Share This:

I am looking for the roots of my g-g-grandmother Mary E. McGovern who was born in Ireland on Dec 24, 1853. Other US census reports say 1852 and 1854. Her gravestone gives the year 1853-1921. Her death certificate does not list her parents' names.

In the US census records ,she reported that she immigrated to Pennsylvania in 1865, which means she was 12 years old and probably immigratd with other family. I have not been able to find any other family members. I do not know the names of her parents or any siblings. She named her first child Catherine Ellen in 1872.

I have found one immigration record for a Mary McGovern, age 12 in 1865, who immigrated with her mother Ellen to join her husband in the US. It does not list his name. Other children with Ellen were John-16, Catherine-7, Anthony-6 and Thomas-4. I am not sure that this is the correct family for my Mary.

In c. 1870-1871, she married Samuel Mulholland in Pennsylvania. He was a Presbyterian who immigrated c. 1860 with his family from Scotland. His parents were originally from Belfast, Northern Ireland. Because of her husband's religion, I assume that Mary was also a Protestant. I know that many McGoverns were clustered around Co.Cavan.

Thank you for any assistance in finding Mary and her family in Ireland. She is my brickwall.

Mary Butler Arnold

mkarnold

Friday 1st Mar 2013, 06:29AM

Message Board Replies

  • Hello Mary,

    If Mary was Protestant her  birth should be recorded in Civil Registration which started for Protestants 1845.

    You can apply online to:

    www.gro.ie

     

    Brendan

    www.researchireland.com

    BrendanJoseph

    Friday 1st Mar 2013, 12:25PM


  • Just to update - only Protestant marriages were recorded from April 1845. All b/m/d were recorded from Jan 1864. So no birth certicates before then.

     














    http://churchrecords.irishgenealogy.ie


    And rootsireland a pay to view site, but you can get a lot for free using this technique-


    In this example I was looking for a Minnie and Catherine Wiley sisters parents unknown.


    How I did it was to use the pay to view site


    http://rootsireland.ie/


    I did firstly a national search for Minnie which threw up a couple both in Antrim. I then switched to County Antrim.


    By playing about with the date range I was able to narrow down the baptism to a specific year. I still have not used the pay to view option yet nor used up any of my limited number of free previews. Once I had a Minnie I had to find her parents first names. I started with father first name a - this would bring up any firstnames starting with "a". Working through the alphabet got me to H when I got a hit adding further letters and worked out father was Hugh. Search then for Wiley children no firstname father Hugh within ten years of Minnie. Got 6 hits and using same technique was able to work out the 6 names - but no Catherine. Minnie is a common nickname so reverted to Catherine. Broad search found two which narrowed down to one in 1868 and one in 1872. Was able to work out 1868 was daughter of John and Mary. Broad search found no other children to this couple. 1872 Catherine was daughter of John and Jane and a broad search threw up 9 children. Plodding through the alphabet got me Alexander, Eliza, Catherine, Eleanor, Francis, John, James, Samuel, Wilhemina, which was more complicated since it is usually spelled WilheLmina.  Catherine I knew was 1872, and bit of playing about with date range got me 1881 for Wilhemina. Age gap fits the two sisters although the ages are well out - no surprises there!


    You can play about with the dates until you match up the other 7 children. You can refine it a bit more by choosing one child then working your way through the drop down menu of the various parishes until you get a hit. Then you can see if all the other children were also in the same parish. Bearing in mind couples did move about as well as changing churches. It is quite possible that these 9 children were born to more than one couple named John and Jane.  Getting one transcript should give mothers maiden name and doing a broad search for baptisms to John and Jane with new surname hopefully should confirm 9 children. However many older records do not list mother's maiden name. Using this technique you can gain a lot of data without using up your limited number of free searches or having to buy any transcripts.


    Bob Graham (County Fermanagh XO)



     


     

    County Fermanagh

    Saturday 2nd Mar 2013, 01:42PM

Post Reply

Login