Help to find Parish for Burkes at Whitegate, Co Galway.

Hi Jennifer,

 Whitegate was at one time in the County Galway, but is now in County Clare. It is on the border of the two counties. The name of the Civil parish is "Clonrush", Union of Scariff.

In Griffith's Valuations for the Civil parish of Clonrush c1850 there are 12 Burke names. You might include some family names, so that townlands can be checked.

The local cemetery is named "Clonrush".

Regards,

Hi McCoy,

Sincere thanks for your answer to my enquiry. I have just looked at Griffiths and can see that there are several listings for a John A  Burke in various areas of the Parish of Clonrush. Listed as John A Burke - does this mean he owned or leased all these properties?

John Burke b approx 1805 m Mary Anne McNamara ( no further information on either). All their children came to Bendigo, Victoria, Australia - Bendigo being a gold mining town.All married and had families and they were very close. Mary b1833, Eliza b1834, Catherine b1835, William b1839, Michael b1848 and Annie - my GGGrandmother b1849. All were born in Co Galway but the one clue to whereabouts was on Annie's Marriage Certificate to Thomas Nicholson where it is stated under Birth Place - Whitegate, Galway, Ireland. Parents named as John Burke - farmer and Mary Ann formerly Macnamara.

Hoping to discover a little about John and Mary Ann and wondering why every one of their family left Ireland for Australia. so sad for parents to lose their whole family and never see them again!

Thank you once again for your help to find their Parish,

Cheers from Jennifer 

Hi Jennifer,

Regarding John A. Burke - he owned the properties. You will see "In Fee" in the column. He and Francis C Sampson MD had the parish to themselves, based on Griffith's Valuation taken c1853 and printed in 1855.

There is a "Mary Burke" in the record, also a Thomas, Coleman and Honoria. Honoria has a house an c3 acres owned by Francis Sampson in the townland of Meelick which is shown "In Chancery" - For Sale, probably by one or more of the investors.

Could "Mary Burke" be your relative?

In 1830 a land survey as carried out which is known as the "Tithe Record". In that record you have a "John Burke, Esq" who was probably the father of John A Burke. They were in the townland of Tintrim. The Landed Estates at NUIG, Galway has a record of this family, but the Site is down at the moment. You might be able to get some information on the estate by Google - Tintrim - Levis Dictionary of Ireland 1837.

John Burke in the townland of Ballinamona who had 18 acres and John Burke in the townland of Ballinagough who less than one acre. It is possible that one of those was your - John Burke? The parish records are from 1846. I checked for Ann Burke and found a record for 1850, but her father is recorded as "Michael". Those records can be had at - www.catholicrecords@nli.ie - National Library of Ireland.

Free Sites: www.irishgenealogy.ie - records of Birth, Marriage and Death from January 1st I864 (provided they were notified to the Registrar) - www.nationalarchives.ie - Tithe Records.

Best Wishes.