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!
