Ancestry

Dear Rick

Welcome to Ireland Reaching Out!

Have you already tried rootsireland.ie or familydearch.org for records in relation to the family?

Do you know when they emigrated? There is only one Thomas Maxwell listed on Griffith's Valuation in the townland of Tobertelly in the Parish of Achonry, Co. Sligo in 1857.

http://www.askaboutireland.ie/griffith-valuation/index.xml?action=doNam…

Best wishes
Clare Doyle
Genealogy Support

Rick, Cousin, You are searching for my 4th Great Grandfather who lived most of his years in Fairfax, MN, which I suspect you know well. While most of the census data peg his birth year as 1814, his obituary published at that time states he was born in 1812. It also specifically states he was born in Sligo. He and Sarah (McDonald, McDonough, b 1816) had their first born, James, in 1833 in Sligo. Family lore tells us they left for the Americas 3 weeks after James’ birth. The obituary also says that Thomas spent his first winter in Canada which suggests they arrived from Sligo to Quebec or close port. Matthew wasn’t born until 9/25/1845 in their Warren Twnshp, Lake County, IL Farm. Later Mary Winn b. 1830, left Sligo. It may have been aboard the Abby Land originating in Liverpool and arriving in NY Harbor in 1850 @ age 19. She seemed to have travelled alone in steerage and designated “spinster “. She married James on 7/6/1856. This is some speculation layered upon some detective work; looking at the johngenham. com records, overlapping the Sligo parishes where McDonald or McDonough families resided alongside Maxwell families (earliest records are 1858 - 25 years after Thomas left), there are just 3 townlands where both families resided; Achonry: 6 with 3 Kilmacshalgan: 4 with 1, Kilmacteige: 1 with 1. So, it’s worth focusing here with Achonry being statistically the most likely. Further speculation is that because Mary Winn left Sligo in 1850 at age 19 in the midst of the famine to travel alone to the US and shortly after arriving ended up meeting up and marrying James, that perhaps the Winn family knew the Maxwells. The johngenham data shows Sligo parish overlap of Winn with Maxwell in only one parish; Achonry. Now… to find genetic relatives still living there and most importantly finding the Y haplotype BY-131616 unique to our Maxwell family line descending from the Maxwell of Kirkconnell House.

Ms Doyle and Rick; I also have noted the names on the Giffith’s Valuation. The Thomas Maxwell listed in 1857 could not be our Thomas as he left in 1833. However, it could be his father. And the other names on that list, two John, could as well and his brother. Indeed, by longstanding family tradition, we’ve had an unbroken line of John Maxwells and so he should have a brother John and either a father or uncle John. Thus, I place these townlands, Tibertelly, Montiagh, and Curry at the top of the list of highly suspicious townlands. Looking at current community Facebook pages such as Achonry Farmer’s Market and I see them filled with comments by Maxwells, McDonoughs, McDonnells, and even Wynns. This gives me hope and even methods to reach out and communicate.