Good morning. My ggranddad Patrick Gallagher was born in Eniskellen ca 1817. Son Thomas J born 1858, then Hugh born about 1861, the family then came to Canada about 1864. Patrick's wife was Bridget McKenna or McKinnon. Searching for more info about this family. Patricks' father supposedly came from Letterkenny Donegal. Thank you
Jeanne,
I have had a look for Patrick & Bridget’s marriage and the baptisms of the 2 children in the on-line RC records on Ancestry but cannot find any record that matches any of those events. Enniskillen RC’s baptisms start in 1838, and marriages in 1817, so if that’s where the events took place you would expect to find them. However other parishes don’t have records that go back far back, notably in Donegal, so if they originated elsewhere that may explain not finding them.
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 is running an Ulster DNA project in conjunction with FTDNA and can offer testing kits at a reduced price. http://www.nifhs.org (Go to DNA project on the website).