McGeough's of Magheross and surrounds

cggroucho:

I assume your McGeough and Reilly ancestors were Roman Catholic. Unfortunately, the RC church records for Magheraross (Carrickmacross) parish do not begin until 1858 after your ancestors went to Scotland. To be sure, I searched the subscription site Roots Ireland and did not find any baptismal records for Alice and Francis with parents John and a mother with the surname Reilly. By the way, McGeough/McGough was a very common surname n Co. Monaghan in the mid-19th century.

I also did not find a marriage record for John and Mary.

You may want to consider a general DNA test. Possibly you will have matches with 3rd or 4th cousins who may have more information on your McGeough/Reilly family lines.

Roger McDonnell

cggroucho,

There is an Ancestry tree, perhaps it is yours, with this family that shows John died in 1869, and Mary in 1875. However this death record I have attached indicates Mary was married at the time of her death. Not sure if that is an error. The person present at death was Felix McGough...possibly her brother-in-law OR another son?  While I cannot decipher their residences, it appears they are different - if Felix were her husband, then they'd be the same. I see where Alice named one of her sons Felix. 

Regards,

Many thanks for your information and work Roger.  Much appreciated.

cggroucho

Carolyn

Many thanks for the info and the death certificate. The dates certainly align with the information I have.  

I have a tree on Ancestry, Gough McGough McGeough, if that is the one you are referring to.

It is interesting about the name Felix. I have no knowledge of a son/brother-in-law by this name but Alice married Philip Crawley, who was possibly from Louth, and they had a son called Felix.  The name probably came from an ancestor.

Regards

cggroucho

Hi Carolyn

Having looked closely at the death certificate you provided I believe the place of residence for both Mary and Felix is Lisaniskey.

The only Lisaniskey I can find is in County Roscommon, but there is a Lisanisk in Carrickmacross, where I know of a family Owen McGeough, married to Margaret McElroy who had a son John 22 Dec 1895.

Was Owen an elder brother of John (1785)?

At least I now possibly have a clue - many thanks.

cggroucho

Hi,

So I looked at that death record again, and I think that perhaps Mary and Felix were married to each other, and yes, I agree that the place is Lisanisk. civil parish name is Magheraross (Carrickmacross), and it is in the RC parish of Maghaire Rois.

This couple might be a brother to your John...also with a wife named Mary. I've found that names of townlands in the civil records don't always match exactly with the actual townland's correct spelling.

Attached is a birth record for Francis McGough - brother to John above.

I did not locate any Irish census records for the McGeoughs in this townland, nor any Griffith's Valuation records for that surname.

Regards,

Hi Carolyn

Many thanks once again for your insights.

My 3 x great-grandfather was John McGeough (1785-1869) and his wife was Mary Reilly (1795-1875). As far as I know they had 2 children (I'm fairly sure there will be many I don't know about) Francis (1818-1881) and Alice (1820-1875).  Francis and Alice emigrated to Glasgow.

Until you provided me with the info you have, I only knew that that they came from Carrickmacross, Magheross, Monaghan. The Mary McGeough death certificate you sent me perfectly fits the timeline I have for her, having died in 1875 at 80 years old.  I am fairly confident now that this is my `granny`, which, if correct, means that I now know the family came from Lisanisk, Raferagh, Carrickmacross, etc.  A great step forward.

The birth certificate of Francis that you sent me is also very interesting. Although the date of birth is 1899 it could be the descendants of the same family as I have a record of the birth of his brother John in 1895.

Looking through some research notes I made many years I found a comment `Hypothesis: John McGeough (1785) has a brother Owen.  Given the Irish naming conventions that existed then, and today if my wife's family is anything to go by, this could be a big breakthrough in my research.

Could you please let me know the name of the site where you found these records and I can then begin a deep search into the McGeough's of Lisnaisk.

Thank you again for all your help.

Colin Gough (the surname got changed along the way)

(cgroucho)

Colin,

I found the records on www.irishgenealogy.ie under the civil records tab. Use Carrickmacross for the district. The church records tab you see does not hold Monaghan records, so don't bother with that.  You must be careful about spelling and name variations...there are also sometimes records incorrectly transcribed. For example, the birth record for Francis has his name transcribed as "Franics", but the record itself is correct. Another great feature there is you can search for siblings using the "more search options" function....you just add a surname, year range, civil reg. district, and mother's maiden name - if you're lucky, siblings will show up. I tried this for Francis (1899), but found none...not John (1895). Does the record you have for John (1895) have the same parents as Francis? It's quite possible with the surnames of Mc Gough & Mc Elroy, there are some variations; and that is why I cannot find it.

You can also do this and omit the mother's surname and see what comes up.

My other "go to" research sites are:

www.townlands.ie

www.johngrenham.com

www.irish-genealogy-toolkit.com

All these basically help one look at counties, parishes, and their townlands.

Good Luck!

Re your search:   Lisinisky is a townland in the Parish of Aughnamullan not to be confused with Lisanisk in Magheross Parish(Carrickmacross).

However Lisinisky is in the Poor Law Union of Carrickmacross and in the Dispensary District of Raferagh.  Griffiths Valuation of Tenements  for the section of Aughnamullan included in the Carrickmacross Union lists various Mc Geoghs and Reillys. In Lisinisky in 1861the following tenants of William Tennison, the Landlord, are listed   Michael Mc Geogh, Francis Mc Geogh James Mc Geogh , Patrick Mc Geogh and Mary Mc Geogh.

I hope this is of some help to you.

LmcD.

Hi Lawrence

Many thanks for the information.  This may open a door for me as the death certificate I now have for Mary McGeough, thanks to Carolyn above, gives her residence as Lisaniskey as opposed to Lisanisk.

Lots to research.

Regards

Colin Gough