Scanlan and McDonagh

Hi,

Thank you for your message.

Have you tried looking in Church records for information on these two families?

Most Catholic records are held locally so you may need to write to the local parish priest for possible assistance. One website that you may find useful is the Irish Times where they give an overview of what records are available in specific parishes. For Kilfree parish, follow this link:

http://www.irishtimes.com/ancestor/fuses/rcparishmaps/index.cfm?fuseaction=showidrecords&CityCounty=Sligo&parish=Gurteen&churchid=132

For Church of Ireland records check http://ireland.anglican.org/about/42 and http://www.nationalarchives.ie/. 

You don?t mention in your query the relationship between James and Bridget. I assume that they may have been married? If so, and if they were married in Ireland after 1864 (which is when civil registration became mandatory) you may be able to find their marriage certificate in civil registration records. If their parents had any children after this date you may be able to find their birth certs also. These records are available from the General Register?s Office in Dublin. Here is their website:

http://www.groireland.ie/research.htm

You can search the indexes to these records online at:

https://familysearch.org/search/collection/1408347

For more information on civil records and how to obtain them go to: http://www.irish-genealogy-toolkit.com/Irish-civil-registration.html

Have you looked into their emigration much? Sometimes immigration records can be a good source of information. For immigration records in the US check the National Archvies at:

http://www.archives.gov/research/immigration/

As they lived in Boston you may also want to check http://infowanted.bc.edu/ . This brings you to the Boston Pilot?s newspaper database. Between 1831 and 191 this newspapers published a ?missing friends? column with advertisements from people looking for ?lost? friends and relatives who had emigrated from Ireland to the United States.

You could also check the 1901/1911 census records to see if there is any record of family members that stayed in the area. These are online here:

http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/search/

Some other websites that you may find useful are:

The National Archives of Ireland http://www.nationalarchives.ie/genealogy1/genealogy-records/introduction/

The National Library of Ireland http://www.nli.ie/en/family-history-introduction.aspx

The Public Records Office of Northern Ireland http://www.proni.gov.uk/index/family_history.htm

Genealogy links: http://www.genealogylinks.net/uk/ireland/sligo/index.html

Remember to post as much information as you can with regard to the people you are researching. The more information you post, the more likely it is that one of our volunteers will be able to advise or assist you. Also include information concerning which sources you may have already used so others may further your search.

Please be patient - as our programme has only begun to rollout across the island of Ireland and volunteers in some areas may not yet be organized.

Kind regards,       

Genealogy Support