Looking for information about Martin Gallagher

Terry,

Civil records in Ireland are from January 1st 1864. You can access those records at  www.irishgenealogy.ie  - Free.

There are quite a number of Martin Gallagher's in Mayo in the 1870's and there are 4 townlands named Meelick. You will need to show the nearest main town, ie, Swinford,etc. and you will need to know his parents names, first and surname to ensure you have the correct person.

Griffith's Valuations 1840-1860 at  www.askaboutireland.ie will show if his father had a land holding. Free Site

Please let us know if you succeed

Regards,

Thanks McCoy

Terry:

As McCoy indicated there are many Martin Gallaghers in Co. Mayo and just in the RC parish of Meelick/Swindord Kilconduff there were 11 Martin Gallagher baptismal records from 1871-1877. The 1901 marriage record should show his father's name which would be a start in figuring out which family.

Roger McDonnell

Thank you Roger. Always knew I would have quite a task to find the correct Martin Gallagher in Mayo. Terry

As already noted, there are several townlands named Meelick (in Irish, Mileac), in County Mayo, in the civil parishes of Meelick, Turlough, Killala, Crossboyne, and Kilcolman (Claremorris).  Those civil parishes are all grouped fairly close together in East Mayo, except for Killala, which is further to the north.  For reasons which I will explain, I suggest that you search first in Meelick civil parish, which is in the Catholic parish of Swineford (also called Kilconduff).  A civil parish is a non-religious administrative district (nowadays, anyway), and the relevant Catholic parish may not have the same boundaries (or the same name), and can often include several civil parishes.

I suggest starting with Meelick civil parish, because there were/are a lot of Gallagher's there, and in the adjoining parish of Killedan (Kiltimagh).  Within Meelick civil parish, there is also a townland called Meelick, and some adjoining townlands, such as Cloongullaun/Cloonagaloon and Carrownacross/Caranecross (the anglicized forms of townland names often changed over time), in each of which several (probably related) Gallagher families lived.  You can see more info about the civil parish of Meelick (in Swineford) at this link:  https://www.townlands.ie/mayo/meelick2/

At that site, you will see further links to pages with info about the townlands within the parish, and at each of those pages there are links to the records for that townland in Griffiths Valuation (mid-1850's) and the 1901 and 1911 Irish censuses, if available (sometimes they are missing, either because the names have changed or the links are not working).  There are also links to the pages for adjoining townlands.

There is an Edmund Gallagher listed as a tenant in Meelick in Griffiths Valuation, and in Cloongullaun there are several Gallagher's, including a Martin Gallagher who is also shown in the Catholic parish records (see more about that below) as the parent of several children baptized there in the 1840's.  That Martin might be too old to be the father of your Martin, but he might be his grandfather (eldest sons were customarily named for their father's father).  That Martin might even be Edmund's father, if Edmund was old enough to move over to Meelick and take on an available tenancy (perhaps left vacant due to the Great Famine in the 1840's).  The 1901 census also shows numerous Gallagher's still in Cloongullaun (though none in Meelick), including a 50-year old head of family named Martin Gallagher (perhaps your Martin's father?).

The Catholic parish records show a number of Gallagher marriages and baptisms in Meelick, Cloongullaun, Carrownacross and some other adjoining townlands in the 1840's.  The Catholic parish is called Swineford (also called Kilconduff), and covers an area larger than just the civil parish of Meelick.  Interestingly, though, the Gallagher baptisms which I've found in the parish register seem to center mostly around the townlands within Meelick civil parish.  At this site, you can search the parish records for Swineford (sometimes spelled as just Swinford):  https://registers.nli.ie/parishes/0133

Because I was interested, I just searched 1875 for you in the parish register.  I didn't find your Martin Gallagher, but Irish emigrants in that era often had only a vague idea when they were born, because people were not in the habit of keeping birth or baptismal records.  That's why one often sees varying ages in censuses taken in the countries to which they emigrated.  There appears to be pretty comprehensive coverage of the 1870's in those parish records, however, so if you search other nearby years you may find him.  At the site listed above, you can download all of the potentially relevant pages (as images) and then search them at your leisure, with the pages enlarged on your computer.

I have searched those records myself before, noting down numerous Gallagher baptisms and marriages from the 1840's while I was searching my own family history.  My grandfather, James Peter Gallagher, was born very near Meelick, but across the parish line in Killedan (Kiltimagh) parish, where there were even more Gallagher's than in Swineford.  I was looking for records of particular ancestors or collateral relatives, concentrating on that time period.  I've visited the area and spoken with relatives there, and have also compared DNA results with a half dozen people in the US and Ireland who have Gallagher roots in those two parishes, which has then led us to other relatives.  We continue to compare notes and find other DNA matches, and have come up with theories as to how some of us who are more distantly related are actually connected.  Interestingly, there was a Martin Gallagher who lived just outside Kiltimagh who we think may have been my grandfather's great-uncle (a brother of his grandfather), and we also think there's a chance that the Martin Gallagher in Cloongullaun whom I discussed above was the same Martin.  There was sometimes movement to neighboring townlands in the later 1800's, due to marriages or as people emigrated and left tenancies available, which people from somewhere nearby then took over (people had large families back then, so there was always demand for any open tenancies for sons who wanted to stay in Ireland).  If you ever want to compare DNA results, let me know.  Mine are posted at several sites.  The other cousins are all available at at least one of the same sites, but not always at all of them.

In case you're interested, although the surname Gallagher is usually associated with County Donegal (where there are still many Gallagher’s), scholars now believe that a separate Gallagher “clan” originated in the Mayo/Galway area (the county boundaries were a much later creation).  In Irish, Gallagher is Ó Gallchobhair (modern Irish spelling Ó Gallchúir), and it means “descendant of the foreign help”, referring to a mercenary warrior brought in from Scotland or elsewhere in Ireland to fight in local wars (known as a gallóglach, or “gallowglass”).  If it turns out that you do have roots in the Swineford/Killedan area, you might be interested to know that the area remained largely Irish-speaking into the early 20th century.  My grandparents (both of my mother's parents) grew up speaking Irish at home in East Mayo, and they were born in the 1880's, so your Martin Gallagher may also have spoken Irish as his first language..

Kevin many thanks for your observations. I'm still in the early stages of researching my Irish grandfather Martin Gallagher. He was my maternal grandfather, my mother was Mary Gallagher, she was born in Wolverhampton in March 1921, sadly she died in May 2011, aged 90. All know about Martin was that he was born in Meelick in c.1875. Mum did tell me that my grandfather Martin also spoke Irish.
 

He had at least one brother who was named Michael who emigrated to England, firstly to Liverpool and eventually settling in Rochdale, Lancashire. Michael had several children including Mary, Honora (Nora), Bernard, Joseph, another Martin, I've met all of these people, they would be second cousins to me. All but Michael's son Martin emigrated to the USA in the 1930s and late 1940s - Mary, Nora and another brother whose name escapes me settled in Denver, Bernard in Chicago and Joseph in New York.

Best regards, Terry Barlow