McCracken family

Hi Joan,

Could you please post your message on the following pages:

http://www.irelandxo.com/group/county-fermanagh and http://www.irelandxo.com/group/county-monaghan and http://www.irelandxo.com/group/county-cavan and http://www.irelandxo.com/group/killinkere-cavan

Without an exact place of origin, it is very difficult to direct you to church records. I can however, direct you to the Roman Catholic church records for Killinkere, Co. Cavan. But were they Catholic? If so, the church records start from 1766 for baptismal records and marriage records. These are available at the National Library of Ireland, Pos. 5349, or the Public Records of Northern Ireland (PRONI) MIC.1D/82. If you have any difficulty you could try writing to the parish priest for more assistance.

Civil registration records are available from the General Register Office (GRO). These start from 1864 however. You can access the website here: http://www.groireland.ie/research.htm

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.

Do you know much about their emigration? Dates, the reason why they left, etc.? Generally, more information was given at the port of arrival rather than the port of departure. If you knew which city they arrived at, this could be a good place to find more information, and perhaps even find out an exact place of origin. There are lots of books and documents available about the Irish emigration to NZ. There is a website you could look at: http://www.teara.govt.nz/en/irish/2 for information about the Irish in New Zealand.

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)

Kia ora Sinead

Many thanks for your reply. I will do as you suggest and post my message on the individual county pages (actually I've a feeling that it wasn't obvious to me how to do that so I went for the general Ulster page - however I will now follow your links).

All the information I have about the family leaving Ireland is in my message - ie no information about the "why" and limited information about the when.  I have found some immigration details (eg the names of ships) in Archives NZ and from family sources, but I haven't been able to officially confirm the latter from official sources (such as the NZ immigration records from Archives NZ available on Family Search https://familysearch.org/search/collection/show#uri=http://familysearch.org/searchapi/search/collection/1609792).  I have gathered birth, marriage and death data for the family once in New Zealand from relations, and sites such as NZ BDM online (https://www.bdmhistoricalrecords.dia.govt.nz/Home/).

I actually work at the National Library of NZ so I am fortunate in having access to a range of genealogical sources, and also belong to the Irish Interest Group of the NZ Society of Genealogists, whose convenor, Jenny Martin, sent the link to Ireland XO to members. I expect there will be many more from the group who join.

I think it is unlikely the family were Catholic - certainly most married in the Presbyterian Church in Dunedin. As the family left Ireland in the 1860s, and prior to that are likely to have been in very basic occupations, I think I am going to have problems finding official records in Ireland - I am just hoping there might be someone else on Ireland XO who recognises some of the names mentioned.

Thank you again for your suggestions.

Joan

Hi Joan,

Do you know if there is any Scots blood in your family? Perhaps you are of Scots-Irish descent? The surnames you mentioned sound very Scottish to me. Of course, there were also lots of Scots-Irish in Ulster, but maybe you have Scottish roots going much further back.

Presbyterian registers are held in three main locations: in local custody, in the Public Records of Northern Ireland (PRONI) and at the Presbyterian Historical Society in Belfast http://www.presbyterianhistoryireland.com/ . PRONI http://www.proni.gov.uk/ has microfilmed copies of the registers held in private custody, and it also lists those held by the Presbyterian Historical Society.

Great to hear about the Irish Interest Group of the NZ Society of Genealogists. We loo forward to hearing from you all!

Kind regards,

Sinead Cooney

Genealogist (Ireland XO)

Hi my name is samantha mccracken from co. monaghan,it was ancestors of mine that left here to go to new zealand in the 1800,my father's name is robert mccracken he nearly 80 years old he has alot of interest in his history and has a family tree of it all and at the minute is getting one done of america cause alot of ancestors went there around the same time. lots of people have been over from new zealand over the years and i hope myself to get there some day! if there is any information you would like i can ask my dad and see if it can be got,i hope this helps you out.hope to hear from you again.

Hi Joan McCRACKEN

I have a burning question - did your grandfather (George Robert McCRACKEN) marry a second time - to Ruby WALKER after your grandmother died in 1927 ?

I have been searching the WALKER family following the children's marriages and discovered Ruby had married George Robert McCRACKEN. He is already on my family tree as an uncle of Una Lenore McCRACKEN who married an older brother of my grandfather. 

The WALKER family come into my family tree through my grandfather's younger sister. Love to hear from you.

Regards

Hamilton, New Zealand

ex Christchurch

Hi Joan McCRACKEN

I have a burning question - did your grandfather (George Robert McCRACKEN) marry a second time - to Ruby WALKER after your grandmother died in 1927 ?

I have been searching the WALKER family following the children's marriages and discovered Ruby had married George Robert McCRACKEN. He is already on my family tree as an uncle of Una Lenore McCRACKEN who married an older brother of my grandfather. 

The WALKER family come into my family tree through my grandfather's younger sister. Love to hear from you.

Regards

Hamilton, New Zealand

ex Christchurch

Hi Leith Friend

Yes, my grandfather did marry Ruby WALKER in Dunedin in 1930.  My father never spoke of her - he was just 16 when his much loved mother died and never really forgave his father (who I believe was quite a remote man) for remarrying.  George died in 1946, before I was born so I never knew him, and even my mother did not know him well as Mum & Dad didn't live in Dunedin after their marriage and seldom went back to visit. My Aunt Mame HOWARTH (Dad's oldest sister Mabel Mary McCRACKEN) did remain in Dunedin. The middle child Olive Margaret married Syd WILLIAMS and lived in Wanganui. None of that generation is still alive.

On my family tree I have Ruby as the 2nd daughter of Robert Wade WALKER & Annie Maria PAINTER, and as having 6 siblings. I've added their names & birth dates from the Births Deaths and Marriages website but not pursued those families further.  I believed Ruby died in Christchurch in 1960.

I had no idea about the connection with Una Lenore McCRACKEN!  My information is that Una is the oldest child of James McCRACKEN & Agnes Minnie LOWE.  She was born in 1907 & died in 1985. I have 3 other children in that family - Robert Noel, Lorna Beryl and Jack Desmond.  Una married Bertram Thomas COCKS (1909-1990) in Christchurch in 1939.  I don't know of any children.  

Do you agree with all of that?  Who was your grandfather?

Good to hear from you.

Joan

PS I went to school with Paul Friend in Hastings in the 1960s.  Any relation?