My name is Lindsay Rasmussen and my great great great grandfather, James Monahan was born in Ireland about 1843 or so. I've been told two different places of birth. One was actually part of a newspaper article on his mother's death and that was in Bruree, County Limerick. His mother, Mary Monahan, was supposedly born about the turn of the century (1798 according to the article) and was the oldest person in St. Louis Missouri at her death in 1901. She is buried next to Peter Monahan also born about the turn of the century and died October 1884. James also supposedly had a brother William. James eventually left St. Louis and settled in Quincy, Illinois where he married Christina Schmidt. He passed away in 1938. Their son John was my great great grandfather, and his daughter Nell Monahan (later Winterrowd) was my great grandmother and she resided in Des Moines, Iowa. I am hoping to confirm which location in Ireland they were actually from (the other being the townland Magheranearla, County Galway) because my mom will be traveling there in July and I'd like to tell her where she's from so she an see it for herself. Any help would be so appreciated.
Saturday 26th Jan 2013, 12:05PM
Message Board Replies
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Hi Lindsay
Thank you for your query. To search either possibilities I would first recommend that you google/ wickipedia List of townlands Galway and list of townlands Limerick. There you will find the the place names you are looking for and also other land divisions that it belongs to (barony, civil parish etc) which will aid you in your research.
http://www.irishtimes.com/ancestor/browse/
When you have found the information you are looking for , go to the website above. Searching under church records may have the best out come. If your great great great grandfather was catholic go to roman catholic parish maps and choose the parish that is relative to you. You should find what records are available and where they are held.
Here are some other websites that may be useful:
http://www.limerickgenealogy.com/
http://galwayeast.rootsireland.ie/
http://www.nli.ie/en/family-history-introduction.aspx
I hope that your mother is looking forward to her trip to Ireland and that you find your great great great grandfathers home parish before her visit. If she had a couple of minutes to spare she might like to fill out a short form at the top of the page entitled 'visiting Ireland 2013'
I hope that this information is of some help to you. Please do not hesitate to contact us if you have any further query. Let us know if you find the records your looking for and post them on the corresponding parish message board to connect with local people in that area.
Kind regards,
Genealogy Support
Tuesday 12th Feb 2013, 04:57PM