Looking for help - Fineran

Jack:

Welcome to Ireland Reaching Out!

I searched the subscription site Roots Ireland and did not find any Finneran baptismal records with Father Pat and mother with surname Gannon. I also did not find a marriage record for the couple. My guess is that they belonged to a parish that no longer has records back to the 1840s.

Finneran is a very common surname in Co. Roscommon. From looking at the 1855 Griffiths Valuation head of household listing most of the Finnerans were in the southern part of the county and in parishes which bordered Co. Galway which ties into your info that Margaret was from Galway.

You could add Martin and Belle's emigration story to our XO Chronicles site and possibly someone might see a connection  https://www.irelandxo.com/ireland-xo/history-and-genealogy/ancestor-dat…

Have you considered DNA testing?

Let me know if you have questions.

Roger McDonnell

Roger - Thanks for the reply.  What you have provided, that is the same information that I have been able to find.  I just sent in my DNA, they say it will be 6 to 8 weeks before they get the results.  May be that will shed some more light.  I have a number of great-uncles that have been asking the same questions.  But, for some reason the elders didn't talk much or left much behind to indicate  how they got here.  Although, they all have the same story that there was a ship wreak, the kids survived and the parents died.  I've been researching a ship called the Anglo-Saxon.  It wreaked on it's last voyage off the coast of Nova Scotia.  With the logs gone and most steerage passengers not being documented it just a guess unless I can find some records from Ireland or England.  I'll let you know when the DNA comes back. - Jack

Hi Jack

Welcome to the IrelandXO Co Roscommon community!

THE SHIPWRECK

A tragedy of this nature would have been likely reported in the Freeman's Journal or local press in Ireland. Have you tried searching the British News Archives ?

GIVEN NAMES

"Martin" was an important name to this couple (probably the father of Pat or Margaret). Have you anything else to go on in terms of possible cousins that may have joined them. Any unusual names passing down? What naming patterns did Martin and Belle use with their children?

BTW "Isibéal" was a Gaelic name frequently interchanged with "Elizabeth" and even "Sibby".

ROSCOMMON-GALWAY BORDER    

Further to Roger's guidance, here is a handy Griffith's Valuation map highlighting the areas where Gannon and Finneran were neighbours. (Seeing as Pat & Margaret married in Ireland sometime before 1847, the odds are very high that they lived in the same townland where sub-division practices were causing congestion. Or adjoining townlands).

You can ignore Elphin as the Church records there are excellent and something would have turned up in Roger's search. 

Gannon + Finneran neighbours 1857 tells us pretty quickly that the civil parishes (along the Galway-Roscommon border) you should first explore are:

Athleague parish (Roscommon) 

Killeroran parish (Galway)

Kilcloony parish (Galway)

Athleague / Killeroran seem to go hand in hand e.g. Finnerans of Easterfield baptise in ATHLEAGUE RC Co Roscommon but register these births in the civil parish of KILLERORAN Co Galway.   

PARISH CROSS-CHECK

Have you tried searching the Pre-Famine (Tithe Applotments) and/or Post-Famine (Griffiths)? It might be interesting to see if you have any matches with the parishes maped above.

The DNA result may give you a better point of focus. If it points at all to north Roscommon, let me know and I can dig further. 

Best of luck!

Martin had 8 children - First was Frank, then John Martin, Jennie, Walter Calvin, William Harlem my g-g-grandfather, Harry Edward, Ceccelia, and finally Charles Lathern.

I have not been able to find any children belonging to Belle.

Thanks for the additional research locations.