My great grandfather, Adam McDonald was born in County Dublin about 1836. I have no idea of what townland, parish, etc. he was from. The only way I know he was born in Dublin is I have a copy of his obituary notice from the Placer Herald Newspaper from Placer County California, dated 26 May 1900. I also have a copy of his passenger record on the Clipper Ship "Dreadnought" to Castle Garden in New York on 4 October 1854.
Catherine Patterson
Have you established any details of Adam's parents, e.g. from his US marriage or death certs ?
Another detail that could be important is the denomination of your McDonald family - e.g. Catholic, Church of Ireland, Presbyterian, Methodist etc.
County Dublin covers quite a few parishes, both Catholic and Church of Ireland, and not all of them have records back to the 1830s. Records from the other denominations are not currently as well represented online. Nearly all of the historic Catholic records in Ireland have been scanned and are available on the National Library of Ireland website, and also indexed on FindMyPast and Ancestry.
Not having a more detailed location, e.g. town or parish, along with no clues to his parents could make this a difficult search, particularly due to the quite early date. Most of the Catholic and Church of Ireland records for Dublin city and some parts of county Dublin are available on the free IrishGenealogy website, I searched these for an Adam McDonald baptism between 1830 and 1840 but didn't spot any good matches, nothing either in the Catholic baptism records.for Co. Dublin parishes as indexed on FMP.
If it were possible to establish details of Adam's parents from US records, then it would be worth searching the Co. Dublin Catholic records again for possible younger siblings of Adam.
edit : noticed that the obit. mentioned a Catholic Cemetery, so presumably the denomination your Adam was baptised into.
Hi. I believe his mother's first name was Mary, as he is listed on the passenger list of the Dreadnought with a Mary McDonald, age 45. That is all I have been able to find of her. Yes, I believe Adam was Catholic because of the mention of the Catholic cemetery in Placer County, but I cannot find a record of his burial. I also can find no record of his father's first name.
Thank you for trying to help.