Durkin-Durkan

[Windy]

I went through a few links on this site and ended up at eircom.net. They have church records and I spotted a Church Plaque in Curry Co Sligo with the spelling Durcan.

[Windy]

Had a chat with a  local catholic priest the other day and put to him the theory that the priest or clerk spelled the name Durkin/kan/can, based either on where they came from, eg, if sligo can and if mayo then kin, maybe. But he threw that right out as an idea, as in those days the catholic priest were much more likely to be English than Irish and so would'nt have had a clue re Counties and Surname spellings, so it is most likely that it was purely pot luck.

[jacquelineve]

Windy

   I think I'm going to have to give up with my Durkins-Durkans
it would'nt be so bad if I knew which county they were from,
plus my g.g.grandmothers maiden has more variations than
the "D's".  On two bapt.entries 1st. Ilcoat, then 2yrs.later
Illicote, it's been suggested they are variations of Ellicott or
Ellicote. I've searched numerous Irish sites looking for this
name, but so far no luck.
             Just out of interest, do you have twins on your Durkin
side?
                          Jacquelineve.

 Out of all my ancestors I've researched so far, the Durkins
had the most interesting occupation

Rag and bone gatherers.

[Windy]

No we don't to my knowledge have twins in our line.

but out of maybe vague interest, there were Durkins in York in 1862 who had twins.  John and Bridgets twins, michael and Patrick died aged 1 day old.

We got the information about counties from the church records initially. The catholic marriage record from 1853 gave the residence of bride and grooms parents at the time of marriage, this was Sligo for the groom and Mayo for the bride. We have only  seen this info on the 51 census quite recently, but it does not appear on any later ones, they just say Ireland.

However the other pair came over already married so I don't think we will ever really know where they came from, not for sure. The most likely option is of course around Mayo, Roscommon, Sligo.

Where occupation is given for our lot its either general or agricultural labourer, or for the children - hawker!


Windy