Famine migrants from Mayo - anyone any good ideas at how to track them back?

[DudleyWinchurch]

Found my notes - doesn't seem to be any location mentioned on the marriage but the baptism for Michael in 1854 says Swinford.  Would that be a townland or was that too big an area for that?

The witnesses unusually were both female, Maria Durcan and Catherine Toliany.

Also, Michael baptised on 10th Feb 1854 is s/o Jacobus McD and Margarita Gallagher but the godparents are Thomas Loftus and Brigida Oliver - I wonder if the family names of the two females got transposed? 

There is certainly at least one Bridget Gallagher around as, also in February 1851, a Joannes Oliver married a Brigida Gallagher with witnesses Joannes McHugh and Brigida Gallagher!

I noted down a few other marriages and baptisms about that time with names of Oliver, McDonough, Durcan/Durkan, McNicholas and Loftus - all names that appear in Bilston too after 1850.

[DudleyWinchurch]

also - if we are right about James, Maria (married a John Burke) and Michael McD being siblings then their father's name is James (from marriages of Michael and Maria) and he was a labourer, so sadly unlikely to appear in Griffiths.  Have not yet found him in Bilston and he is recorded on a marriage cert. as deceased by 1868.

[shanew147]

Found my notes - doesn't seem to be any location mentioned on the marriage but the baptism for Michael in 1854 says Swinford.  Would that be a townland or was that too big an area for that?
....

If that's a transcript then Swinford possibly just refers to the parish, if Swinford is specifically mentioned on the record then I'd say that refers to the town. The townland of Swinford, which contains the town of the same name is just over 95 acres.


Shane

[shanew147]

....if we are right about James, Maria ....then their father's name is James ... and he was a labourer, so sadly unlikely to appear in Griffiths.
....

many labourers would be listed on Griffith's - its mainly people in tenements, shacks and migrant workers etc that would miss out. Others than can be left out would be occupation specific (RIC, Coastguard, Army etc), or living on someone else's property (on employer property, or relatives etc). I doubt there are many tenements in a small town like Swinford


S.

[DudleyWinchurch]

Found my notes - doesn't seem to be any location mentioned on the marriage but the baptism for Michael in 1854 says Swinford.  Would that be a townland or was that too big an area for that?
....

If that's a transcript then Swinford possibly just refers to the parish, if Swinford is specifically mentioned on the record then I'd say that refers to the town. The townland of Swinford, which contains the town of the same name is just over 95 acres.

Shane

The Parish (name on records) is called Achonry/Kilconduff & Meelick

The fact that I noted down Swinford on that record (and Castlebarragh and Longford on some of the other records), most likely indicates that it appeared on the individual record, though that was two years ago, so no guarantee.

[shanew147]

Sounds like it narrows down the search area, at least the time of the baptism to just the town, or possibly the townland - either way a small area.

Did James and Margaret return to Mayo for this birth and/or baptism ?

Just wondering about the timeline.... were other children born to them in England between 1851 and 1854, or could they have stayed in Ireland up this ?



Shane

[shanew147]

The Parish (name on records) is called Achonry/Kilconduff & Meelick
...

just for reference - "Kilconduff & Meelick" or "Swinford" (the town where the parish church as located) was the parish, Achonry is the name of the Diocese.

I think the RC parish changed over the years, but back in the 1830s and probably up the 1850s also it covered the two civil parishes, hence the name.

see : Kilconduff  (Lewis/1837)

see towards the end of the entry for details of the RC parish Union with Meelick.


S.

[heywood]

Hello,

on the other thread, fcurran wrote:

On 12/20/1851 Bridget McDonough was born to James and Margaret Oliver McDonough at The Most Holy Trinity Catholic Church in Bilston, Staffordshire, England.  I believe Bridget is the sister of my ggm Maria McDonough Burke.  They are both from County Mayo, Ireland.

Did you check this birth? I can only see a Bridget McDonald in the indexes but that could be the one, I know.

Maria was born in 1835 to James & Mary McDonough.  I have his dob as 1816 but there is no source reference.  I'll look through the info that I copied on Bilston to see if there is anything else that might resolve the issue.  I remember older family members saying that she insisted that she be called Maria.  Do you know Mary's maiden name?

As you say there are several McDonagh families in Bilston (I am sure I have looked at them before  ) and as people often emigrated to family, this could be the explanation and of course people from the same townlands would go to each other.
I am sure you have already researched all these McDonaghs:
1851 has a James McDonach born abt 1816 in Bilston. His marital status is not given. He is lodging in a Boyle household - another lodger is Nichols.  Boyle and McNicholas occur in Kilconduff parish.

In 1861 there is a Nicholas lodger with your family.

Family Search has some of your family baptisms in Bilston- I think you mention them as there were some deaths?
There are also baptisms and births Swineford to Hugh McDonagh and Mary Oliver in 1860s. There is a Hugh in Griffiths http://www.failteromhat.com/griffiths/mayo/kilconduff.htm

I know how difficult it is when the same surnames occur and intermarry and then perhaps emigrate together!

heywood

[DudleyWinchurch]

Hi Shane,

I'll try to answer a few more questions.

James McD, with wife Margaret, Michael McD and Maria McD all start to appear in Bilston records from the early 1850s (there may be more and I am sending for marriage certs as and when I can afford it to check fathers' names).

First, our Bridget was born in Bilston in December 1851 and baptised there.  I don't yet have a birth cert but there's a letter waiting to be posted to try the one you mentioned.

Neither Bridget nor the Michael in the family of James and Margaret appear in 1861, so I'm guessing may have been left in Mayo with relatives, but there is no birth/baptism for Michael in Bilston and there are census records saying born in Ireland, so I guess at least Margaret went back.  Bridget is a bit of a puzzle as all later records suggest she is born about 1854?? but no evidence of more than one in Bilston.  There are nine baptisms in Bilston, including twins who did not survive for long.

FCurran belongs to Maria's family and had independently deduced that Michael (senior), James and Maria were related about the same time that I had.  However Bridget was born first and James and Margaret were far too young to be the parents of his Maria.  We are in touch regularly, including today!

There is another set of McDonough (and variants) families in Bilston in the 1850s, whose parents were John and Bridget (and were also in Bilston) - they are also linked to family names Comer and their Bridget married first a Coyne and then an O'Neil).  there are more or who may belong to either that family or ours, or yet another family not yet known.

I have lots of info from the catholic church in Bilston and a number of registration certificates already.