Visiting Ireland Would Like to Connect with Local in Donegal

O'Donnell is an extremely common surname in Co. Donegal. In the 1857 Griffiths Valuation there were over 1100 O'Donnell households in Donegal and the name was found in every parish.

Unfortunately, there are very few RC church records pre-1850 and civil registration of births did not start until 1864. I checked the subscription site Roots Ireland and the earliest Hugh O'Donnell baptismal record is in 1846. 

It is too late for your trip to Ireland but when you return you may want to consider DNA testing. Possibly you will have matches with 3rd cousins in America or some other country including Ireland. The matches may have more info on the origins of your family within Donegal.

I will let our HQ know about your trip to Ireland.

Roger McDonnell

Greetings:  Thank you for your quick response.  The information you provided was much appreciated. Yes, I have been running into a "brick wall" when trying to find ancestrial records for County Donegal. I, too, have searched the Roots Ireland site with little success.  My next avenue is to search RC records for death records.  It is believed Hugh was orphaned and his parents likely died during the famine (between 1845 - 1851). It is also likely he was an only child. This makes the task for locating relatives (siblings of Hugh's parents) so much more difficult. The parents of my great grandfather (Hugh Smith O'Donnell) were John O'Donnell and Mary Smith.   Again, very common names.  Mary's father is believed to be Edward Smith.  I will follow up on your suggestion for DNA testing.  My sister - who has the results of her DNA test - will be submitting the results to My Heritage, Family Tree DNA and GEDmatch.  Perhaps the DNA testing will make a crack in that brick wall!  THANKS, again.  Carolyn

Carolyn:

I checked the index on Roots Ireland and only two RC parishes have Famine-era death information: Cardonagh and Moville. Cardonagh has five O'Donnell records and Moville three records.

Roger

Roger: 

Thank you for your continuing support. I, too, have been checking RootsIreland records and in Burial/Death Records I found a 1850 death record for a John O'Donnell (age 35). This would be appropriate age range for Hugh's father, correct name, right county and Roman Catholic. The record shows John dying on Dec 7 1850 in County Donegal, Parish Moville and address of Carrowhue. I also found a Mary O'Donnell (age 50?) who died 10 months earlier on Feb 7, 1850 in the same county and same parish. The record notes that she was a Roman Catholic "convert." Not sure the importance of that note.

I'm not sure what to do with the above information but I would like - if possible - to try to link the O'Donnells in Moville to any possible workhouse records.  My theory is - and the bits and pieces of information so far bear this out - Hugh's parents died during the famine.  As a young child, he travelled to America with a relative (I located the passenger list for a ship arriving in Philadelphia USA in 1854 that identified a Hugh O'Donnell, age 12, and a Margt O'Donnell, age 40).  Now if only I can connect "Margt O'Donnell" to an O'Donnell family or househould in County Donegal.  I updated my Hugh Smith O'Donnell relative profile in Ireland Reaching Out with all of this information in the event someone may be doing similiar reseach.

I have taken your suggestion regarding DNA testing.  My sister had her DNA tested through Ancestry.com.  I have asked her to submit her test results to Family Tree DNA, My Heritage and GEDmatch sites for comparison.  I'm keeping my fingers crossed that this will get me closer to identifying distant relatives. 

Finally, I hoping to connect with a Donegal reland XO volunteer during my upcoming visit.  However, I'm not sure I navigated the website correctly when making my request.  Can you tell me how/where in the website that I make such a request? 

Thanks, so much.  Carolyn

Carolyn:

You may have found your ancestors in Moville parish but there are so many O'Donnells and so many parishes in Donegal (52).

If you have not done so already, I would suggest that you contact your sister's closest DNA matches on Ancestry and see if they have O'Donnell/Smith ancestors. You will find that maybe only 1/3 to 1/2 of your matches will respond.

I've already notified our HQ about your pending trip. Unfortunately, we do not have volunteers in every parish. I will alert them again. 

FYI the spelling of that townland in Moville is Carrowhugh in Moville Lower parish (There are two Movilles -- Moville Upper and Moville Lower parishes). 

The workhouse for the area was located near Cardonagh (parish of Donagh) which is west of the Movilles. Here is some history on the workhouse https://www.workhouses.org.uk/Inishowen/  and it appears that there are records at the Donegal County Records Office in Lifford which is considerably south of the Movilles.

FYI- I live in the States.

Roger

Roger:

Since I last contacted you I confirmed with the Archdiocese of Boston that my great grandfather, Hugh Smith O'Donnell, was orphaned and resided in an orphanage no long after his arrival in Philadelphia.  Because no records of Hugh's parents have been associated with him in this country, it appears his parents, John and Mary O'Donnell, likely died in Ireland.   I searched the Donegal Workhouse Registers in 1851 and located a record that MAY be associated with my relative.  The name, age, sex, religion and location are all accurate for my great grandfather.  The reference number is BG/92/3/1.  Now, my question to you is, How do I use this workhouse document to aid my geneology search for Hugh S O'Donnell?  Does the "residence" of Dunglow Crucknagaragh help me establish a parish/barony for this person? If so, how?  Lastly, I see the entry for John O'Donnell (at line 861 of the Donegal Workhouses Registers and Minute Books. Glenties, Donegal, Ireland.).  I see this child is 8 years old and appears to have been received at the workhouse on the same date with the same address as the entry on line 860 for Hugh O'Donnell.  Could this mean John and Hugh are brothers and, if so, do you recommend I now search for information on a possible sibling, John?  As always, I thank you in advance for you assistance.  Carolyn

Carolyn:

I would think that John and Hugh were brothers. They lived near the town of Dungloe in Templecrone civil parish in the west/northwest of Co. Donegal. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dungloe   Unfortunately, the baptisms for Dungloe RC parish start in 1876.

The Crucknagaragh in your note is likely Crocknageeragh which is a 248 acre townland in Templecrone civil parish. Crocknageeragh is about a mile or so southwest of Dungloe along the coast.

Roger