Trying to verify I have correct Mcdermott family in tree!

Lynn:

Ballykilkline is part of Kilglass civil parish and RC records for that area do not begin until 1865.

You may be aware of the book "Ballykilkline Rising" by Mary Lee Dunn. If not you may want to look into the book for possible clues on your McDermotts.

http://www.amazon.com/Ballykilcline-rising-Ireland-Immigrant-America/dp…

Roots Ireland www.rootsireland.ie has Elphin RC records back to 1808. I searched for Catherine Keigher with no success.

Roger McDonnell

I think the problem might lie in the spelling of the surname Keigher. It's not an Irish surname I have ever heard of and it doesn't have an Irish reference on the Sloinne database. 

You might try searching under  Cahir (Keher or Kehir) or failing that,  Keogh or Kellegher.  (None of which appear as common surnames in the parish of Elphin). 

Searching for any McDermott will be a needle-in-a-haystack task in Co. Roscommon I'm afraid. However, not impossible. (I've managed to break through brick walls by studying the witnesses and godparents... do you have any details like that?)

Take a look at their neighbours on Census records. Obituaries (who attended). And especially godparents (gnerally siblings and siblings in law) and witnesses (generally first cousins - if married in the Elphin area).

It might be easier to dig into the Hanlys in the Elphin area (Griffiths Valuation) to spot any surname that remotely looks like Keigher in the same townland (you'll only have 37 to browse through).  If you see godparent surnames matching there too, then you have yourself a very good starting point.

Hi Rua,  Thank you for writing!  You are so right about the various spellings of Keigher...Since I first wrote in 2014, I did find out my great grandmother (Catharine Keigher's) father's name was Patrick Keigher...soon after arriving with his wife, children around 1850...he died, about 5 yrs later in Schenectady...in the NY census the last name was spelled Keer, Keher, Kahar etc.

Unfortunately I have not been able to prove my Mcdermott's were the ones from Ballykilcline Co. Roscommon...on Ancestry.com where I have my tree...there are various Mcdermott tree's with conflicting information.  It is true of dna relatives that I have...conflicting information in their trees.....a-r-r-g-h!  Will I ever find out???...who knows but, I keep looking for clues.

My Great Grandfather was James Mcdermott b.1821 (Sept.) Co. Roscommon.  These are the definate things I know:

He had a sister named Catharine Mcdermott who married a Martin O'Connor...before they ended up in Scranton PA...they had 3 boys born in Belleville Ontario Canada...I am not sure if they met in Canada or Ireland where they were both from.

James Mcdermott also had a sister, Mary Mcdermott, who was a sponsor for his marriage in Schenectady NY 1854. He had at least 2 other sisters (maybe named Margaret & Ellen).  

My husband & I might be heading to Ireland in the fall.  Hope someone can point me to an area of Mcdermotts!

                                                                                          Thank you, Lynn Coleman (nee Reilly)