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Jerry Finnegan

I am looking for Irish details for Patrick and Hanora Finnegan who immigrated to the US about 1852-1854. Have seen information regarding immigration on the Br ship Gipsey from Tralee, Ireland on 23 June 1852, but have conflicting notes that their child Michael Finnegan was born 2 December 1852 in County Kerry.

It is believed that Hanora's maiden name was Enright and her mother's name may have been Leath.

I am new to this message board and would like to know where I can turn to try to establish details of these people in Ireland. Any help would be appreciated.

Jerry Finnegan

Jerry John Finnegan

3 replies

Jerry:

We have a number of volunteers who are available to assist you. Enright was a strong Co. Kerry surname in the mid-19th century. Finnegan (and variants), however was very common in the area from Armagh south to Dublin and also in Co. Galway. Although the surname Finnegan was found in Co. Kerry, it was not a common surname.

We rely on the free site www.irishgenalogy.ie to search for Co. Kerry church records but I'm struggling to find any possible Finnegan/Enright records in the 1840-1865 timeframe. 

Is it possible that Honora Enright emigrated on her own and met and married Patrick in America. Do you know for certain that they had a child in Ireland?

Roger McDonnell

Castlemore RoscommonIrelandXO Volunteer

Roger;

Thank you for the quick reply.

In response to your closing question, Patrick and Hanora (we have a couple of different spellings of her first name) had a son, Michael, reported to have been born 2 Dec 1852 (we have a record of place of birth being County Kerry, but without notation of the source) and a daughter, Mary A., born 3 Apr 1849 "in Ireland." There next child, Hannah, was born in Wisconsin, USA, no doubt while they were working and living their way cross country to their eventual homestead in Meeker County, Minnesota.

It is the birth dates of the children (from death certificates) that make us feel that the date of immigration is around 1853 and, obviously, that they were indeed married while living in Ireland.

Would you recommend that I look next for mention of them on the link you have listed?

Jerry

Jerry John Finnegan

Jerry:

I have searched on www.irishgenealogy.ie and two subscription sites: Roots Ireland and FindMyPast.ie  and did not find any records for your ancestors. My guess is they lived in an area where RC records are not available for your time period. Two RC parishes in North Kerry come to mind: Ballylongford and Listowel. Those parishes do not have records for the late 1840s/early 1850s. There are many Enright families in that area.  

Have you considered DNA testing? I'm not suggesting a Y-DNA test but rather an autosomal test which covers all of your lines.

Roger

Castlemore RoscommonIrelandXO Volunteer

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