Foxford Help

Just found a more accurate spelling for the other birth place: Culonaghlin, Mayo.  

Here is the index for Margaret with the other parish.  I can't find it all on my maps!  Not under townland.... If someone can shed light on how close this is to Foxford, I'd appreciate it.

Hello again Audrey!

Your family lived in Cuillonaghtan townland in Killasser civil parish which is just to the east of Toomore civil parish.

Killasser RC parish records start in 1847 and Toomore parish records start in 1870. I was unable to find a church marriage record for Anthony and Bridget so it is possible that they were married in Toomore before civil registration.  Civil registration started in 1864.

I will do some more searching and get back to you.

Roger McDonnell

Audrey:

Cuillonaghtan is five mile east/southeast from the town of Foxford.

Roger

I have loaded one more document.  Perhaps Foxford and Culonaghlin, Swineford, County Mayo, is all the same.  If someone can help, I'd appreciate it!  Thanks.

Audrey:

So far I have only located five daughter to Anthony McNulty and Bridget Lynskey/Linskey. The first two Mary and Bridget were born when the family lived in Callow townland in Killasser civil parish. The last three Catherine Julia and Margaret were born in Cuillonaghtan. Do you have any other names?

So far I have not located death records for Anthony and Bridget. Is it possible the entire family emigrated or did the girls emigrate one by one?

Roger

Hi, Audrey! My name is Kevin Jewell and I live in San Francisco, California. I read the posts above with interest, because I think we are related.

My grandmother, Anne Marie McNulty (my mother's mother) was born in 1885 in the townland of Callow in Killasser parish, which is mentioned above. Her father was Thomas McNulty, and I think he was either a brother or cousin of your Anthony McNulty.  In Griffith's Valuation (a mid-1800's tax survey), there were seven McNulty's holding tenancies in Callow, who were presumably all brothers or cousins.  One was named Anthony, so he might well be your Anthony.  .One of them was James McNulty, the father of my Thomas McNulty.  Exactly how we are connected is uncertain, but if you've done DNA testing, then we could compare results and see how close the connection may be.  In the 1901 census, there were still two McNulty families in Cullonaughton, and a dozen or so in Callow (my grandmother appears in that census).

Roger has already mentioned the baptismal records for two of Anthony and Bridget's children: Mary, who was baptized 14 October 1860, and Bridget, who was baptized 24 December 1863. The family was recorded as living in Callow, where my grandmother was also born (she was the youngest child, and some of her older siblings were born around the same time that Mary and Bridget were born) . I think the birth info which you found on Ancestry was off somewhat (possibly, the contributor of the info was misinformed), because the info I have is directly from the parish register. I'm attaching copies of the pages in the parish register for those two baptisms. Mary is shown in the first record, about half-way down the right-hand page. Bridget is shown in the second record, a bit further down the right-hand page. Her name is abbreviated as "Brid", which was common, and was probably what the family called her (the Irish form of the name, Bríd, sounds like "Breedge").

Note that their mother's maiden surname was recorded as "Lensk". The actual surname, Lynskey/Lynsky, is an anglicization of the Irish surname Ó Loinscigh, found principally in Mayo and Galway. The families in the area would have been entirely Irish-speaking in the mid-1800's (even later, my grandmother grew up speaking Irish at home), but most people did not know how to write Irish anymore (they were taught to read and write in English in school, where Irish was not allowed).  As pronounced in Irish, the name could be misheard as something like "Linshk" and even the priest who made the register entry may have been unsure how to spell it.  In later years, it settled down in most cases as Lynskey or Lynsky, which can be seen in later register entries. There is another surname, Ó Loingsigh, used by several different septs (tribes) in other parts of Ireland, which is believed to be related, but which was usually anglicized as Lynch or Linchy. Ó Loinscigh was also sometimes anglicized as Lynch, but the Lynskey form is much more common in Mayo.

