O'Rourke

Deb:

Welcome to Ireland Reaching Out!

Unfortunately none of the RC parishes in Co. Leitrim have records back to 1810. The earliest Peter O'Rourke baptismal record I located was in 1836.

I assume Peter stayed in Ireland? I looked at the 1857 Griffiths Valuation for Co. Leitrim  and there were ten Peter Rorke/Rourke records including five in Oughteragh civil parish. There was one in Carrigallen civil parish in the townland of Mullanadarragh.

Roger McDonnell

No, Peter left Ireland at the age of 17.  He had a good friend, who I think must have been a relative that was always with or next to him,  James Conroy.  In fact, when Peter died in 1874, his widow married James Conroy.

I was wondering if you could locate a Michael O'Rourke born around 1828 in County Leitrim. He came to the US and married Catharine Gleason prior to my great grandfather Michael H's birth in 1859. Unfortunately, I have no additional info. Thanks for your help.

joandrum:

Welcome to Ireland Reaching Out!

I looked on the subscription site Roots Ireland and there was an 1827 Michael Roarke baptismal record in Mohill RC. See below. There were no Michael O'Rourke records in 1828 and 1829 but many in the 1830s. We would need his parents names to confirm any record. It may be that your Michael was baptized in a church that no longer has records back to 1828.

Roger McDonnell

Name:Michael RoarkeDate of Birth:28-Dec-1827
Date of Baptism:03-Jan-1868Address:DrumkilveyParish/District:MOHILL CIVIL REGISTRATION DISTRICTGender:MaleCountyCo. Leitrim
Denomination:Not Recorded
Father:Edward RoarkeMother:Bridget MoranOccupation:Farmer
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Informant 1:Edward Roarke

Hi Roger,

Thanks so much for checking! Unfortunately, I can't find any information like parents' names on any Irish ancestors prior to their arrival in the USA. Since they all came prior to1840, I haven't had much luck.

Cheers,

Joanne

Hi again Roger,

Did you mean to write date of baptism 1868, not 1828?

Joanne

Hi Joanne!

I pasted and copied that record from Roots Ireland. Looks like they got the date of birth correct but the date of baptism was mistranscribed as 1868 instead of 1828. I did not notice their error when I copied the record from their data base. 1828 is correct.

Roger

Thanks again Roger. Do you think it's reasonable to believe he would have changed his name like that? I know that my O'Connor ancestors were listed as Connor in the US census, but I don't know how much people changed their names when they left their country of birth. 

Thanks,

Jaonne

Joanne:

The prefixes O and Mc were frequently not used in the 19th century records  since the "authorities" frowned on using these prefixes.

Roger