Skeffingtons from Foygh

Hi there,

You are trying to find information about Mary - what information (if any) do you know about her? Do you have a date when she emigrated? Do you know where in the USA she emigrated to? You could try checking the US census records. I believe the 1940 census records were released there this week. Perhaps letters were exchanged from the US/Ireland? It might be worth asking other family members if they know anything.

As for your GG Grandfather Daniel, you could check a number of different avenues:

You could 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. You would need to have an idea of where exactly he lived during this time, although it is still worth checking.

Some other websites that might be of interest to you are: http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~tyrone/ and http://cotyroneireland.com/

Do you know what religion they were? You could check for civil registration records at the General Register Office (GRO) here: http://www.groireland.ie/research.htm (although records do not start until 1864).

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 Sinead

many thanks for your reply. I have been working on the Skeffingtons for 20 years and I've had a few breakthroughs in past year as more records come on line.

I'm familiar with all the sources you mention - my real stumbling block is Mary who was born in 1869 - I have a lot of detail about the family but because Mary is a popular name it is hard to pin her down emigrating / travelling to USA and living there. I haven't had the chance to check the 1940 census yet.

I know it is difficult to go back to Daniel's generation with any accuracy, but I hope to do some work on this when I am over in Donaghmore late April and meeting folk from the Donaghmore Historial Group - one of whom has written a history of Foygh and knew the last member of the family living in the family house - Pat - who died in 1951. I'm really looking forward to visiting the family farm area and also the local graveyeard where there are lots of Skeffingtons.

Our family was in Foygh for 300 years + but my papa and his brothers and sisters were born in Upperlands Maghera and I suspect there are some family connections there. I have placed a mesage on this section of your website too.

I'm hoping that someone may know something about Mary in USA as she would be the only one of our line of the family we have lost contact with. She was alive in 1951 when her brother Pat died in Foygh and was a beneficiary of his estate, but I don't have a contact address for her at that time.

Thanks for your interest. All the best with the new website!

Maureen Skeffington Chalmers