IIn case you want to look for other records in the parish register, it is available online at this link, and the map there shows where the parish of Killasser is located, in relation to neighboring parishes like Toomore (you can use the interactive map at the site to move on to look at the parish register records for other parishes):

https://registers.nli.ie/parishes/0134

If you would like to see more information about the townland of Callow, it can be found at this link.  There are also links to info for neighboring townlands, including Cullonaughton, which lies just to the west of Callow,  At the page for each townland, you can also access the Griffith's Valuaiton and the 1901 ans 1911 census records.

https://www.townlands.ie/mayo/gallen/killasser/callow/callow/

In case you're interested, in Irish, the surname McNulty is Mac an Ultaigh, which literally means “son of the Ulsterman” (Ultach = Ulsterman, and Ultaigh is the genitive case of the word), but it may simply refer to descent from the Ulaid, a people for whom Ulster is named (in ancient Ireland, the Uluti tribe), which in remote times ruled the entirety of the North of Ireland. According to MacLysaght’s “Surnames of Ireland”, the McNulty surname originated in County Donegal, and that is where the Mayo McNulty’s came from. A family of McNulty's migrated to the Callow Lakes area in East Mayo in the 1640's, according to a history of the parish of Killasser, and in the course of time, McNulty’s became numerous in the region. There are also still McNulty’s in Donegal and nearby counties.

In Irish, Callow is Caladh, which can mean a low-lying area near water, or else a landing place, in either case referring to the nearby Callow Lakes. Callow is a townland in the parish of Killasser, which in Irish is Cill Lasrach, meaning “Lasair’s church”. Lasair (from Old Irish lasar, meaning “flame” or “fire”) was not an uncommon name in medieval Ireland, but Cill Lasrach is believed to be named for a particular saint who was born in County Fermanagh and came to the area, where she is believed to be buried. Callow is located about halfway between Swinford (Béal Átha na Muice = “ford-mouth of the pig”) and Foxford (Béal Easa = “mouth of the waterfall” – it’s uncertain how the English name came into existence), both being in County Mayo (Maigh Eo = “plain of the yew trees”). Callow has its own sub-church, with the "main" church being in the hamlet of Killasser.

When you look at civil (as opposed to church) records in1864 or later, you will sometimes see people being recorded as being born or married in Swineford, when they were actually born in Killasser or Toomore. This is because Swineford was the civil registration district, encompassing several parishes. Note also that, after emigrating, people form townlands like Callow or Toomore would sometimes say that they came from Foxford or Swineford, because they were the nearest towns. Also, note that Irish people in the mid to late 1800's, at least in rural areas, were often unsure exactly when they were born, because the family rarely had such records. That is why ages or birth dates reported in their new countries can be off by several years.

Here is some more info which might be of interest.

The first item is a map of Callow drawn from Google Maps.  The first page shows where the Callow Lakes are located on the road from Swineford to Foxford.  The second page is a closer-up image showing the local church in Callow.  Most of Callow lies to the north and northeast of there, over a hill behind the church.  If you look on that page at the little bridge crossing where the two Callow lakes are joined, you'll see that the road on the other side from Callow is Cullonaughton Road.  That is in the townland of Cullonaughton, so you can see how close the two townlands are to one another.

Also attachced are three photos of Callow.  The first is the church (the one shown on the map above).  My grandmother was baptized there, and presumably some of your ancestors were as well (I think it dates to the mid-1800's).  The second is the old National School, where my grandmother went to school.  It had already been abandoned when I was there several decades ago, and had been replaced by a modern school across the road.  The final photo is a view from Callow across the Callow Lakes (I forget which one), looking west in the direction of Cullonaughton.

Kevin, than you so much for your post!  I love all the information you shared!  I've spent hours tracking down the sisters to my Grandma's Mom, Mary McNulty, and am very proud of what I've been able to find - your family information and research has added so much more depth.  Can't wait to share it with my older sister who is going to Ireland with me next year.  Irelandxo and the wonderful folks here are amazing and show what a great bunch of Irish we are.

It's too much to hope that relatives still exist in Ireland but I will never give up hope.  Between this family line (Linsky and McNulty) and another, (Kelly and Leahy) from Ennistymon, I am hopefu.  Just heard about an unexpected relative whose 90 year old dad went to Ennistymon and tracked the Kelly and Leahy name about 30 years ago.  What a journey my dear relatives are taking me.  Just wish I had photos!

I am going to truely enjoy checking out all your links and information.  If there is anything I have from my family side, I'd be happy to share.  I am still trying to figure out why one of the sisters were married in Toronto, then moved back to Rochester.... and another settled down in Dearborn, Mi.  It's a journey, for sure.

Blessings to you and your family!

Audrey

Roger,

That you for your research.  Looks like I am on the right trail and with your trail, plus Kevin, I am headed in lots of new directions.

