McConnell to Canada

Hi there,

It is very difficult to suggest a parish without more information. Where did you find the information you already possess?

Do you know the name of the ship they emigrated on? Generally, most information was given at the port of arrival rather than the port of departure. Perhaps you should start your reseach here.

In the meantime, you could take a look at these websites for information about County Tyrone:

http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~tyrone/

http://cotyroneireland.com/

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)

Thanks for the reply, Sinead.  I know I have skimpy information, but hoping the names might appear on some site, gravestone, or marriage record, etc.

The information I have comes from Canadian sources (not the ship;  don't have a name there).  I used census records, land records, deeds, obituaries, etc to get what I have, but in all of that the only tidbit is that one descendant's obituary, which I saw just this year, said John McConnell was born in Tyrone.  That was a surprise, since "family story" was Donegal.  So that makes me wonder if they were "on the border" of the two counties or were itinerant workers?  Since they left from Londonderry, that general area would seem to be a likely searching area, but I've not had any good leads. I did have help searching Donegal, but nothing surfaced there, so now I'm looking at Tyrone.  Were those borderlines "firm" by 1830?

Thank you!   Eva

Hi Eva,

I found this piece of information about Londonderry in Wikipedia:

Historically Tyrone stretched as far north as Lough Foyle, and comprised part of modern day County Londonderry east of the River Foyle. The majority of County Londonderry was carved out of Tyrone between 1610-1620 when that land went to the Guilds of London to set up profit making schemes based on natural resources located there. Tyrone was the traditional stronghold of the various O'Neill clans and families, the strongest of the Gaelic Irish families in Ulster, surviving into the seventeenth century. The ancient principality of T?r Eoghain, the inheritance of the O'Neills, included the whole of the present counties of Tyrone and Londonderry, and the four baronies of West Inishowen, East Inishowen, Raphoe North and Raphoe South in County Donegal.

You could try checking the following sources for Londonderry/Derry:

• You could try checking the land records called the Tithe Applotment Books (1823-38). www.failteromhat.com Failte Romhat has lots of useful links you could try looking at, such as:

• 1796 Spinning Wheeel Premium Lists. 4,900 names for Derry

• Freeholders list (1808-13) which can be found at the Public Records of Northern Ireland (PRONI) M6199

Kind regards,

Sinead Cooney

Genealogist (Ireland XO)