Help with finding relatives in Mayo

South Mayo community

This is a project I’ve been working on for years. I’ve been trying to determine where my great-grandmother, Anna Mary Kerrigan Lynch, is from in Ireland. After a lot of work on Ancestry and DNA checking, I’ve got some strong leads. But I need some help as you’ll see in the last paragraph.

First a little bit about her. Anna was born in 1872, according to family records. Though her birth date could be off a few years either way. According to her death certificate, her father’s name was Michael. I don’t know her mother’s first or last name.

As a teenager, Anna came to America and lived with her uncle, John Finnerty, in Sharon, Pa. John’s wife was Mary Gibbons. I don’t know where either John or Mary are from. Anna, who worked as a maid, married my great-grandfather Daniel Lynch in 1893 in Youngstown Ohio, my hometown. She died in 1963.

From reviewing DNA matches, everything points to her being from County Mayo. From people who share a 4th-6h cousin DNA match with me and other of my close relatives, their family trees show three last names that I believe have connections to the Kerrigans: Gibbons, Lally, and Heneghan.

I researched Griffith’s Valuation and the 1901 and 1911 censuses. The censuses and Griffith’s show a number of Kerrigan, Gibbons, Lally and Heneghan families in the area around Shanvallyard. In those two censuses, I found a Michael Kerrigan and his wife, Honoria, in the townland of Shanvallyard, near Tourmakeady. According to the census, they were married the year before Anna was born. They could be Anna's parents.

Here’s where I need help

Are the birth, baptismal and marriage records for Shanvallyard online?

What is the birth recording district for Shanvallyard and other nearby townlands?

There is a mention of an 1883 Roman Catholic census for the civil parish of Ballyovey, which encompasses Shanvalley. Is that available online?

Finally any other suggestions are appreciated.

Kindest regards for any help

Mike Casey