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On September 16, 1855, my great grandmother's brother James Finnegan was baptized in the parish of Skreen and Dromard.  I am looking for the baptisms of his sisters that were said to be born May of 1860 named Mary and March 7, 1864 named Elizabeth.  I would like to try to figure out if their parents - James Finnegan and Sarah Laird were related to any of the other Finnegan families living in that area. 

At the baptism of James Finnegan, his sponsors were Michael Kilhawley and Anna Cavanagh.  Any help to figure out this puzzle piece would be wonderful.  I would like to visit the area on my upcoming trip to Ireland in June 2012.

Thank you!  Sandy

 

Sunday 8th Apr 2012, 02:22AM

Message Board Replies

  • Hi Sandy,

    The Roman Catholic church records for Dromard and Skreen date from 1823 for baptismal records and 1817 for marriage records.These are available from the National Library of Ireland, Pos. 4229, or the Church of Latter Day Saints ref. no. 0926025. If you have any difficulty, you could write to the parish priest for more assistance.

    The General Register Office (GRO) has civil records dating from 1864. You can find this here: http://www.groireland.ie/research.htm

    Sponsors could be family members, friends or neighbours. Perhaps someone in the area will know of the families still living in the community.

    Don't forget to check alternate spelling of the names when researching, such as Finegan, etc.

    You could also try checking the land records called the Tithe Applotment Books (1823-38) or the later Griffth's Valuation (1848-64). Griffith's is freely available here: www.askaboutireland.com or here: www.failteromhat.com Failte Romhat has lots of other useful links you could try looking at.

    It's wonderful that you are planning to come to Ireland in June. Ireland Reaching Out is hosting its Week of Welcomes during the last week of June! Check our website for more information. If you can't make it, maybe you know someone who can! Otherwise contact us anyway, and we will try to put you in contact with people from the area if we can.

    Please make sure you link anyone else in your family who is interested in their Irish heritage to our site - and indeed anyone else you know of Irish heritage.

    Kind regards,

    Sinead Cooney

    Genealogist (Ireland XO)

     

     

     

    Tuesday 10th Apr 2012, 03:41PM
  • Thank you Sinead for the information!

    Monday 16th Apr 2012, 02:32PM
  • Hello
    I just read your message and was wondering if you had any success in tracing your ancestors
    I am from that area and have Finnegan ancestors in my family tree also.
    Please get in touch if you would like assistance/to compare notes

    Kathleen

    Monday 6th Oct 2014, 10:18PM

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