Donaghy Family of Kilcronaghan

Hi Sharon,

Thank you for your message. I hope that someone with information on the family makes a connection with you and helps you to further your research.

In the meantime have you tried looking at church records for more information? Unfortunately, Catholic records for the parish do not start until 1848 http://www.irishtimes.com/ancestor/fuses/rcparishmaps/index.cfm?fuseaction=showidrecords&CityCounty=Derry&parish=Desertmartin&churchid=359

However, Church of Ireland records generally tend to have an earlier start date as it was the official church of the country at the time. Most surviving Church of Ireland records are still held by the local clergy, although some are in the National Archives of Ireland and others are in the Representative Church Body Library in Dublin. Here are their websites: http://www.nationalarchives.ie/ and http://ireland.anglican.org/about/42

Lists of these surviving registers can also be found at the National Library of Ireland.

Some other websites that you may find useful are:

The National Archives of Ireland http://www.nationalarchives.ie/genealogy1/genealogy-records/introduction/

The National Library of Ireland http://www.nli.ie/en/family-history-introduction.aspx

The National Archives UK ? genealogy search: http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/records/looking-for-person/

The Public Records Office of Northern Ireland http://www.proni.gov.uk/index/family_history.htm

Family Search: www.familysearch.org

Roots Ireland :http://derry.rootsireland.ie/generic.php?filename=sources.tpl&selectedMenu=sources

Genealogy links: http://www.genealogylinks.net/uk/ireland/derry/index.html

Please be patient - as our programme has only begun to rollout across the island of Ireland and volunteers in some areas may not yet be organized.

Kind regards,    

Genealogy Support

Thank you Emma.  Unfortunately everything that would be of real use to me are records before 1848. Are you saying that even though they were Catholics they would appear in Church of Ireland records? 

It does seem from what I have read that during the time 1790-1848 I'm not going to find births, marriages  or deaths for this area.  I've done searches of probable graveyards hoping for tombstone inscriptions but that hasn't produced anything either.  

Hi Sharon,

No I just meant that if the family followed the Church of Ireland there would be more chance of you finding records.

It may be an idea to look at the records from neighbouring Catholic parishes to see if you can find any records pertaining to the family. New parishes were created during the 19th century so sometimes these start dates can be misleading.Also, some of the smaller parishes may not have had a full time parish priest so sometimes it may have been necessary to travel to the next parish over to have a baptism. It may be a lot of effort and there is no guarantee that you will find anything however you may be lucky. Here is a map of the Catholic parishes in Derry:

http://www.irishtimes.com/ancestor/browse/counties/rcmaps/derryrc.htm

Also, I suggest that you contact Derry Genealogy for some further advice. Their genealogist Brian Mitchell is very helpful. Here is the email: genealogy@derrycity.gov.uk

All the best,

Emma

That map is one of the greatest things I've seen.  That really gives a good picture.