Where is this place??

[bell2]

Hi all,
       I am researching a JAMES MONAGHAN b/1838, I have just received his Army records and on them it states his place of birth as,
Parish: Barnaback or Bouraback?.
Near Town of: Mullingar,
In the County of:Kings (today called Offaly).

My problem is when I go on to Irish sites Mullingar is in WestMeath and I cant find the Parish name any where can anybody help,
also would Offaly have been Catholic dueing 1838.

                                                                 Thanks Belle.

[magsbutler]

Hi
Don't know if this could be it, but have a look! Maybe whoever first wrote down the details misheard what was said?!

http://www.from-ireland.net/lewis/o/barna.htm

Good luck
Mags

[enfield]

Barnabrack in in the parish of Dromard in County Sligo and it means the speckled gap. (Bearna-Breac).
 Regards.
 Tom

[bell2]

Thanks Tom,
                   I'm more confused then I was before,I don't know where to start looking for his birth is it Kings, Sligo, or WestMeath, any ideas?
So I'm putting on the document,
On his marriage certificate, his fathers occupation is,Wood-Ranger at
Kings, Queens County Ireland.Don't know if that helps much?
                                                                                              Belle.

[enfield]

Kings county is Offaly. Queens County is Laoise. The 66th regiment of foot is the Berkshire regiment and it is interesting to note that his intended residence is Sabastopol in the Crimea!!!
Mullingar is in Westmeath.  I searched Offaly and Westmeath for Barnaback or anything near it without success. I also searched all the other counties with the same outcome.
Sorry I can not be of more assistance.
 Regards.
 Tom.

[luas]

Strange how two people can look at the same thing and see it differently.  To me, his intended place of residence is Devonport, which I suggest is more likely.  Can't make out where he was discharged, though.  Regarding his place of origin, remember he was a labourer in the mid-19th century.  I think it unlikely he was literate.  He may have had, at that age, a limited idea of exactly where his home-place was (in terms of which county), and his accent may have been incomprehensible to those who enlisted him.  Similarly, the officials at Ellis Island, unable to make out what immigrants were saying, wrote down the nearest they could to it, and these people sometimes carried these mistranscribed names for the rest of their lives.  I have always been wary of treating information on old official documents as the gospel truth, for that way lies much wasted time and effort.

[bell2]

Yes your right it is Devonport,as when he returned to the UK he stopped of at Devonport and left his son with the grandparents ( his wifes mother & father) and for some reason took his two older daughters to Lancashire to live. I think his wife may have dead between India and the UK.
I have found a J Monaghan on the 1861 census which gives his place of birth as Sligo Ireland 1836 but can't confirm if this is him,He also got married in Devon 1866, and his place of residence is South Camp Aldershot.  Belle.

[bell2]

PS.  On the 1861 census he's at Aldershot at South Camp but does not say which Regt he is with. Belle.