I am searching for information about my ggg grandparents and hopefully even further back. I've found my John Mullen and spouse Mary Byrne Mullen in the parish of Dunshaughlin and baptisms of 5 of their children (all boys). Their son, Thomas, married Jane Guggerty who was the daughter of James Guggerty and Mary Reilly. Jane was born in Kilcloon in 1841. After they immigrated to America, the men worked mostly on the railroad. Is there any way to find out what they might have done in Ireland? Other members of the family believe that they found the ship that the Guggerty family sailed on and they were not in steerage, which suggests that they had some money. Also, my gg grandfather Thomas and his wife's brother Patrick were both teachers in America, so they must have been educated. Any information would be greatly appreciated on any of the above family names!
Monday 18th Apr 2016, 07:35PM
Message Board Replies
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Welcome to Ireland Reaching Out and apologies for the delay in getting back to you.
Unfortunately the marriage record of John and Mary (like many others) does not include parents' names. I had a look and there are 11 potential baptisms for a John Mullen between 1790 and 1810 (guessing he was at least 20 at the time of his marriage) and 26 for a Mary Byrne in Co. Meath. You can see these on rootsireland.ie (a subscription site) and possibly familysearch.org
Mary's list can actually be reduced to 1 possibility as we can assume she was baptised in Dunshaughlin as that is where the couple married. Perhaps the parents/sponsors names mean something to you.
The first child named Mary listed below must have died and a later child baptised with the first name. There doesn't seem to be a death/burial record available (not unusual).
Child 1: Mary Byrne
Address: Dunsany, Dunshaughlin
Date of baptism: 16-Nov-1799
Parents: Matthew Byrne & Catherine Weldon
Sponsors: Andrew Reilly & Margaret Derham
Child 2: Mary Byrne
Address: Knockmark Dunshaughlin
Date of Baptism: 12-Feb-1802
Parents: Mathew Byrne & Catherine Weldon
Sponsors: John Mooney & Catherine Finegan
You could have a look to see what other children were born to this couple.
Unfortunately there doesn't seem to be a Matthew Byrne listed on the Griffith's Valuation in Dunshaughlin but there may be an entry in a neighbouring parish (assuming, of course, that this is the correct family):
http://www.askaboutireland.ie/griffith-valuation/index.xml?action=nameS…
You could have a look on Find My Past to see if there is any mention of the family in a trade or commercial directory. Hope this gives you something to think about!
Best wishes
Clare Doyle
Genealogy Support
Thursday 28th Apr 2016, 01:48PM -
Clare: it is so exciting to get a reply! Thank you for that today:-) I am replying from work, so I don't have any backup for this, but it seemed to me that the Parish of Dunshaughlin had sent me a baptism for Mary Byrne from the year 1811 with father listed as Edward Byrne. I may have just gotten that info off of the IFHF site though. The name Edward does appear in our family several times and I don't see any Matthews (very slight potential clues here!) Also, that would put Mary at about the age of 17 when she married and began having children. I believe the last baptism I was given was for a boy, Edward, born in 1849, which would have put Mary at about age 38.
On the Mullen side, I intend to research the birth of a John Mullen in 1806 or 1809 in Castletown Kilpatrick, County Meath. I believe there is also a birth for James Guggerty there. Given that the 2 families seemed to stay close in Ireland and USA, I am wondering if that could have been the start of the family ties. All speculation at this point! And certainly, I can't just make that fit because I want it to. Thanks again for responding!
Friday 29th Apr 2016, 02:59PM -
Do let us know if you learn anything more - great to hear back from you
All the best
Clare
Genealogy Support
Tuesday 10th May 2016, 08:22AM