Searching Ivers family from Cultrasna, Kiltimagh

Anne Marie:

1886 civil marriage record John Ivers/Catherine Lydon  fourth record https://civilrecords.irishgenealogy.ie/churchrecords/images/marriage_returns/marriages_1886/10830/5950316.pdf

1891 civil birth record for Hanora Gormley. mother was a Clarke

https://civilrecords.irishgenealogy.ie/churchrecords/images/birth_returns/births_1891/02375/1886571.pdf

1911 census Ivers family  http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/pages/1911/Mayo/Kiltamagh/Cuiltrasna/738967/

1911 census Gormley family   http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/pages/1911/Galway/Dunmore__North/Minlena/475275/

Last record marriage for Mary Ivers  https://civilrecords.irishgenealogy.ie/churchrecords/images/marriage_returns/marriages_1922/09207/5330734.pdf

Let me know if you have any questions.

Roger McDonnell

Anne Marie,

Attached is Thomas Iver's naturalization petition which states he emigrated in 1920. Additionally, attached is a ship's manifest from 1926 for Nora and children Mary and Thomas P. It states that they are "going to" stay with Thomas J. Ivers...the address is given in the document.

Regards,

You can see more info about Cuiltrasna at this link, which includes an interactive map showing its location just outside the town of Kiltimagh:

https://www.townlands.ie/mayo/gallen/killedan/kiltamagh/cuiltrasna/

In Irish, the townland name is Coill Trasna, meaning "cross woods".  It has been anglicized in various phonetic versions over the years, and Cuiltrasna is the current version being used.  The townland straddles the R322 road going east out of Kiltimagh, so it may have been named for woodlands which were located on both sides of the road at one time.

Cuiltrasna is in the civil (administrative) parish of Killedan, and also in the Catholic parish of Killedan.  The parish records which are available for Killedan online stop in 1881, but they go back to 1834 for marriages and 1861 for baptism, and you can access them here:

https://registers.nli.ie/parishes/0135

Since people often married young in the area, you may be able to find baptismal records for John Ivers and Catherine Lydon in the early 1860's.  Lydon is a pretty common name in the area (Ivers is a bit less common), and if their marriage took place in Killedan, then she was likely from there (weddings usually took place in the bride's parish).  Such entries should give you the names of their parents, and you might then be able to use that info to find marriage records for their parents (as well as baptismal records for the siblings of John and Catherine).  One of my grandfathers (basically the same age as your Thomas) grew up in another townland in Killedan not too far away from Cuiltrasna, and there was a John Ivers who acted as one of the sponsors at the baptism of one of my grandfather's cousins in 1876, though I don't know whether that was your John Ivers.  There was also another likely cousin of my grandfather who actually lived in Cuiltrasna around that time, but again I don't know of any specific connection to your relatives.

Ivers is an anglicized form of the Irish surname Mac Íomhair ("son of Ivor"), and it was also sometimes anglicized as MacIvor.  The real or legendary ancestor on whom the name is based, Ivor, would have been a Norseman.  There are a number of surnames in Ireland like that which hark back to Norse (Viking) ancestors.  People from Mayo and Galway have a higher percentage of Norse DNA than most other places in Ireland.  The surname Ó hÍomhair ("descendant of Ivor") also exists, but for other clans/families, and usually in other parts of Ireland.

Lydon is an anglicized form of the Irish surname Ó Loideáin, which I assume means "descendant of Loideán".  It originated in Mayo and Galway, and is very common there, as I mentioned.

The civil parish of Dunmore, in Galway, lies right on the border with Mayo, and is only a few parishes away from Killedan parish in Mayo, so your grandparents might even have known one another back in Ireland (you'd probably know more about that from family lore, if so).  My grandmother, who also grew up near Killedan, told me once that the young people used to travel a lot to weddings and dances where they met people from other parishes.  Within the civil parish, there is also a townland called Dunmore (which includes part of the local hamlet of that name).  You can see more info about Dunmore, the townland, at this link (which again includes an interactive map), and use links there to maneuver to other parts of the civil parish as needed:

https://www.townlands.ie/galway/dunmore/dunmore/dunmore-south/dunmore/

The local Catholic parish is also called Dunmore (they don't always have the same names as the civil parishes), and has parish register records online going back to the 1830's, so you might be able to locate records for the Gormley family there (though the available online records stop once again in 1881).  You can access the records at this link:

https://registers.nli.ie/parishes/1061

If you can find relevant baptismal records, they should indicate in which townland the family of the child lived, and that could help you clarify whether they lived in the townland if Dunmore or another townland, which you could then locate at the first Dunmore link which I gave you.

Gormley has been used as an anglicized form of several Irish names, but in Connacht (which includes Galway and Mayo) it is usually from the Irish surname Ó Gormghaile ("descendant of the blue ___?" -- the last part could have several meanings, and I couldn't find out which was the right one).

There's another source which might interest you.  In the 1930’s, Irish schoolchildren were sent out on class projects where they interviewed mostly older people in their parish about the history and customs of the area.  Some of the interviews were conducted in English and some in Irish.  Over 250,000 interviews were conducted and they are available online at the Irish National Folklore Collection Project’s site:

https://www.duchas.ie/en

The content of the interviews varied from place to place, but they can cover local history, local place names, people known to the person being interviewed, local myths and superstitions, and other customs, such as how holidays or weddings were celebrated and even on what day of the week people customarily did their washing or baked bread.  It’s said to be the largest national folklore collection in the world, and the interviews can be fascinating.  There’s an ongoing project to translate into English the information which was collected in Irish.  The National Folklore Collection Project also has folklore podcasts (Blúiríní Béaloidis or “Folklore Fragments”) which one can listen to (in English and Irish) at this site:

https://soundcloud.com/folklore_podcast