Hello!
I'm grasping here but want to find out any information about my great great grandfather James McMahon. Here's what I know:
Genealogy facts: He came to America thru Baltimore, Maryland in the 1850s and settled in Petersburg, Virginia. He was illiterate and didn't know his birthday but some documents have a middle name of Albert. Every document on him has a different birthday. He had a sister who settled in Canada. I'm not sure what her name was. I was emailing someone who had her obituary which mentioned James, but my computer died and I don't have the man's name or email address. James didn't even know how to spell his name because his headstone in Blandford Cemetery reads "James McMann" but afterwards his family wrote it McMahon. I'm not sure if he was religious but I know he was not Catholic. He married Rebecca Hobbs in Virginia which is why he settled in Petersburg.
DNA Facts: My father did sent a DNA sample to FamilyTreeDNA and has had very few matches. The only ones that match have traced their family to Ardee, Louth; Tully, Louth; and to Shanrah, Monaghan, but these are with the surname Byrne. These places are very close to each other so I am hoping that this helps pinpoint where my McMahon's come from.
When I joined the McMahon group in FamilyTreeDna, I was told dad's DNA doesn't place me with the Monaghan or the Clare Co DNA groups.
Can anyone tell me if they know of any McMahon's that are or were located in this area?
Also, was this area affected by the Famine? And if so, how did poor people get money to leave Ireland?
Thank you so much for anything you can offer me!
Terri McMahon Ray
Terri McMahon
Friday 8th Mar 2019, 10:31PMMessage Board Replies
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Terri I see 37 different James Mahon born in Louth Monaghan between 1830 and 1850 and 1835 to 1845 there is 27 so cannot really pick one out without a parent or sibling, there is no James Albert or Albert and I included Meath which also kicks in nearby. The two townlands you mention are almost adjoining but in different counties but not very far sort of across the road, there are two Tully in Louth but again very close and you can search this site for locations of various Irish locations by Townland. https://www.townlands.ie/
There is a site here about Louth but will only show you loads of McMahon and where http://jbhall.clahs.ie/index.html If the link is not working Google Louth Genealogical Sources.
Now can you tell who travelled with him as the people often went together even if not family I imagine. Also he would have been young to travel alone etc especially if born in 1841.
There was one recent querey about the same area but much later in 1870. It is a very narrow area so will look later at Tithes APplottments and Griffiths to see if McMahon there, McArdle is a linked name also found in Louth Monaghan area.
Regards
Pat
St Peters Louth, IrelandXO Volunteer
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Terri, this part of Ireland was not as badly affected as other areas to my limited knowledge of the famine. I looked at the tithe Applottments and found a Rose McMahon mentioned twice in Shanragh slightly different spelling and no other McMahon in that area, http://titheapplotmentbooks.nationalarchives.ie/search/tab/home.jsp later Griffiths Valuation was done circ 1861 in the Monaghan area and earlier in Louth, there are two mentions of a Pat McMahon in Shanrah probably the same person with two pieces of land rented or owned. You can search this site under names or places and I looke under Shanrah and then clicked occupants and got a full list of people in the townland, I notice in my own DNA that often the neighbours surnames turn up but whether that is real or a chance I leave to you. Finding only Rose in the Tithes does not exclude other McMahons in the area as it is a list of taxpayers who had over an acre of land.http://www.askaboutireland.ie/griffith-valuation/index.xml?action=nameS… or try place search.
According to the church registers the parish is Killany and extends into both counties, parishs sometimes had townlands included or excluded from a parish if one parish was too rich or too poor to ensure the was enough support to run it. Also on registers NLI baptism records did not start until 1857 https://registers.nli.ie/parishes/0314 However a subscription site Roots Ireland sometimes has parish records not found elsewhere I just looked at the James McMahon born from 1834 to 1842 in Louth and Monaghan about 27 of them, cannot see who was born in the parish with out a charge but you can look a little for free. I tried Find My Past and got a number of James, 1834 to 1843, by the way I noticed on Roots that 1835 was the one year of no James in Louth or Monaghan.
There were various charities who gave funds to assist leaving, the cheapest option was via Canada as it was part of the empire so travel was cheaper apparently. Some far thinking landlords also helped if they thought there were too many tenants on unsustainable plots as families often divided them up to sons etc
Regards
Pat
St Peters Louth, IrelandXO Volunteer