Back to Message Board

Help with Mayo townland

I'm researching my great-grandmother Anne Kerrigan who was born in Ireland around 1870, give or take five years, I came across this attached birth record that possibly could be hers. I can't read the name of the townland.

Perhaps if I can find that place, it will help in my research. The attached top record is for an Anne Kerrigan. You'll see that the District is Louisburgh and the Union is Wesport.

Can anyone help me understand the townland or the location for Patrick Kerrigan.?

Here is the backstory: I'm trying to trace my great-grandmother through her Uncle John Finnerty (Born abt. 1830) whose wife was Mary Gibbons (born abt 1830). They had three daughters Mary (1856), Margaret *(1858) and Anna (1866), all born in Perth, Scotland.  I traced them to Perth through the Scottish 1861 census. The girls and their father came to America around 1870 to live in Sharon, Pa. My great-grandmother joined them at some time. With John Finnerty as her uncle, the three names that could connect him to my great-grandmother are: Kerrigan, Gibbons or Finnerty. 

My great-grandmother probably came from Mayo, but there's chance she was from County Galway. 

Any help is appreciated.

Mike Casey 

KCmike

5 replies

The townland appears to be "Ashlea", in the civil parish of Aghagower/Aughagower, but there's no townland in that parish by that name, or anywhere else in Mayo that I can find (there is a place called Ashleam in Mayo, but it's on Achill Island, and not in Aghagower).  There have been changes in the names and boundaries of some townlands over time, though, and sometimes in various sources reference is made instead to what is sometimes called a "sub-townland", a name used locally which is not an official townland.

You can find more info about the civil parish of Aghagower at this link, with a list of the townlands in the parish::

https://www.townlands.ie/mayo/aghagower/

A civil parish is an administrative district, consisting of a number of townlands.  The reference to Louisburgh is slightly misleading.  The town of Louisburgh is further to the west, not in the parish of Aghagower, but what you have is a civil birth record. They began in 1864, and the records were kept based on registration districts.  A registration district was a larger administrative unit which contained a number of civil parishes, so Louisburgh was presumably the registration district which covered Aghagower (plus other civil parishes).

The Catholic parish is Aughagower (different spelling), and the parish records which are available online go back to the 1820's, and appear to cover all of the 1860's, so you may be able to find a baptismal record there.  Perhaps it will indicate a different townland name which you can find in the above list.  Those records can be found here:

https://registers.nli.ie/parishes/1037

 

 

kevin45sf@yahoo.com

John Finnerty and Mary Gibbons had at least 1 more daughter. There was a Catherine Finighty born and died in Perth 1864. I also notice a Bridget Finighty born there in 1865. I don’t know what happened to her.  Perhaps she too died. 

Birth certificates in Scotland from 1861 onwards contain details of where and when a couple married. If you trace the marriage certificate it should give you both parents details if in Scotland and fathers’ details if in England. Catherine’s birth cert says they married in Manchester in May 1855. 

The 1871 Scottish census has what may be Mary Finnichty 35 and daughter Mary 14 in Perth, GROS ref: 387/30/6. Always worth checking in case a specific place of birth in Ireland is given for Mary senior.

Elwyn, IrelandXO Volunteer ☘IrelandXO Volunteer

The Townland would appear to be Srahatloe which covers the area commonly known as Aasleagh Falls at the junction of the Leenane Road with the Louisburgh Road. See Landed Estates NUIG for Aasleagh Lodge. The Church of Ireland is on the junction.

Regards,

McCoy

McCoy may have found the right place.  Here's a link to more info about the townland of Srahatloe (which is in the list of Aghagower townlands that I mentioned above):

https://www.townlands.ie/mayo/murrisk/aghagower/erriff/srahatloe/

That page contains a link to the 1901 and 1911 census records for the townland, and you can see that there were still Kerrigan's reported as living there in 1901 (thogh not in 1911).

 

kevin45sf@yahoo.com

John Finnerty and Mary Gibbon married in Manchester in 1854. Whoever registered Catherrine's birth remembered the marriage year incorrectly. A John Finnerty was baptised at St. Augustine, Manchester in 1854, can't see parents' names (index on Manchester & Lancashire Family History website). 

questor37@gmail.com

Reply

Reply
One image file up to 2 MB.