These are the sisters to Mary McNulty(Grandma's mother, who is also buried next to my Grandparents) daughter of Anthony and Bridget Linsky, that I have tracked down after researching info from obituary and census reports.  Mary E (1867), Bridget Agnes (1/27/1864), Catherine (8/12/1868), Anna (1872), Margaret (8/20/1876) and Julia (6/18/1870).  I see references to a Mary Ann and Carrie, but think they may be one of the others.

As far as immigration, Census reports show some inconsistency and passenger lists haven't helped me zero in on then.  I wondered if they came over in bunches - Mary and Julia lived together in Rochester 1892 before marrying. Ellis Island provided ship information .  What I have so far: Mary (1882 - Ellis Island gave me 1/1/1884 arrival date on Britanic into NYC),  Anna (1886, 1887, 1891 - lots of different dates on census reports). Margaret (4/1886 - she filed for US citizenship in PA and while couldn't recall Ship name, said sailed from Queenstown), Julia (1880), Catherine (1889).  I realize Census reports can be wrong.

The two potential parents in the same Catholic Rochester cemetary and interesting - Anthony McNulty 1837-11/18/1889) and Bridget McNulty (birth unknown - 1890 death).  They are in the same plot with no more information in an older section of the cemetary.  Looking at my timeline, it there were the actual parents, they didn't live long after coming to America from what I see of potential Immigration dates.  Catherine recorded 1889 but of course could be wrong.

Any help, things I've failed to consider, or new directions, would be much appreciated!

Blessings, 

Audrey

Kevin,

I forgot to mention I did DNA on the MyHeritage site.  I'm a real newbie in trying to interpret them.  Be happy to share - was yours done on the same site?  I've been tempted to try Ancestry or FindMyHeritage and see if results differed, once I figure out how to interpert them!

Audrey

I also have an account at MyHeritage, Audrey, but couldn't find your listing.  Did you use your actual name or perhaps a different screen name?  I'm listed under "Kevin Jewell", in case you want to search your matches.  I have several Lynskey matches there, and of course a number of McNulty's.

If you do go to Ireland, you will still find McNulty's in the Callow area.  When I was there several decades ago, I visited with relatives in Callow and was given a tour by the son of one of my grandmother's cousins. I've lost touch with those relatives, unfortunately.

I just looked again at some of my McNulty matches at MyHeritage, and I noticed that one of them, Maria McNulty, who's shown as a 3rd-5th cousin of mine, has a family tree at the site showing that her grandfather lived in Cullonaughton, and her 2x-great-grandfather was Anthony McNulty (1830-1923).  I seem to recall exchanging messages with Maria at one point, but we couldn't establish the exact connection.  Her 3x-great-grandfather is shown as Patrick McNulty, and that name occurs among the people I mentioned above who are listed in Griffith's Valuation as holding a tenancy in Callow.  That seems to indicate that Anthony was from a Callow family, but his descendants ended up in Cullonaughton, so that might be your branch of the family.  You might try messaging Maria about that at the MyHeritage site, whre she will probably show up as one of your matches as well..

On a separate note, I forgot to mention before that there were no Lynskey's listed in Callow in Griffith's Valuation, but there was a John Lynch.  It's possible that he was Bridget Lynskey's father, despite the surname difference, because the survey was probably taken by someone who was not a native Irish speaker, and he could have just put the name down as Lynch (the English were notoriously cavalier about Irish names).  Of course, there were many Lynskey's in the area, so Bridget may not have been from Callow.

Hi Kevin,

I was just looking in MyHeritage for Anne Marie McNulty to see if I can find a connection to all my Grandmother's Mom's sisters.  I should be under Audrey Yantz - my tree is the Yantz family tree.  I think so! I'd love to see if there is a connection between your relative and mine.  Can you share Anne Marie's married name and where she immigrated?  I have found so many McNulty women in PA, NY, Michigan, Canada.   

I will spent tonight looking around - this is why my husband say's he has to make dinner - ha, ha.  Always at the computer or nose in a research book.  I also set up a tree on Ancestry and believe it's named the same.

I'm going to try and locate you, too.

Kevin, Is it Gallagher?

Audrey:

One minor point about Mary. She was baptized in 1860 and Kevin provided you a link to the parish register.

Roger

This is all very helpful.

