Dunmore

I'm replying to myself in order to improve my subject line.

Hi there,

My gg grandfather was John Lyons b in 1833 in Ireland and moved to Rhode Island. I recently received his death certificate and it lists his parents as James Lyons and Bridget Egan. I found the baptismal record you mentioned, and thought that James and Bridget might be my gggrandparents.....even one of the witnesses was listed as Richard Lyons, and the name Richard was often used in my family.

Do you know for sure that James and Bridget are your John Lyons' parents? If you have additional information that supports this, then I know I need to continue to look elsewhere.

Thanks for your help.

Beth 

Until we can do better, I think we're going to have to share John, James, and Bridget.  I was dismayed to read your note, as I thought I had finally found something solid in that baptismal certificate.  It is a good match for your John's birthday and a good enough one for mine, as I read that parents often waited a year to baptize a child.  Also, my Iowa John and his wife named one of their sons Richard. 

My relatives don't seem to have stopped off even briefly between Ireland and Iowa, so I don't think they could be the same people.  I got Bridget's maiden name from a distant cousin. James and Bridget had one more child, Patrick, before leaving Ireland.  I visited Dunmore last September, and the only crumb of solid information that I got was from the parish register:  the Lyons family that baptized John did not have other children baptized.  This doesn't mean they didn't have other children, as I understand families often found the sacrament too expensive and did not baptize subsequent children.  Someone, by the way, has put the parish baptisms on a spreadsheet? in alphabetical order by family.

Folks in one of the pubs told me that there are two Lyons families in and near Dunmore, one now in town and one single woman out of town.  I tried to visit but didn't find her at home.  I left her a note with my contact information but have not heard from her.

The librarian in Dunmore has extensive information about local history which gave me a good sense of life there when our families were there.  She had copies of some of it for sale.

A professional genealogist in my area is taking a group to Galway to research in August.  She is Ginger at ~~info@timetraveltours.com.

I have not been able to find conclusive ship's logs or naturalization information for James or John.  My dad thought they homesteaded, but I have not found those records.  I hope you have better luck than I have in researching this family. I appreciate hearing from you and will be grateful to hear if you find anything new!

Fran 

I forgot to add that I have his birthday from St. Philomena Cemetery, Asbury, Iowa, as 16 May 1832.  My Iowa James was born in 1802, both in County Galway.  Bridget Egan's tombstone has her birth in County Roscommon in 1813.  I haven't found their marriage record.  A corner of County Roscommon dips near Dunmore.

Fran

Thanks for the information, Fran. 

My John definitely stayed in RI, as did all of his four children, James, John Richard (my ggrand), Mary and Ellen.

I think I found John's  ship log, and I did order his Naturalization papers.....all it said was "Born in Ireland".... I was so disappointed when it was not more specific.

I have reached out to the RC church in RI to see if they have more information in their files on the family, and I am waiting to hear back.

I'll let you find out if I get any more information.

Thanks!

Beth