boyce mevagh

delbhoy:

Welcome to Ireland Reaching Out!

I was unable to locate the marriage record either on Roots Ireland or www.irishgenealogy.ie  RC church baptismal records for Mevagh are not available until 1871. I did find civil birth records for two children, Patrick in 1886 and Mary in 1888. There was another child, Bridget, born in 1893.  The family was in Drumdutton townland in 1886 but the 1888 record shows Toam which is not an official townland in Mevagh parish. I did not see the family in the 1901 census. Did they leave Ireland?

https://civilrecords.irishgenealogy.ie/churchrecords/images/birth_retur…

https://civilrecords.irishgenealogy.ie/churchrecords/images/birth_retur…

The 1857 Griffiths Valuation head of household listing for Mevagh civil parish does shows many Boyce records including a Stephen Boyce in Drumdutton likely the father of Patrick.

http://www.failteromhat.com/griffiths/donegal/mevagh.htm

Roger McDonnell

Hi Roger , thank you so so much for this information , yes they moved to the village of Duntocher in Scotland and this info will narrow down the timescales for the move and yes Stephen was Patricks father , can't tell you how delighted i am with this information , will hopefully visit Drumdutton in 2018 and get a sense of how they might have lived ,could you offer any knowledge as to how conditions were in those days , pretty grim i imagine and how they survived the famine with Stephen the father  been born in 1834 he would have been a young man at its height , sorry rambling on here ,once again a great big thank you for your help .

delbhoy:

Right, it was very grim although some areas fared better than others. There are many books on the conditions in Ireland during the An Gorta Mor.

Let us know if you firm up plans for a trip to Ireland in 2018. We try to keep track of our visitors.

Roger