around Fintona.  I later ended up with another person visiting the LDS History Center in Salt Lake City while we were attending a conference together. Oh, I made many mistakes once I got started.  And I still do, as noted in the quick responses to this posting. I wanted to share some of them with everyone, the reason for this posting. 

But, back to Salt Lake City. It was time to find Owen and Catherine's marriage.
 
Owen was the son of Eugene McCarroll from Corkhill, and in 1867 it was part of the R.C. parish of Clogher, which also was the civil parish of that name.  Now Eugene probably went by the name of Owen because they are interchangeable and this created a problem when we went looking for Catherine and Owens’s marriage registration.  Although Owen signed his name as Owen he was listed on the marriage certificate (?) as Eugene and we paid Ned looking for an Owen.  Also, Catherine had become a McCusker although her father was a McCosker according to Griffiths.  Later, when looking for an aunt’s birth Catherine was listed as a McKuskar.  But persistence paid off for me because I wanted to find out why the LDS information did not square up with what I had found in the 1982 visit to the Clogher records where I had actually seen the information when it was written down, and it was not part of the LDS archives.

Now I do not want to imply that this searcher’s parents or grandparents or great grandparents were married in Fintona.  In fact, after a careful reading of her request you could surmise that it did not happen that way.  Mary, her grandmother was born in 1865, about the time that my Owen and Catherine were married.  But she came to America in 1881 with her brother Bernard, so she could not have been married in Ireland.  We then have only Mary and Bernard born around 1865 (was Bernard older or younger?), possibly in the townland of Rathfragan (which is north of the town of Fintona, by a townland called Donacavey in the parish of Donacavey).  And we have their parents arriving with them.  Would not the start of the search turn to Rathfragan and Griffith’s? 
 
Owen and Catherine made their home in the 167 acre townland of Corkhill, farming and raising a passel of kids.  We know that because their farmhouse was removed in 1982 by the Devine’s, who then owned the land.  And alas, I was there to witness it's demise. All of their children married except Patrick and the last two, Jane and Hugh, who stayed on the farm where we have a record of Catherine's death.  Three of the children were to go to San Francisco, California; one of them stayed there and raised his family - Tom Carroll who had married Catherine Daley from Newtown Saville (later to become Newtownsaville, in the parish of Eskra, or St. Patrick's) before leaving for San Francisco. 

The rest of the family, including my grandfather, are buried at St. Patrick's and the family  headstone is one of the oldest there - and all of the Carroll's that have headstones there are named McCarroll's. but one. Although Michael McCarroll became a Carroll in California he lived in Fintona as a McCarroll.  Why, we have not questioned.  But there is a mysterious headstone in that cemetery for a Patrick Carroll who died in 1912; was he the Mad Man as the family called him because Pat had traveled back and forth to San Francisco?
 
Note that the "Mc" had been dropped, as were those of the brothers that went to San Francisco. when they became Carroll's.  In this case, it all happened before the 1906 earthquake, but that is not the reason why for the earthquake and fire.  My grandfather immigrated to America in 1899 and was to return to Ireland in 1912. Ships records should be used to verify that; however the expense is such that I choose not to do that.  We did a review that found when they returned in 1924 and that is a good source that some could help with on these boards.

I guess I will stop here, but i will pick it up tomorrow. Good luck in your hunting!

  While the McCuskers (and a variant spelt McCosker) were resident to the locality sometimes referred to as Eskra (Eskragh), it does not necessarily mean that they lived in the townland of Eskra.  My great grandmother was a McCusker who married into the McCarroll family of Corkhill.  Catherine passed away in September 1916 and it appears that she was living at that time with her unmarried "children:" Hugh, b. 1883, and Jane, b. 1881. 

You note that Margaret was buried in Eskra - but the graveyard and chapel are actually in the townland of Lisnarable. 

Confusing?  Yes, it is - but, as Aghadowey points out that it unfortunately is difficult to obtain information of the more recent ancestors, but it is even more difficult sorting things out when the townlands are confused with unofficial localities such as Eskra.

My Catherine was from the townland of Agharonan yet she lived for a while in Cattor, moving still to Legamaghery.  She even lived with one of our cousins, over at Curr.  How then are we to connect these places when they all come together at the graveyard in Eskra, but actually is in the townland of Lisnarable?  You could start with Margaret's gravestone and the Eskra Roman Catholic chapel.

There was a Maggie McCarroll who entered at age 10 Fintona's school, previously from "Eskra" but she left that school February 11, 1923.  Her father was listed as a publican, as was my grandfather and both were in Fintona at that time.

You might want to obtain a map that will let you know just what the townlands are around this area. 

I raise thes points not to argue but to show you how difficult it is to locate long, and not so long, lost relatives.  By the way, do you know of Maggie's maiden name?  That may give you a clue to where you start to can find her.  Who knows, she might have been that Maggie Carroll.

Regarding a Jane McCusker that we found while searching the Catherine McCusker ancestral backgrounds in County Tyrone, unfortunately the only reference was one that is contained in an Ulster Historical Foundation In Depth Search Report that I had done a number of years back.

The report stated:

"The one connection we have found is a McGarrity/McCusker one.  The Jane McGarrity, aged ten in the 1911 census, living with Andrew Bogan's family was actually the daughter of a McCusker (sometimes reported as McCosker), not a McCarroll.  Her parents were Thomas McGarrity and Jane McCusker of Augharon (sic)."

I believe that should be Agharonan. And if you will do a little research don't forget to use the McCosker name as that was what it was in Griffith’s. At that time there were two citations for McCusker (McCosker) in the townland of Agharonan: households numbered 34 and 35 (a) through (c).

[ It should be noted that the household numbers in Griffith’s were not the addresses but the serially numbered leaseholds that were visited.  For example, the Patrick McCosker’s lived at location numbered 34 on the Griffith’s map.  When one looks at later ordnance survey maps they may find that the number changes because the number was only the indication that when he visited it was the 34th call in the townland.]

There were no McGarrity's located in Agharonan when Griffith’s did his survey, but there were a number that lived in surrounding townlands or areas.  This leads to further speculation.  The Jane McCusker of Augharon may have been the sister of Catherine.  But we do lack proof, other than speculation, and that is not proof.  During the 1924 funeral of Michael Joseph McCarroll, late of Fintona and a native of Eskra (Corkhill) parish, attendees John McCusker of Legamaghery and Patrick Joseph McGarrity of Augharonon were listed as cousins to the deceased.  (I know, you have to watch these obits.)

Another reminder, make sure when you do your search that you use the various spellings of both the name and the location as they change over time, as we found out with Patrick McCosker, father of Catherine McCarroll (nee McCusker).  In the Griffiths Valuation there was a paucity of McCuskers.  It became very clear that most of the McCusker’s of later years "started" out as a McCosker, at least according to Griffith.