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It has been a long road to this point, which you can read about here:
http://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php?topic=738966.0

However, what we know is that Michael Mehigan (often transcribed a Megan, Megen, Meaghan, Meighan, Mehegan, Meegan, etc., etc.) was born around 1815 in Ireland and made his way over to London where he married Ellen Singleton (from Cork, but living in Whitechapel with her older sister Catherine) on September 6th, 1840 in St Leonard's in Shoreditch. He died in during the great cholera outbreak on September 29th 1854.

The reason I am posting here is because the 1851 census has the most accurate location for his birth - it is unclear (and transcribed on one site as "Yorkshire, England") but I thought it looked like "Yohgl, Ireland" and Googling that got me to Youghal (via a "did you mean" autocorrect). You can see the relevant bit of that census record here (also attached):
http://oi67.tinypic.com/2yvqrsj.jpg

Michael was a master shoemaker (or "shoe translator" in some records, which is ot so fancy, but he seems to have done well) and so was his father David Mehigan, at least according to their wedding certificate. There is no evidence that he ever came over to England or any other of his children, so there may be relatives knocking around the area today - looking up Mehigans in Youghal does reveal quite a few with that surname in the parish). However, we do know that Michael's possibly older sister (estimated birth date of around 1814) was also in London, at one point living a few metres away from her brother, married to another shoe maker Jeremiah Regan.

I can't find anything that'd fit for Ellen and Michael in County Cork, but there is a February 1814 wedding in Youghal between a David Mehegan and a Mary Keany, which is in the right ballpark.

Anyway, I thought I'd throw this in - it might be someone with more local knowledge might have an idea or it can act as a hook in the water to snag any passing relatives. We hope to do some DNA testing on this side of the family which might be able to get us back that far too and reveal other distant cousins from that branch.

Sunday 15th May 2016, 09:29PM

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  • Billy:

    Welcome to Ireland Reaching Out!

    The Youghal RC records start in 1803. Here is a link to the register. http://registers.nli.ie/parishes/0100  I checked Roots Ireland and found Michael's baptismal record on December 21, 1814 in Youghal (see below). I also located a possible record for a younger brother John but no Ellen. The mother's surname was different which gave me some pause about the record (see below).

    We also have a parish liaison in Youghal and I will e-mail her about your message.

    Roger McDonnell

     

    Name:Michael MihiganDate of Birth:
    Date of Baptism:21-Dec-1814Address:Not RecordedParish/District:YOUGHALGender:MaleCountyCo. Cork
    Denomination:Roman Catholic
    Father:David MihiganMother:Mary KeefeOccupation:
    Sponsor 1 /
    Informant 1:Patrick HannanSponsor 2 /
    Informant 2:Johanna Harty

    Name:John MeheganDate of Birth:
    Date of Baptism:07-Jan-1818Address:Not RecordedParish/District:YOUGHALGender:MaleCountyCo. Cork
    Denomination:Roman Catholic
    Father:David MeheganMother:Mary GearyOccupation:
    Sponsor 1 /
    Informant 1:John DelowneySponsor 2 /

    Informant 2:Mary Conway

    Castlemore Roscommon, IrelandXO Volunteer ☘

    Sunday 15th May 2016, 10:30PM

  • Thank you for you prompt response.  Parts of the Youghal records are more than murky and I don't think I'd have found Michael's christening without your pointer. It may be that the Keany/Keefe/Geary is an artifact of this murkiness as at least on the wedding records and Michael's baptism, the mother's surname is just guesswork. I might try and clean them up and see what emerges.

    I am looking at the January 1818 section and I can't see the entry for John Mehigan, so at the moment I can't currently compare them all to see if they are really the same, but I'll keep digging.

    Tuesday 17th May 2016, 04:47AM

  • I cleaned up David's marriage and Michael's baptism, although I am unsure it quite resolves the mother's surname. It could even be something like Heany.

    Wednesday 18th May 2016, 01:59AM

  • Oh and if anyone is interested, David Mehigan is listed on Geni.com:
    https://www.geni.com/people/David-Mehigan/6000000041275539029

    Both Ellen and Michael have quite a few descendants but we've not managed to track down any others outisde of the immediate family (who are the chidlren of Ellen Mehigan, daughter of Michael's oldest child John Michael Mehigan, she married Thomas Hogan). However, we haven't started DNA testing of that side of the family, which might track some down.

    Thursday 19th May 2016, 04:12PM

  • I was intrigued to stumble across a James Gregory Mehegan who went from Youghal to America and he would have been of a similar generation to Ellen and Michael:
    https://www.geni.com/people/James-Mehegan/346456845110012257
    http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=37749803

    Monday 26th Sep 2016, 02:50AM

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