Background: In my long struggle to determine the Mayo civil parish/townland of origin of my great-grandmother, Anna Hart (born, according to all info here in the US, in County Mayo on 17 Mar 1852), I'd learned that she had an older sister who'd settled in Liverpool, England. Yesterday I finally found the older sister's 1864 RC marriage record in Liverpool, which gives me their mother's--my great-great-grandmother's--birth name (Anna Feen(e)y) and their place of origin: Castlebar.
I'm trying to figure out what "Castlebar" referred to:
* Had they actually lived in the town of Castlebar?
* Had they said that they'd come from Castlebar because it was the county town (and was it the county town in the mid-19th c? I've found no info that says that it wasn't, though I may have missed something), or the biggest town near to them?
* In the context of a sacramental record, were they referring to the RC parish name; in other words, would the priest have identified people's origin as their RC parish?
* In the context of the deportation of extremely indigent Irish back to Ireland, would the priest have been required by the English gov't to list parishioners' poor law union; so, did "Castlebar" refer to the Castlebar PLU?
A quick search of this priest's baptismal records hasn't answered my question.
So far, my search of 1852 baptismal records for my great-grandmother in the Castlebar RC parish, as well as in other RC parishes that made up the Castlebar PLU, hasn't been successful. (in all but Burrishoole and Kilmeena RC parishes, there were baptismal records for the 1850s could be considered ; I don't know exactly when her older sister was born, so I searched for only the date that I had--which I realize could be inaccurate).
I know that I need to expand my search in all of the sets of records I've looked at since yesterday (the RC parishes of Castlebar, Turlough, Balla, Burriscarra, Mayo Abbey, Islandeady, Keelogues, and Aghagower).
I know that I should look at records in other neighboring RC parishes.
And I know that I need to re-read what I'd already covered, given the state of some of the records re: legibility, along with my astigmatism.
Oh, and I plan to check the 1901 census to see where the surnames I'm looking for pop up.
These surnames are: HART (Harte, Heart), FEENEY (Feeny), and NAVIN (Navin, Neavan, Neavin, Nevin), in case anyone has any of these names in their families.. My great-grandmother's older sister's Liverpool marriage was to Bernard Navan, who was also listed as having come from "Castlebar." So, though Navan isn't a direct ancestor for me, it IS a name of interest.
(I'm not asking anyone to do my work for me--just what you might know about what kind of place of origin was required for or found in UK sacramental records around the mid 19th century. Thank you! Go raibh maith agat!) And I hope you're all able to stay safe and healthy!)
Connie Ostrowski