I checked out the person I believe is Kevin's relative and it seems reasonable Anthony and Thomas might have been related.  I wrote down Anne Marie's siblings what what I located and looks like they ended up either back in Ireland or in NYC.  The same generation, my Mary McNulty and siblings, tended to live in Rochester, NY.  I will keep an eye out for any commonalities or events where they are included with mine.  From Anne Marie's family, I saw the name Loftus, and that is ringing a bell with me.  So, will keep looking!

Any additional information about Anthony and Bridget in Callow would be much appreciated.

Blessings!

Hi Audrey,

The area you talk about is not far from where I am based in Castlebar.  As Kevin's images show, Callow is right between the towns of Foxford and Swniford: about 5 miles from each.

The next time I am in that area, I will take a few photos and a little video and post here.

I am based in the Tourist Office in Castlebar so if you are looking for any information regarding, Mayo, just give me a shout.

Well done to Roger and Kevin on the information provided.

Mick   

This is great information and I'm working through it all.  Can someone help me find Athony's proprty on the Griffith Map?  I gave it a try but it when it came to locating position 41, I saw a few but settled on the attached screen shot.

 Hope this link works for Griffiths from the Callows page.Callow Townland, Co. Mayo (townlands.ie)

Attached below are pdf's of where I think position 41 one but if someone could verify that, I'd appreciate it.  Still trying to make sense of Griffiths and would love to confirm where my relative leased property.  If I can, I'd love to drive by when in Ireland next year.

Thanks!

Audrey

Audrey,

I am going now and will be close to Callow so I am going to run over and capture a video of Cullonaughton Road. 

I will also get a photo of the church and school and a few of that area for you to see it as it is now.

I'll post here later.

Mick

Thank you very much, Mick!  

This is all exciting information and I will make sure to visit the area next year with  my older sister and my husband.  Kevin mentioned in his note above that he recalls visiting relatives living there now.  While I realize it was awhile ago, do you have any way of helping me reach out to some still in the area?  Perhaps Maria McNulty is still living?

Any information would be much appreciated.  My older sister lives in another state and will be visiting in July.  I can't wait to show her all this!

Audrey

Audrey,

I went yesterday and took some videos of the two areas including Plot 41.

I will see if I can find someone who knows that area to see who is living there.

I cannot upload video here so will upload to youtube and post the link here.

Mick

Audrey, this is the Youtube link to video.

https://youtu.be/iUlB0mKCILo

Also, a couple of photos.

Mick

That was so kind of you, Mick!  Thank you!  Can't wait to share this with my older sister.

Blessings!

Audrey

Just watched it on YouTube on our television... am in tears.  I need to share with you a Guiness or whatever you prefer, Mick, when we visit.

Much appreciation from my family to you!

Mick, perhaps you can shed some light on the Callow area.  As I continue researching the area and checking the Griffith's plot map, I notice 80 separate plots marked on the map but only 8 with Tennant names on their Valuation of Tenements listing.  I pulled 41 (position on page reference) off their detail for Anthony McNulty but I am thinking now it might actually be number 6, which is the plot on the Tenement listing.  It's right down the road from 41 so very nearby to the video footage.

If anyone can explain why there are more plots marked than noted on the Tenement listing, I'd appreciate it.  Just curious!  Either way, 6 or 41, I am comfortable we've identified where ancestors on that side of the family lived.  Doubt we could locate the family land on our own during our trip but am so thankful you shared with us what the area looks like.

Audrey,

Glad you liked the video.

As regards Griffith's map, Roger and Kevin will know much more on that.

You can see on the modern map that the Carttonduff Rd goes around the area so we did a loop in the car.

One of our volunteers here has a contact in the area and has spoken to them so we might have an email address for you to contact who you are looking for within the next few days.

Mick

Audrey,

Can you email me on mbaynes@irelandxo.com as I think we might have a contact that will be useful.

Possibly a relation.

Thanks,

Mick

Great video, Mick!  At the end, when you turned onto the Cartronduff (Corthoonduff) Road, you were a stone's throw from where my grandmother's house used to be (relatives later took it down to use the stones for a wall). Although it's within Callow townland, Corthoonduff (it used to be written and pronounced that way, but there were four or five variant spellings) was used as a townland name in some old records, including baptismal records in my family.  The etymology of the name is not certain, but it most likely comes from either cartúr dubh or cortún dubh (“black quarter [of land]”), in which cartúr and cortún are Mayo variants of the word ceathrú (meaning a quarter of land), and dubh means "black", as you said in the video.

