Tiernan, Drogheda

Local volunteer alerted.

Hello Nancy, I see your baptism on the 28th October 1852 in St Peters Parish, Drogheda, this is in county Louth and the diocese of Armagh, Drogheda is in Louth north of the River Boyne and partly in Meath south of the river, St Mary's Parish is in the diocese of Meath but in both counties if you follow. The mothers name is Anne Heaney (Heeny) 

I see no marriage record for the couple which I take to be indicative of the marriage occurring in St Marys where church marriage records are only available from 1870, there are civil records which commence in 1864 but obviously too late.

You can see the one line entry on the church record here https://registers.nli.ie/ The God Parents are a Bridget Heany and Nich. Andrews.

I see a Mary Teirnan (spelling as transcribed) baptised in 1854 on 25th September, Godparents Jane Clark and Patrick Branagan, parents as above, same again for a Patrick Joseph Teirnan, baptised 20th May 1856, God Parents Joseph Lonigan and Mary Anne Heaney. Also Catherine Teirnan baptised 7th Sept 1858, Godparents Catherine Conway and Thomas Green.

Another one

Name:  Agnes Tiernan   Date of Baptism: 13-Mar-1863

Parish:  DROGHEDA Co. Louth

Father: Patk Tiernan   Mother: Anne Heeney

Also

Name:  Thomas Augustine Ternan   Date of Baptism: 18-Feb-1865

Address: Parish:  Drogheda Co. Louth

Father: Patrick Ternan   Mother: Ann Heeny

Informant 1:  Mary Kate Curran

The civil record is there for this birth but I am unable to see it as the linked page is to the wrong one, however it appears to be that this child died, have not checked the death register but there is another Thomas born to them in 1866 and the father is a farmer in the Twenties, a place on the north side of Drogheda, you can find the ledger entry here, you should also be able to find the parents deaths and any other children, it is free but sign in etc and click on civil, the church records are not here for Louth. https://www.irishgenealogy.ie/en/ click on civil and away you go.

You can see the location of the Twenties here https://www.townlands.ie/louth/ferrard/drogheda-st-peters/st-peters/twe… if the link does not work you can see the site here https://www.townlands.ie/ 

A land survey shows a Patrick Tiernan in the Twenties in 1854 and a neighbour Patrick Heany, if you work this site properly but with great difficulty you can find the actual plot the were tenants on at the time, I see a number of Tiernans having land in the area including a Nicholas and an Agnes which are names in the family above. You can drag the cursor from the 1854 to the modern map but difficult to see exactly where you are, these maps can be viewed on http://www.askaboutireland.ie/griffith-valuation/index.xml?action=nameS… also places can be checked, the main map office is here and you can view also https://www.osi.ie/

There is a site here about Louth http://www.jbhall.clahs.ie/ there are a number of Drogheda Facebook pages apply to join, Drogheda Sown Memory Lane, this is very active, Drogheda Down Memory Lane - Lost Family, not very busy and Drogheda Old Photos and Family Roots Finder but not a busy page. There is also a Louth genealogy page.

The area is now getting developed so may have changed a lot since then as the town expands. 

Good Luck

Pat

Dear Pat, how incredibly kind of you. I am quite overwhelmed! Many thanks for taking so much time with my inquiry. 
Given the paucity of records would you say this is about as far back as I can get with the Tiernans and Heaneys? 

Hi Again Nancy, how far back yo can go prior to to 1864 is dependent on church records, for RC records some parishes are better than others, in the 1700s the Penal Laws were enacted and being Catholic was not a good thing, they were implented to varying degrees across the country and churches did not always record who were Catholics etc, Catholic Emancipation was enacted in 1829 and most parishes have records from then but again there was no formula for what to record and often only mother and father plus witnesses and hopefully a townland or address. 

On the plus side St Peters has records back to 1744 but there are gaps so hopefully you can find some more, there is one Patrick Teirnan baptised in St Peters in 1823 mother is with a question mark, Mary Murray and father Christopher, 

Name: Patrick Teirnan Date of Baptism: 20-Mar-1823

Address: Parish: Drogheda Co. Louth

Father: Christopher Teirnan  Mother: Mary Murray?

Informant 1:  John Hammill         Informant 2:    Catherine Presage? I am unable to make a guess at that name Presage, but you can check the Registers site I sent and see what you make of it.

The only marriage I see is this one, in 1822 in Monasterboice, this adjoins the area of Twenties and marriages take place in the brides parish as a general rule.

Date of Marriage: 22-Mar-1822: MONASTERBOICE Co. Louth

Husband                                       Wife

Name: Christy Tiernan                   Cathe  Brennan

Address: Ballymakenny

Denomination:  Roman Catholic                  Roman Catholic

Husband's Father               Wife's Father

Name:          Tiernan                             Brennan

Witnesses: Ths         Tiernan                   Betty   Tiernan        

As you see there are no parents names so impossible to find more about them, Ballymakenny adjoins the area also, if you check the site I sent last you can see them all.

Other records that assist are the Tithe Applottments, a church tax on landholders or tenants of more than one acre, again only head of house and you can see it here 

       http://titheapplotmentbooks.nationalarchives.ie/search/tab/home.jsp there are 3 listed in Termonfeckin which appear to have Tiernans as I look over the records and are probably related, the address being slightly different in the Tithes is not unusual and there is a Termonfeckin site here  http://www.termonfeckinhistory.ie/

Nancy I will continue in another page as I am afraid of losing all I wrote as has happened to me.

Pat           

Nancy, I see a lot of children to the Tiernan / Brennan marriage which appears to be in a place called Connyborough which is in Dunleer, I also see a birth in Termonfeckin and this is it, see the note at the bottom

Name: Christopher Tiernan   Date of Baptism: 18-Nov-1841 Parish: TERMONFECKIN Co. Louth

Father: Christy Tiernan        Mother: Catherine Brennan

Informant 1:  Simon Mooney Informant 2:  Bridget Maguire

/   /WENT TO AMERICA IN 1859      

Other children to these parents are Patt in May 1832; Thomas Feb 1835; Elizabeth 1837; Richard July 1824;   Odd there are two children in 1823 and 1824 and none then until 1832 unless there is a gap in the register.

I did not list witnesses but see a Dullaghan for one child, there is a Dullaghan private FB page as it is a name that is mainly in Louth, I assisted a lady in the US, my first answer online and we are still in touch.     

There is also another Tiernan /  Brennan marriage an Anne Brennan at this time may be brother and sister but will drive you bonkers if you do DNA, I will see what I can find on Heeny in a day or two, it is a local name and unusal but still about. According to the book of Irish surnames it is from Eanna which is Gaelic for Bird and the name bird is also around here but rare. Some usless information, there is a short piece on it in McLysaghts book.

Pat 

Hi Pat, you are a treasure trove. I have family visiting from the US and Japan at present so won't be able to really dig into this for a while but will look at all the sites you've suggested when time allows. I think a trip to Ireland is definitely in order now.