HERRICK and TOWERS

Hi there,

It sounds as though you have already carried out lots of research and have even come to Ireland to visit these places. Great! Hopefully someone from the local community will see this message and get in contact with you.

You can check for information about the frequency of the name in the mid-19th century and any other variant spellings of the name here: http://www.irishtimes.com/ancestor/surname/ You can also do a combined search of two surnames.

Please make sure you link anyone else in your family who is interested in their Irish heritage to our site - and indeed anyone else you know of Irish heritage.

Kind regards,

Sinead Cooney

Genealogist (Ireland XO)

Thanks for the reply and the tip.  Yes, I have searched the Irish Times website as well as Griffith's Valuation on the Ask About Ireland website early in my research.  Both are useful, especially Griffith's. 

I will say that the Irish Times does not include relevant variant spellings when you pay 10 euros for a two-name search.  That happened to me in searching for another set of ancestors.  I only found out much later when I found the family.  Just mentioning it so others can be aware.

Thank you again.  Irelandxo.com is a brilliant idea and I am hoping it will be a great success.

Hi there,

Thank you so much for your nice comment. I am sorry if you did not find the variant spellings. I have included a screen shot showing where the variant spellings are located for free on the Irish Times website. It is only referenced as a guide, so hopefully you migth find something from it.

Best of luck in your research!

Sinead

Hi there,

I see the screenshot has not uploaded. I can tell you that the variant spellings of the name are located on the top right hand side of the page after you type in the surname. The access to this is free.

Kind regards,

Sinead

Thank you again, Sinead.  Yes, I do know about the list of variant spellings on the web page.  It is when I requested a paid search for a list of parishes in which two names occurred that they did not use variant spellings for some reason.  The names are McCaw and McKay and in earlier times McKay was often spelled McCay.  So I got negative results when the family actually was there under McCay.  Again, just something to be aware of re the Irish Times website.  It's a great website but there are some glitches.

One other glitch that took me a very long time to solve was that RC parish boundaries can cross county lines.  So the Irish Times does not list the Meath townlands in Clonard civil parish that are in Kinnegad RC parish.  Just trying to save others some time in their research.  Thank you for your help.  Eliza46

Hi, Are you the lady who is related to Elizabeth Herrick nee Towers.  Not sure if we emailed through Ancestry towards the end of 2014, concerning,  Thomas Towers who was born in Ireland around 1831.  We are great - grand children of  Thomas Towers, and we are trying to research  Thomas's family roots in Ireland.  We beleave Thomas's fathers name was Hugh Towers and that the family lived in Kings county Ireland.  Thomas married Margaret O'Brien in 1853 in Liverpool England.  Any help would be very much appreciated.  Kind regards.  David Towers. 

Hi David,

Yes, I am the one with whom you exchanged emails via Ancestry awhile back.  I'd certainly like to continue the conversation but am madly busy right now.  I will be back in touch but do have one very important tip for your branch of the family.  Your ancestor, THOMAS TOWERS, likely brother of my gt gt grandmother ELIZABETH TOWERS, was baptized on 8 September 1827, so was not born in 1831 as I see on a number of trees for this Towers family.  He was likely born late August-early September 1827.

You can see the actual baptism record now for free on the NLI site http://registers.nli.ie  It is listed under Tooher for that date. Catholic parish of Eglish and Drumcullen, Diocese of Meath.  Parents Hugh 'Tooher' and Mary Coughlan.  Sponsors (godparents) Dan? Mahon and Mary M-----.  I know it's he as there are two other baptisms (tho a number more children whose baptisms were not recorded in the 1820s) and parents are the same names. 

I am very eager to exchange info but will have to continue this later.  Please do stay in touch.

Hi,

Thank you for your message and the exciting information about our ancestors, I will try and do some research on the names. I am in touch with a cousin who lives in Canada he is the grandson of one of Thomas's sons called Thomas Agustine Towers. He has access to many public records so he should be able to find out some information about our ancestors in Ireland based on your information. 

When you have the time please get back in touch and we can maybe exchange our email addreses rather than going via the message board. 

Kind regards David