Want to establishment contact with Hughes / Traynor Families in the Rathkenny - Montnewtown area,

Dear Bill

Welcome to Ireland Reaching Out and apologies for the delay in getting back to you.

I see that there are two Hughes entries on the Griffith's Valuation:

http://www.askaboutireland.ie/griffith-valuation/index.xml?action=doNam…

You could try to trace who was situated on that land from the time of Griffith's (in this case in 1854) up to the 1960s and 1970s. However the second part of this research is not available online. Using the Cancelled Books or Revision Books you can see who was on a plot from the time of Griffiths onwards. Ownership and tenure may have changed and you will be able to find out the name of the family over the years. You can find out more details about the Cancelled Books below. They are available in the Valuation Office in Dublin , but not yet online (though I believe there was talk of a pilot project to do so):

http://www.irish-genealogy-toolkit.com/revision-books.html

Best wishes

Clare Doyle

Genealogy Support 

Thank You Clare.

Sorry it took so long to get back to you, but my son and daughter in law came back from Africa so she delivered a new baby boy. We have been busy around our house. I've also corrected some of my spelling errors on my first memo.

I have searched the Griffith records and the 1901 and 1911 censuses for the Hughes'  and the two you found are all that I found also and they disapeared by 1911. I was wondering if there is a on line way to research the 2016 records of the Surnames. Like the the US Whites pages. If I could search at the Town land or Parish level it would be great,. 

Bill Hughes

Hi Bill

There is an online phonebook that might be of use to you. Make sure you search the residential tab:

http://www.eirphonebook.ie/

Congrats on the new arrival!

Best wishes

Clare

Genealogy Support 

Hi Bill, I am also in New York State and researching Hughes from Meath and Offaly.   From Rathkenny, I found Peter Hughes who was b July 1803.  His father was father Christopher Hughes and mother Bridget Hammel.  I believe that this is the Peter who married Biddy Burns and had children Christopher, John and Rosanna, all of whom came to US except Peter.  I just wondered if these names were familiar to you.  Hope you had a great trip to Ireland.

Elaine Massena, Geneseo NY

Dear Elaine;

We just just got back from Meath and Ireland. I went to the Hughea/Traynor old farm site in Kellystown, just North of Slane.. I also visited the Catholic Church at Grangegeeth. This and several other churches are now part of Rathkenny and this is the closed church to Kellystown.. I luckily ran into some people in the parish who said they were willing to do some research and see if their are any people with Hughes/Traynors in their family history.

My Family settled in the Potsdam, Madrid and Waddington area, 1827-1829, of St Lawrence County, NY. It appears that there were several Meath families who settled in the area. There are many Hughes' in the Madrid, Waddington and Potsdam Cemetery but few live Hughes'. The original church thah served the St Lawrence County area was several miles South of Waddington and it has a very old cemetery behind a large barn. This church burnt down in 1860's+- and was named St Mary's. The original Church in Grangegeeth, Meath, was St Mary's and all the newer Catholic churches in Waddington, Potdam and Canton are named St Mary's.

I have never come accross a Peter or Christopher Hughes in  my research. The most popular names were John, Michael, Matthew, James, and William. As we were touring Irland we found many Hughes's in County Mayo and County Armagh. I believe the Mayo line came from the Celts and the Armagh/Meath line came from the Normans. Check with the Irish 1850 Griffith Records and they have a lot of info on families by Townland.between 1847 and 1860. This is a  free.site.

Sorry this didn't help but if I find out anythng I'll let you know.

Bill Hughes, Lakewood, Colorado.

Bill, Thanks for your note.  So glad you had a good time in Ireland.  I hope that your contacts find relations there for you.  I wanted to say that I especially liked your original post, relating how the Irish paid homage to their native land when they came to America.  My gr grandfather, Edward Hughes Cantwell, wound up in Illinois and founded a town there which he named Tullamore after his Co Offaly home.  I'm new to this website but it seems like a great way to "meet" others in our trees.  Good luck with your search.  Elaine