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James Murphy and Bridget Hourigan (Horigan) 2nd great grandparents

Meath

My 2nd great grandparents James Murphy and Bridget Hourigan came to the United States between 5/1864 and 7/1866. I found them for the first time in the 1870 census in Troy, NYand by the 1875 census Cohoes, NY. They came to the US with 6 children and had 2 additional children in the US. I had no idea where in Ireland they were from and thru research I have found the following.

James born around 1831and Bridget born 1833 and their marriage 5/8/1852 Parish Kilbride and Mountnugent

Children

James Jr baptized 5/22/1853 Parish Kilbride and Mountnugent

Anna(Annie) born/ around 1855 no information found

William baprtized 8/2/1857Castlerahan and Munterconnaught

Patrick my great grandfather born around 1859 no information found

Catherine baptized 7/221861 OldCastle

Mary baptized 5/4/1864 Oldcastle

In the US they had Elizabeth born 7/3/1866 and Ellen 6/11/1872.

#1 Is it realistic geographically that this would be the same family?

#2 Would like to be able to find the other 2 baptisms especially Patrick.

#3 Would like to find more information on James Murphy. On Mary's baptismal certificate it indicates his mother is Anne Murphy and they both lived in Drumone and he was a horse trainer. He had a Pat Murphy as the witness to his marriage which could be a father or sibling?

#4 Would like to find more information on Bridget Hourigan. Her death certificate not very legible indicates her father is Jos. or Jas.

Thanks in advance for any assistancethat could be provided. Looking forward to your response.

shly11@aol.com

10 replies

Carolyn:

Welcome to Ireland Reaching Out!

Here are my responses to your questions.

It is very realistic that this is the same family. They lived in the area where Westmeath/Meath/Cavan meet. Here is a link to the parish of Kilbride/Mountnugent  https://registers.nli.ie/parishes/0944 ; On the upper right hand corner, there is a map that shows the neighboring parishes of Castlerahan and Oldcastle.

I searched on the subscription site Roots Ireland ( I assume you did also). I modified the search routine to drop Hourigan and focus on Bridget but was unable to find a record for Anne or Patrick. You can go thru the parish registers possibly the records are missing or the priest wrote the records in an illegible manner.

Can't help with James Murphy. I saw the civil birth record for Mary and the mention of Drumone and horse trainer. I found this record on Roots Ireland

Name:James MurphyDate of Birth:
Date of Baptism:29-Apr-1828Address:
Parish/District:CARNAROSSGender:MaleCountyCo. Meath
Denomination:Roman Catholic
Father:Philip MurphyMother:Anne TulleyOccupation:

Found this record for Bridget in the right parish on Roots ireland.

Name:Bridget HouriganDate of Birth:
Date of Baptism:25-Nov-1832Address:Not RecordedParish/District:MOUNT NUGENTGender:FemaleCountyCo. Westmeath
Denomination:Roman Catholic
Father:James HouriganMother:Anne WrittOccupation:Not Recorded
Sponsor 1 /
Informant 1:Patrick Hourigan Sponsor 2 /
Informant 2:Mary Writt 

Let me know what questions you have.

Roger McDonnell

Castlemore RoscommonIrelandXO Volunteer

Thank you so much for the information. Can you clarify what you mean by not being able to help me with James? Do you think the baptismal information that you sent is not likely him?   I am wondering if this couple had other children? He might have a brother Pat. I do not have access to Roots Ireland. I am just getting started  into my search and the few things I have gotten from there is from someone I initially connected  thru DNA match  a third cousin to my Dad. Also do you mean physically go thru the parish registers?  Or are the parish registers available on-line? Is there a fee?

 

I have another part of my family that I need to research and quite frankly don't know where to start and have no idea where they are from in Ireland.and very common names.  Any recommendations on how to post? Would want to start a different post because the last name is different.

 

Thanks again looking forward to your response.

 

 

shly11@aol.com

Hi Carolyn!

My response regarding James was not clear. I’m not sure if the record I located is correct. I’m not home currently so I will do more work later today.

The parish registers have been digitized. I will send links later.

Yes, post  a new message for your other family with what info you have.

