McInroy family of Co. Leitrim

Hi there,

There are Roman Catholic church records available for the diocese of Killasnet (Kilmore). These date from 1852 for baptismal, marriage and burial records. You can find these at the National Library of Ireland, Pos. 5350, or the Public Records of Northern Ireland (PRONI), MIC.1D/83. If you have any difficulty, you could try writing to the parish priest for more assistance.

Without a more precise location in County Sligo, I cannot recommend which church records to look at for the Marriage cert. In any case, these are very early dates and it can be more difficult to trace back that early withour more details.

You can information about the frequency of the name in the mid-19th century and any other variant spellings of the name here: http://www.irishtimes.com/ancestor/surname/

Have you tried checking the Ellis Island records (www.ellisisland.org) or the Castle Garden records (www.castlegarden.org)? 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.

You could also try checking the land records called the Tithe Applotment Books (1823-38). Microfilm copies of the books for all of Ireland are available at the National Archives of Ireland (NAI) http://www.nationalarchives.ie/genealogy1/genealogy-records/tithe-applotment-books-and-the-primary-griffith-valuation/ or the Church of Latter Day Saints (LDS).

The Tithe Applotment List could be useful to you, or at least interesting for you. These lists constitute the only nationwide survey for the period, and are valuable because the heaviest burden of the tithes to the Established Church, the Church of Ireland, fell on the poorest, for whom few other records survive. The information in the Tithes is quite basic, typically consisting of townland name, landholder's name, area of land and tithes payable. Many Books also record the landlord's name and an assessment of the economic productivity of the land. the tax payable was based on the average price of wheat and oats over the seven years up to 1823, and was levied at a different rate depending on the quality of land. For Parishes where the registers do not begin until after 1850, this information can be useful, as they are often the only surviving early records. They can provide valuable circumstantial evidence, especially where a holding passed from father to son in the period between the Tithe survey and Griffith's Valuation.

1796: Spinning Wheel Premium Entitlement Lists This was part of a government scheme to encourage the linen trade, free spinning wheels or looms were granted to individuals planting a certain area of land with flax. The lists of those entitled to the awards, covering almost 60,000 individuals, were published in 1796, and record only the names of the individuals and the civil parish in which they lived. The majority, were in Ulster, but some names appear from every county except Dublin and Wicklow. A microfiche index to the lists is available in the National Archives, and in PRONI. There are 1,875 names for County Leitrim. www.failteromhat.com

1807 Freeholders. National Library of Ireland (NLI), Ms. 9628.

1820 Voting freeholders. NLI Pos. 3830.

Estate records: Landlord: Owen Wynne. Rentals and expense books, rent ledgers, in particular as it covers all tenants and not just najor tenants are, a rental and two rent ledgers, yearly from 1798-1825. Covers ares including Killasnet.

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)

Hi, Edward McInroy was my Great Grandfather. The details you have all seem to be correct. One piece you may not have, is that after his first wife, Anne Little, died, he took a second wife, my great grand mother Mary Ann Hall  whose family came from Waterford. There is a facebook site dedicated to Edward. It's called the the Edward McInroy Association. It even includes a photo of the man. I don't visit it a great deal, anymore, but one of the members, Sally Finney Timm, can give you all the information you might want. I hope this is of some help. Please feel free to ask me any questions you might have.

Best wishes,

Stephen Slattery