visiting Roscommon

Hello Kathy,

Firstly Athleague Civil is not the Church marriage record but a record for the purposes of the State. Athleague Civil Dispensary district covers a large area of West Roscommon at is northern point is Peak townland and the southern point Cloonakilleg Townland as shown in the link (Red balloon ) https://www.google.com/maps/d/edit?mid=1iwCc1mEF0ny-rQLo8aYP9pfFn_E

Secondly Rockfield is not a recognised townland name but a subdistrict of the townland Clooneenbaun and reference is noted to this point in the Ordnance Survey Parish Namebooks, by John O'Donovan. Cams is a little more straight forward . Both are shown in the map link (Blue balloon).

As for the Church they were married in you will need to identify from the Church record any information which will reduce the options that might exist. The online Catholic Parish records for the area http://registers.nli.ie/parishes/0566 were not microfilmed by the NLI but there is the option of Rootsireland. I have identified some Church sites which are in the area and the most likely it would appear to be Cloverhill RC Church built circa 1871. (Orange Balloon)

As you will be visiting shortly I have also added the three closest burial grounds to Rockfield for your reference. (Purple Balloon)

Hope this assists

Kathy/Patrick:

Roots Ireland shows the marriage occurred in Athleague. See transcription below. The RC church would be St. Patricks, Athleague..

http://www.buildingsofireland.ie/niah/search.jsp?type=record&county=RO&…

Roger McDonnell

Date of Marriage:29-Oct-1880
Parish / District:ATHLEAGUE
County:Co. Roscommon
Husband ThomsGately Address Cams
Wife AnneGovlin Rockfield
Husband's Father Name:JohnGately
Wife's Father PatrickGovlin

Hello Kathy,

I am less than convinced with the Athleague Parish response. Your two townlands are located close to the border of Oran and Fuerty Catholic Parishes. The Parishes of Athleague and Fuerty were independent parishes and with their merger it is unclear, as the actual registers cannot be viewed, if the name Athleague has been applied to all the records for the merged parishes or if care has been taken to show those from Fuerty as a footnote or the like. With all these changes it may have also seen a change to the boundary of Fuerty with Oran Parish mentioned before.

As you still have a little time before you arrive you may find some help on the history and location of churches in the area a book which was highly recommended to me -  “The Diocese of Elphin, People Places & Pilgrimage, Francis Beirne, 2000, ISBN 1 85607 299 1”. Available from Very Rev Francis Beirne PP http://www.elphindiocese.ie/parishes-ministries/personnel-details/?personid=27 . Contact him for details.

He may if approached with kindness offer some advice on the changes to Parish boundaries and offer some resolution to your search.

As for your Granard query, I note the marriage date was 1849. You will note the advice offered shows the Church was constructed between 1860 and 1870 which would make it too late for the marriage you noted. There was no Catholic Church on this site in 1849 and the only other Church was the St. Patrick’s Church of Ireland opposite the current St Mary’s Church. See Street View http://bit.ly/2btwXUv

Outside of Granard there were at the time of the marriage two Catholic Chapels which I have added to the map provided earlier with Street View options. The attachment Granard 1 is a historic map of the area about the time of the marriage with the Church in the bottom left and Granard in the right of the pic. As Google has a poor aerial view of the location I have added an alternate satellite view of the area - Granard 1 Former Church site, which is now an old burial ground for the Parish. A link to burial records is also included on the map.

The second Church site Granard 2 is most likely a rebuilt Church but it is on the site of Church at the time of the marriage, and again I attach an aerial view of the site.

Hello Kathy,

Now resolved, it was the location I identified as Castlecoote on the map. The old church is now the community centre and stands on the same site as the new church - http://bit.ly/2b6tDhE with the current church built circa 1950’s and dedicated 5th August 1956. The Church was formerly identified as St. Kieran's/Ciaran's or Creemully Church dating from early 1810’s and the priest officiating was Fr. Martin Rush. The Church was the parish church for Fuerty Catholic parish (latterly merged with Athleague)

Some photos of the dedication ceremony as a community centre Dec 1986.

http://historical.glynnsphotography.com/p870797637/h25c9d8ff#h25c9d8ff

Clearly care is required with all transcriptions and nothing should be taken as being correct without reference to the primary documents.

Have a memorable visit.

Patrick:

Thanks for clearing up my misinformation.

I had not responded to your Facebook message regarding the burial ground maps. My brother in law passed earlier this week and I've been working on funeral arrangements. I was thinking that we could post the information on this site maybe on the Co. Roscommon page. The L-R site is not getting the traffic it once did. What do you think?

Roger

Sorry Roger,

Terrible news about your brother in law. I have agreed with another researcher I am in contact with here in the UK for him to use whilst I take a break from this merry go round. I would possibly have gone along with the Xo use but that is no longer possible. I was looking initially for a site with related interests geographically speaking for those and other resources and the L-R was a fit.

Probably resurrect things in a few years if I still have an interest in genealogy.

 Thank you so much for all your help and research. I will continue my quest and hopefully find the right church when I visit in October. Thanks, Kathy 

Hello Kathy,

Below is a transcript of the Civil Record which was kindly provided to me by another source which I believe you indicated you have. The additional notes at the end indicate the Church they were actually married in was Creemully and officiated by a Fr Martin Rush. It is located in the townland of Creemully and Aghagad Beg and was actually called St Kieran’s Church. My previous comment expands a little more on the Church.

If you refer to the linked map the Church they were married in is now St. Kieran's Community Centre/Former Parish Church and the current Church for the area is the adjacent Church of the Assumption, Castlecoote .

Civil Marriage Record Date of Marriage: 29-Oct-1880

Parish / District: ATHLEAGUE CIVIL County: Co. Roscommon

Husband Wife Name: Thomas Gately Anne Govlin

Address: Cams Rockfield

Denomination: Civil Parish Civil Parish

Occupation: SERVANT SERVANT Age: 20 19

Status: Bachelor (Previously unmarried) Spinster (Previously unmarried)

Husband's Father Wife's Father Name: Patrick Gately Patrick Govlin

Occupation: LABOURER LABOURER

Husband's Mother Wife's Mother Name: Not Recorded Not Recorded Not Recorded Not Recorded Address: Denomination: Occupation:

Witness 1 Witness 2 Name: Michael Reiny Mary Govlin

Address: Notes: FR MARTIN RUSH : BOTH CATHOLIC : CREEMULLY CHURCH :

Thank you so much for this information. Kathy

The address of my grandparents is Cam Rockfield back in 1880 . Does that translate into a street or section that i could visit when i am in Roscommon?

My g-g-grandfather, FRANCIS CHARLES MURPHY, was born (according to his naturalization record) in ROCKFIELD, ROSCOMMON,  8 February 1826.   Parents were Michael Stephen Murphy and Maria O'Brien.   

I see you were having difficulty figuring out where Rockfield is,  and where any records might be.   I would be thrilled to hear what you have discovered.    Thanks for any help anyone can provide.