Roger

Castlemore RoscommonIrelandXO Volunteer

Carolyn:

Carnaross RC parish is just to the east of Oldcastle so in the general area. I did a search on Roots Ireland for Murphy baptismal records in Carnaross with parents Philip and Ann and the only record that came up was the 1828 James. Now there is a catch  https://registers.nli.ie/parishes/0911 ;  The baptismal records for

Carnaross have a gap between 1815 and 1827 so if Patrick was older than James and he was baptized in Carnaross the record would not be available.  Why the gap? Some baptismal/marriage books were lost over time do to a fire or being misplaced and destroyed.

Here are the links to the three parishes where you located records. You may want to scan the registers for the relevant years to see if you can locate the reocrds for Patrick and Mary. The work is tedious, the registers may be in Latin and not very clear. If you need Latin help let me know. Let me know if you have questions.

Roger

Oldcastle   https://registers.nli.ie/parishes/0951

Castlerahan   https://registers.nli.ie/parishes/0821

Mountnugent  https://registers.nli.ie/parishes/0944

 

Castlemore RoscommonIrelandXO Volunteer

Roger , Your thoughts. I compared the baptismal for Bridget to what I had here.  Her death certificate says date of birth 12/1/1940 which I knew the year was wrong because she would have been 13 when she had her first child. I am still concerned that I might not have the right person but I get caught up in these dates dicrepancies and my lack of  experience makes me second guess where i am at. . Is it possible that she and or family didn't know her month and day of birth?

I also went thru the parish records. I thought I found Patrick the date is around what I am looking for but says the father is Pat but it looks like the woman sponsor is related to the Bridget Hourigan above.  I couldn't figure out how to copy it here but it is in Castlerahan 9/3/1859 and shows as follows.

Pat of Pat Murphy & Bridget Horogan

Sponsors Pat Canaly & Bridget Writt

Have you ever seen where the parent name is different? I was not able to find Anna but although they were all in English some of the records were very difficult to read. I am going to go thru them again.  Is there any other parish around the three you gave me I might look in to find Anna,

 

Thanks for your help.

 

 

shly11@aol.com

Roger , Your thoughts. I compared the baptismal for Bridget to what I had here.  Her death certificate says date of birth 12/1/1940 which I knew the year was wrong because she would have been 13 when she had her first child. I am still concerned that I might not have the right person but I get caught up in these dates dicrepancies and my lack of  experience makes me second guess where i am at. . Is it possible that she and or family didn't know her month and day of birth?

I also went thru the parish records. I thought I found Patrick the date is around what I am looking for but says the father is Pat but it looks like the woman sponsor is related to the Bridget Hourigan above.  I couldn't figure out how to copy it here but it is in Castlerahan 9/3/1859 and shows as follows.

Pat of Pat Murphy & Bridget Horogan

Sponsors Pat Canaly & Bridget Writt

Have you ever seen where the parent name is different? I was not able to find Anna but although they were all in English some of the records were very difficult to read. I am going to go thru them again.  Is there any other parish around the three you gave me I might look in to find Anna,

 

Thanks for your help.

 

 

shly11@aol.com

Carolyn:

I think you have the correct record for Patrick. What sold it for me was the sponsor with the surname Writt which matches her mother's maiden name. My guess is that the priest wrote down Pat twice. He correctly showed the child as Pat and then moving to father wrote Pat again instead of James.

Not sure why the date of birth on the death record is so far off. Maybe she told her children that she was born in 1840.

Regarding Anne, you can try Crosserlough  https://registers.nli.ie/parishes/0826  ;

Roger

Castlemore RoscommonIrelandXO Volunteer

Roger, I wasn't so concerned about the wrong year on Bridget but the fact that the baptism was in Novemeber and her death certificate said her month of birth was December not sure how critical that is at this point.

So above you indicated that you weren't able to find any other siblings for James Murphy. would you be able to tell me if you could find any siblings for Bridget Hourigan?

.

Name:Bridget HouriganDate of Birth:
Date of Baptism:25-Nov-1832Address:Not RecordedParish/District:MOUNT NUGENTGender:FemaleCountyCo. Westmeath
Denomination:Roman Catholic
Father:James HouriganMother:Anne WrittOccupation:Not Recorded
Sponsor 1 /
Informant 1:Patrick Hourigan Sponsor 2 /
Informant 2:Mary Writt 

 

Thnaks for all your help.

shly11@aol.com

Carolyn:

I checked but did not find any other records.

Roger

Castlemore RoscommonIrelandXO Volunteer

Roger, thanks so much for your time. This information will greatly help in my continued search.

shly11@aol.com

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