I am looking for information regarding the Duris family of County Tyrone. They were Catholic. Name variants my include Douris or Dooris.
Patrick Duris was born in 1805 in County Tyrone. He left Ireland for New York in 1833. The passenger list indicates that he came from Aughnacloy.
Aughnacloy is in the RC parish of Aghaloo. Sadly they have no baptism records earlier than 1846, and marriages from 1832. So you won’t find any record of your ancestor in church records.
I looked for Duris (and variant) households in Griffiths Valuation (1860) but there were none in the Aughnacloy area (civil parish of Carnteel). None in the 1827 tithes either:
http://cotyroneireland.com/tithe/carnteel.html
Possibly DNA testing may be a way of matching with others who have additional information about where the family originate. Family Tree DNA reportedly has more people with Ulster roots than any other company. That obviously increases the chances of finding a match. You might want to try them or, if you have already tested, you can transfer your results to them for no fee.
The North of Ireland Family History Society are running an Ulster DNA project and can offer FTDNA testing kits at a reduced price. http://www.nifhs.org (Go to DNA project on the website).
Elwyn,
First off, thank you for help. I will look into getting my Ancestry results sent to FTDNA. In the meanwhile I did find a Patrick Duris in Derrynascobe, Clogher Parish in Griffins Valuation 1860. Also found a John Duris listed. Wondering if these may be my relatives.
Mike Duris
parish=Clogher&townland=Derrynascobe
Griffith's Valuation
http://www.askaboutireland.ie/griffith-valuation/index.xml?action=doNam…
Mike,
Sadly Clogher parish doesn’t have any baptisms earlier than 1856, so if that is where Patrick was baptised, as with Aughnacloy there are no records. No easy way of seeing whether there is any connection between him and the 2 families in Griffiths that you have located.
Researching in Ireland in the early 1800s is notoriously difficult. Most people come to a stop at that point due to the lack of records. So you are not alone.
Elwyn,
Thank you very much for the info and advise. Looks like a record search will not be enough. I am following up on your suggestions of FTDNA and NIFHS. Also, I'll be visiting the Republic of Ireland is September and plan to drive up north to look around.
Mike