Kings

ipmperry:

Welcome to Ireland Reaching Out!

The record is showing Mayo Kings Co. Kings Co. is the present day Co. Offaly. I can't find a Mayo in Co. Offaly so I can't explain that part of the record.

Roger McDonenll

I agree with Roger. That's what I see as well.

What makes you think your great-aunt was from Islandeady parish?

I looked at Sean Wilson's website which has ways of finding places. I couldn't find a place anything like Kings in Mayo. I experimented with placenames which might derive from Irish for King but didn't come up with anything likely. I also searched for a place called Mayo in County Offaly with no result. However there is a townland called Mayo in what used to be Queen's County. It's in the civil parish of Killaban. Perhaps your great-aunt's family mixed up their royalty. I can understand that as I have to make an effort to remember which county was which.

Was Moran your great-aunt's maiden surname? 

Thank you Maggie and Roger for your help.

"Kings" likely is an error on the death certificate then. I have felt that may be the case and was hoping that a local could confirm my suspicion. The family spent some time in Macclesfield, Cheshire before emigrating to Australia so perhaps that's where "Kings" comes from. I will pursue that idea going forward.

In regards to your question, yes, the family's surname was Moran. Mary's younger sister was Saragh Moran, my great grandmother. I believe the family lived in Islandeady at least for some time as Saragh's baptismal record (1851) as well as at least one other sibling can be found in the Catholilc Parish Records for Islandeady. I did a search of Griffith's and there were a lot of Moran's in and around that area around that time. However, the birthplace of one of Mary's other siblings' (Bridget, b.1841) as well as her mother Rose Needham was given as Castlebar on their Australian death certificates. Nevertheless, after consulting Griffith's I have located where I think the family resided though - on a property that backed on to Doo Lough (the smaller one, on the western side of Islandeady near to Westport).

Just out of interest, given that there were so many Moran's living in that part of Co. Mayo, I expect that there still Moran's living in the area who are related to them. Is there any way I could find out if this is the case?

Best regards, Ian

Ian:

You could review the online Irish phone book whihc only has landlines  https://www.eirphonebook.ie/q/name/  There are over 200 Morans in Mayo. Make sure you search the Residential listings. Maybe you will see a record in your area of interest. If you find someone, it is preferable that you write them a letter rather than a cold call.

Roger

Islandeady R.C. baptism and marriage registers start September 1839.  Castlebar parish marriages from 1824 and baptisms from 1838. Castlebar and Islandeady are adjacent parishes.

Have you found the family on an England census and if so what information was given about birthplaces? 

There must have been a reason for putting King's County on the death certificate. 

Thank you again to both of you.

I did a google search for Kings County and Wikipedia  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/County_Offaly notes that, as you suggested previously, this was the old name for County Offaly ...."In 1556, an Act of the Parliament of Ireland created "King's County", named after Philip, the then King of Ireland. This replaced the old Kingdoms with Baronies and the present day County System.....Despite the county's name being upheld as Offaly through the 2001 Local Government Act, no legislation was ever enacted after independence explicitly changing the name from King's County, the name formally established under the 1898 Local Government Act which continued to have legal effect. Legal transfers and assignments of land in the county still refer to it as "King's County".

I'll look now at the Co. Offaly records to see if I can find Mary there. I can't imagine why she was born there when the rest of the family was born in Mayo in subsequent years - did farming families move around much in those days or were they more likely to stay in one place?

I have attached a screen shot from the 1861 England census which shows Michael and his family - birthplace is just given as Ireland with no further details.

Many thanks for your time, Ian.

King Philip was husband of Queen Mary of England. He was King of Spain. Queen's County is County Laois or Leix. I looked on a map for Mayo townland in the civil parish of Killaban in County Laois/Queen's County. It's in  the south of the county. I was hoping it was near the border with County Offaly, which may have explained the confusion on the death certificate but it's not. I suggest you check there as well. The informant at death registration may have remembered only that Mary was born in a county named after a monarch, and chose the wrong county. It may have been that Mary left her birthplace when she was young and mis-remembered.

People travelled for work. Settlement laws didn't apply in Ireland as they did in England so Irish people were free to travel around Ireland and Britain. There was a public enquiry into employment and poverty in 1830s Ireland. One finding was that some men in rural areas were able to sustain themselves for only 6 months per year. Many left home for a period each year for paid employment elsewhere. Many went to Britain for harvest or constuction work.  Counties Laois and Offaly are in the Midlands. Land is better quality than in County Mayo. There may have been work for farm labourers in those counties.