James Dowd and Mary McCafferty, Pettigo

You don?t say what denomination your family were but I assume RC. Pettigoe is in the civil parish of Templecarn, but the RC parish of Carn. Unfortunately that parish has no baptism or marriage records earlier than 1851, so you won?t be able to trace any of the baptisms etc from that source.

Looking at Griffiths Valuation for the area, in 1857, there is only 1 Dowd farm listed. That was for Owen Dowd in Tawlaght, where he had plot 11 which was a 40 acre farm. That?s on the right hand side of the modern R233 which is the road from Pettigoe to Lough Derg, about half way along.

This is the only Dowd in that townland in 1901:

http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/pages/1901/Donegal/Pettigoe/Tawlaght/1171185/

I had a look at the tithe applotment records which record those with land in the 1820s/1830s but there don?t appear to be any for the area around Pettigoe. (They haven?t all survived).

Probably your best bet will be to check the local graveyards and to enquire locally about any Dowd families.

Though Pettigoe itself is 95% in Co Donegal a small part is in Co Fermanagh and the Dowd family may have lived in Fermanagh, with Pettigoe just as their postal address, so you will need to bear that in mind when checking records. (I can see several Dowd families in the 1901 census in Backwood and Clonaweel, both of which are townlands just a short distance from Pettigoe, but in Fermanagh. You may need to check both counties records).

Hello to this Dowd/Doud forum. My name is Susan Gilzean, and I am just joining the world of Genaelogic research.  My GGGMo, Margaret Doud Dolin (1828 - 1889) is the daughter of James Doud (1775 - 1840) and Mary Hines Doud (1779 - ?).  Margaret and one of her sisters travelled together to Canada in 1842, where "she was obliged to perform outside labor for one dollar a week in a terribly cold climate" (Quotation from Irving Dolin's record). From Newfoundland, she went to Quebec, then to Ohio where her brothers Daniel and Luke resided. She met/married Alexander Dolin there."

I did not know about the sister Susan, but Daniel and Lucas were "known" in my family tree. Mr Dowd, I am wondering if you gleened any additional information on your trip to Fermanaugh? 

There have also been wives with names of both Hines and McCafferty.  I suspect there were 2 wives, as Lucas would have been born to Mary Hines at age 56. . .Not likely.

I hope you are still "out there", as any info on the Irish side is so very difficult to obtain.  I'm especially curious as to whether or not you found any Doud/Dowd graves in the vacinity?

PS:  Mr Antrim, thanks so much for assisting with the local "read" on this. This website, which links us foreigners to you interested locals is invaluable!!

Sincerely, 

Susan