My grandfather was John McGrath who I believe was born in Belleek in about 1872. I have been unable to find any information about his parents or possible siblings. I know that he married Rose Trainor in about 1908 and that they lived in Rathfriland. John was a member of the Royal Irish Constabulary He and Rose had six children - Josephine, George, Elizabeth Winnifred (my mother), Rose, Kathleen and Patrick Gerald. My grandmother, Rose, died in childbirth with Patrick in about 1916.
On a previous trip to Ireland and Rathfriland, I found a Mary McGrath who told me about an older gentleman who apparently was "in charge" of the McGrath clan. We drove to his town (don't remember name of it) and talked with him, but he had never heard of my grandfather. No one in Rathfriland new of him either.
My mom and her sisters went to boarding school in Downpatrick at St. Michael's. Apparently they spent the summers in Balleymoney with their grandmother. I suspect that my grandfather was some kind of "secret police" and that may be why we have been unable to find any information. I know his son, George, moved to London. My mother left Ireland in about 1928 and never saw John or her brother again.
If you can help me, I would greatly appreciate it.
Tuesday 22nd Jan 2013, 05:06PM
Message Board Replies
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There are at least 6 John McGraths born 1870 -1874 in Fermanagh
http://ifhf.rootsireland.ie/quis.php?page=0&prevStartQuery=0
3 of them had fathers named Pat/Patrick. Without some other way to identify him you are going to struggle. One was son of Michael and one son of Francis. You can eliminate one - son of Philip since he is in the 1901 census in Bellenaleck. Your John presumably was in RIC by then. Only one John McGrath appears in the 1901 census - the one mentioned above. So of the other 5 they either died moved out of Ireland or joined the forces/were in hospital. RIC men in Barracks in 1901 only appear in the census by initials and there are seven J M born in Fermanagh age around 30. There are also 3 J McG. Hospitals also listed patients by initials.
RIC records don't usually list parents, but once in a while they list actual d/o/b rather than age. With an exact d/o/b you can get a birth certificate.
Before using the Rootsireland pay to view site wait until I send you details on how use it for free.
Bob Graham (County Fermanagh XO)
Thursday 21st Feb 2013, 04:30PM -
I did a bit more digging. When I restricted the search to Beleek, I was able to get just one John born 1871, and worked out that the father was Patrick and the mother Mary.
Checking the 1901 census I discovered a Patrick and Mary with 22 year old son John in Beleek ? obviously not yours ? but does mean there are at least 2 couples (Patrick and Mary) having children at around the same time. This will make it harder to identify siblings of your John unless you get copy birth certificates for each one. I also found a Patrick and Mary in Carran More, of an age to be John?s parents and with other children.
However McGraths are in abundance and isolating your John from all his other namesakes will be no easy feat.
Ages as stated in the census can be wildly adrift from reality, and when you factor in the start of the Old Age Pension, it is not too surprising to see the 1911 ages are a lot more than 10 years as compared to 1901.
I did locate an interesting Mary in 1911 that gave her maiden name as McGuiness.
Rootsireland has a lot of transcripts but by no means complete and does not seem to have any Beleek marriages.
When using Rootsireland here is the technique I use: -
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
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)
Thursday 21st Feb 2013, 07:40PM