I'm attaching another map here, which shows the layout of the area at the time of Griffith's Valuation, and then the modern layout.  On the first page, you can see Callow church at plot 76 near the bottom, and then the road going uphill behind the church towards the hamlet of Carn.  On the second page, you can see the continuation of the road, and near the top the turn into Corthoonduff where Mick pointed out the modern sign in the video.  The hamlet you can see there was mostly McNulty and McDonnell families, including my grandmother's family (though she was born later).  As you can see, plot 41 was the northernmost one in the hamlet

The final page is a modern map showing the same road, starting near the church (down where it says Doonamona), and going up the hill to the turnoff onto Cartronduff Road, which is marked (to the right of where it says Knockaganny).  As you can see, at the time of Griffith's Valuation, the road ended at Corthoonduff, but as the modern map shows, it now loops around to the west and then goes back to join the Swinford road once again, further north of where the church is located.  I drove that road myself, though there seem to be a lot more trees there now.

Great information, Kevin thanks!

I printed off the baptismal records in the 6-13 post for Bridget and Mary.  Amazing how the eyes catch something new each time.  Sure looks Like Ned Linsk was a sponsor for both girls; perhaps Mary Linsk for Mary and Betty'Obrien for Bridget.  The handwriting is really hard to interpret.

Looks like that confirms the Linsk,(Lynsk or Linsky)\, family lived in the area, too.  Do you think there is any hope to locate them?

Would it be reasonable to think Thomas Linsk could be related to Bridget Linsky (name differs) in Parish of Turlough? Two Linsk's are sponsors for Mary and Bridget in baptismal records in Callow - hard to read but may be a Ned and Mary. One I couldn't read at all - perhaps Thomas? Could I be that lucky? It looks like townland is Lugganashere and in May.

Files are attached. A new are to research!

I located a Linsky in Killasser Parish, Townland Coolcahla, which would seem closer to Callows.  On the Baptisimal records, Perhaps they spelled the last name not Linsk as I originally thought since there was a funny letter at the end.  Perhaps it is Linsky after all.  Griffiths listed a few other Linsky's but didn't think they were close to Callows.

Any suggestions would be appreciated.  I don't have any concerete evidence yet the parents of Bridget Linsky.

I couldn't let this rest so am still working on it.  Coolcashla is within spitting distance of the McNulty plot 41 so perhaps this is the one.

Any advice on how to see if this Michael Linsky had a daughter named Bridget who eventually married Anthony McNulty?  Perhaps they also had children listed as sponsors for the McNulty children, too, - which are really hard for me to read.  That would be a sweet way to complete the family picture.

Yes, Audrey, the townland of Coolcashla (also anglicized as Coolcastle in some records) is right next to the townland of Callow.  One of my great-great-grandmothers, Bridget McAndrew, was from there.  There were also McAndrews in the townland of Culduff (now anglicized as Cuildoo), which adjoins both Callow and Coolcashla to the south.  There was a John McAndrew and Bridget McNulty couple having children in Culduff in the 1840's, and the sponsors at one baptism were a James Lensky and Bridget Lensky, so there were plenty of Lensky's around.  The McNulty, McDonnell, McAndrew, Loftus/Loughnane, Lensky, Durkin, Mulroy, Brennan, Ruane, McHale, and other families in the area have been marrying one another for centuries (perhaps even thousands of years, in the case of some of the older families in the area), so just about everyone there is at least distantly related to everyone else.

Thanks, Kevin.  My guess is the McNulty and Linsky familes both lived in the same area, which will make my trip their very meaningful next year.  I hope to try my Bridget Linksky McNulty back to the Michael Linsky on Griffiths in Coolcashla - cousins, brother, father?  The search is on!  I am trying all name configurations.

So far, I can't locate her marriage certificate to Anthony McNulty, which might list parents or her individual baptisimal record.  Hoping it will exist somewhere.

I want to thank everyone for their kind input.  We finally made it to the West Coast in May and toured much of the area around Mayo where the McNulty's and Linsky's lived.  It was beyond amazing, beautiful and brought a tear to my eye many times.  I hope to return in a few years to visit more of Ireland.

Again, thanks to all who have helped me on IrelandXO.  I'm sorry I couldn't locate Mick to personally thank him for the video - I want to tell you from watching it many, many times, I recognized the area family lived immediately! 

Your care, advice and help mean so much to us in another country as we learn about ancestors.

Audrey