Surnames McAlduff/McKilduff/McKelduff/M'Kilduff (cross-post)

Jason,

Here’s a link to the 1841 marriage in Clogher:

https://registers.nli.ie/registers/vtls000632816#page/46/mode/1up

The entry is in Latin but tells you that Hugh McElduff of Beragh married Anne Dogherty. There were 2 witnesses, both with the surname Dogherty. One was Sara but I cannot make out the other. Tradition was to marry in the bride’s church so presumably the Dogherty family came from the parish of Clogher, and the entry tells you that Hugh came from Beragh (which is in the parish of Cappagh).  That’s about 15 or 20 miles north from Clogher.

Cappagh’s RC parish records only start in 1843 so if that’s where Hugh was born, there won’t be a record of it. (Nor any record of his parents sadly).

I looked in the 1901 census for Tyrone. There are 4 McElduff households listed. None in the Beragh area though.

According to MacLysaght's Surnames of Ireland, the Irish surname Mac Giolla Dhuibh was anglicized in a number of ways, including MacElduff, MacIlduff, Gilduff, Kilduff, and Duff, as well as (by translation) Black.  The name originated separately in several places, including Tyrone, where the most common anglicization was apparently MacElduff.  Various anglicized forms of their surnames might be used within a single family, even in the same generation, and a form you find in a particular record may have simply been decided on by the priest or some government official, with the family not necessarily being asked what they thought, especially if they were Irish-speaking and/or illiterate.

The Irish original would mean something along the lines of "son of the devotee/servant of the black-haired one".  The Mac Giolla form of surname was/is very common in Ireland, and is the source of many surnames which were anglicized starting with Gil- or Kil-.  Most names of Gaelic origin were based on the name, nickname, or a characteristic of a real or legendary ancestor, and references to people's hair color or other features were very common.  The (originally) Scottish surname Campbell, for instance, has the meaning "crooked mouth" in Gaelic.

Wow!  Many thanks Elwyn and Kevin.  This is wonderful information and much appreciated.  I have been stuck for a very long time and this is great progress.  My hope is to zero in on a geographic area and plan a trip to do some further first-hand research.  Any additional thoughts or methods of research to pursue would also be appreciated.

Thank you again and kindest regards.

Jason

Jason,

I’d say it’ll be difficult to trace someone who lived in Beragh 180 years ago without more information about them.

I looked to see if there were any McElduffs in Beragh in the tithe applotment records for Cappagh in 1827. There weren’t. There were 2 farming in Killeens (sometimes Killins) which is about 10 miles north but none in Beragh. So all that tells you is Hugh’s family in Beragh probably weren’t farmers.  There are few other records to consult.

There are no McElduff households in Beragh in Griffiths Valuation in 1860 suggesting either that they had moved away or died out.

Thank you Elwyn - any thoughts on other lines of research I might pursue, either through DNA (I've done the basic tests through Ancestry, MyHeritage and uploaded my results to FamilyTreeDNA and submitted it to the North of Ireland Project), hiring a geneaologist or another records source?  Interestingly enough, I had come across the marriage record before but because I didn't have the context (and don't know Latin) I didn't realize the Beragh was a proper place name.  That is the closest I've come to finding where my paternal grandfather's family came from in Ireland.  My grandfather said they were from County Cork, but another person I connected with during the course of my research suggested that a lot of immigrants said they came from Cork because that's where they departed from.  The only other piece of information I have is that Hugh's father was also named Hugh (born circa 1791) married to Maragaret (born circa 1792) - both had also immigrated to Pawtucket, RI, USA (I have pictures of their headstones).  My original line of inquiry was centered around Termonmaguirk (you kindly replied to my original post in April of 2018 regarding this).  

Regards,

Jason

Jason,

Yes you were a bit lucky with Beragh. You’ll notice the priest didn’t bother to record where the bride lived but because the groom came from another parish he did mention it.  Very helpful.

There are several trees on Ancestry with this family as you are probably aware but none has any earlier information than yours. There are simply no records for the area for the 1700s. (Most Irish research comes to a stop around 1800, due to this lack of records). We call it the 1800 barrier.

In the late 1700s and early 1800s a labourer and his family could live their life pretty much below officialdom’s radar. The only likely records of their existence would have been baptism and marriages but Cappagh parish didn’t start keeping records till 1843, so that option is not available in this case. There was a census in Ireland on 6th June 1841 but your family may have left by then. And in any event that census was destroyed in the 1922 fire in Dublin. I can’t think of any other sources likely to mention this family. It also looks as though the whole family left Ireland, so there probably weren’t any immediate relatives left behind.

DNA testing is probably your best bet. You say you have loaded your data on to the North of Ireland project. That’s good. It claims to have more Ulster families than any of the other companies, so that’s probably your best bet for getting a match.

If you want to try a researcher, then here’s a link to some based near Belfast who may be able to give you some advice:  http://sgni.net

Their e-mail contact is: secretary@sgni.net

Thank you again Elwyn.  Your information about the lack of records is helpful, albeing dissapointing.  I'll start to invest more efforts into the DNA side of things.

Kindest regards,

Jason