Looking for Graham, Hayes, Gibbons, Finn family ties

Hi Genevieve!

We don't have any current volunteers in the Ballinchalla/Ballinrobe area. Can you give us more info on your Mayo ancestors? I assume Michael Gibbons is from Ballinchalla. Do you have his year of birth? Did he marry in Ireland? Parents names etc. Have a great trip!

Roger McDonnell

Hi Roger, 

Thanks for replying so quickly! You know, I actually misunderstood how parishes worked and misidentified the one my family is from. The parish I should have been looking in is actually Kilmoremoy, and Ballinchalla is incorrect. Do you know if there are any IrelandXO volunteers there? 

I also spoke a bit more to my grandmother about my Mayo ancestors and she found this information, and said there's more to come:

Michael Gibbons was born in Ballina in approximately 1850. His siblings included Patrick and Anne/Anna/Marianne (Grandma's not sure about her name or the names of the other possible Gibbons siblings.)

On some unknown date and place, Michael married Bridget Graham, also from Ballina (or thereabouts) and roughly the same age as Michael. (Grandma thinks they married in Ireland before coming to San Francisco, California, but it's also possible they got married after arriving in San Francisco around 1875-80). 

Michael and Bridget were my grandmother's maternal grandparents. Michael and Bridget then had seven children, the third of whom, Katherine Gibbons, was my grandmother's mother. Katherine was born in San Francisco. She married William L. Danahy, also of San Francisco, on August 20, 1921, in Portland, Oregon. 

Hope some or any of this is useful! I also hope my grandma will tell me a few more things in the next few days :)

Hi Genevieve:

We do have a volunteer for Kilmoremoy parish but ironically he is in California ( I live in Maryland). The Kilmoremoy baptismal records start in 1823 but after October 1836 there is a gap until May 1849 and then after July 1849 another gap until 1851 and then continuous. I just searched the subscription site Roots Ireland and did not find a Michael Gibbons around 1850 in Kilmoremoy (Ballina) parish. If he was baptized in that parish very possibly, he was baptized in a gap period and no record would be available.

Hopefully, your grandmother knows the names of Mcihael's parents so we can look for younger siblings. Here is a picture of St. Muredach's church in Ballina.  http://ballinaparish.org/newsite/  As you can see it is located on the River Moy.

By the way, yout will have a long drive going from Dublina to Ballina to Westport and back to Dublin.

Roger