Seeking Keenan's/McQuoid's of County Down

Hi Chuck,

Thanks for your message and for sharing this information.

Have you tried looking in Church records for any information on Felix and Sarah? Perhaps if you can find their parents names, this will allow you to find the names of any siblings they may have had. If you trace these lines, through the Church records it might give you a better idea of who remained in the area.

Most Catholic records are held locally. One website which may be of help to you is the irishtimes. Here they give an overview of what records are available in specific parishes. For Kircubbin/Ardkeen parish follow this link:

http://www.irishtimes.com/ancestor/fuses/rcparishmaps/index.cfm?fuseaction=showidrecords&CityCounty=Down&parish=Ardkeen&churchid=385

For Church of Ireland records check: http://ireland.anglican.org/about/42 and http://www.nationalarchives.ie/.

Also, both Catholic and Church of Ireland records are currently being uploaded, free of charge, to www.irishgenealogy.ie/index.html However, this is an ongoing project so not all records are available yet.

You could also do a search for any family members in the two land records pertaining to Ireland in the 19th century:

The Tithe Applotment Books (1823-1838) found at http://titheapplotmentbooks.nationalarchives.ie/search/tab/home.jsp

Griffith's Valuation (1848-1864) found at http://www.askaboutireland.ie/griffith-valuation/

The last records that you can check online are the 1901/1911 census records. You can do this here:

http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/search/

Some other websites which may help you 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

Perhaps, you could also place this message in a local forum so that there is an even greater chance that someone will see it and recognise the names? Some places you could do this are:

The Down Recorder at http://www.thedownrecorder.co.uk/

The Down News at http://www.downnews.co.uk/

Alternatively, you could contact the Ulster Historical Foundation, however a fee may apply for their services. Here are their contact details:

Ulster Historical Foundation,

49 Malone Road,

Belfast BT9 6RY,

Northern Ireland.

Phone: +44(0) 28 9066 1988     EMail: enquiry@uhf.org.uk

I hope that these suggestions help.

Kind regards,

Genealogy Support

Thanks Emma, all good suggestions and I have tried most or all over the years. In the last year, along with a group of other Keenan researchers, I have found that my Keenan line was tied to the Greyabbey, Co.Down area. Unfortunately a review of church records did not yield any further info. 

Finding the town of origins or at least where my ggg grandfather was from was a huge success. I would love to find more about his wife, Sarah Jane McQuoid; b. 1809;IRL. For the life of me, I have not been able to find info re: her parents, siblings if any, town of origins, etc. Both Greyabbey and Kircubbin have shown Keenan's and McQuoid's living there at the same time (via census substitutes) but I can not definitively tie my lines to them.

Thanks so much for taking the time to suggest all those things. You are the best.

Best regards from Western NY, 

Chuck

Hi Chuck

Thanks for getting back in touch. Emma left some time ago but it might be a good idea for you to keep an eye on the Early Birth and Marriage Index as it is updated regularly. It's a long shot but you never know.

Best wishes

Clare Doyle

Genealogy Support 

Thanks Clare

Hi Chuck.  You may already know this but a number of families from Kircubbin and the Ards Peninsula, including McQuoids, immigrated to Amherst Island, Ontario, Canada.  Catharine Anne Wilson's book - A New Lease on Life - Landlords, Tenants, & Immigrants in Ireland & Canada - (McGill-Queen's University Press 1994) notes a John McQuoid (b. 1802) and his wife, Eliza Caig (King) (b. 1806) from Kircubbin on Amherst Island approximately 1826.  The Amherst Island website might also be helpful.http://www.amherstisland.on.ca

Helen P. Shimek