Looking for Flahertys of Connaught, probably Co. Roscommon

Hi Maureen,

Thank you very much for your message. I hope that someone with information is able to help you.

It may be difficult to find any records on Catherine without knowing where she was born as civil registration only began in 1864. This means that you need to look at parish records most of which are still held at a local level.

I did a quick search on Roots Ireland and found 3 Catherine Flaherty?s born in 1861 in Co. Galway (which neighbours Roscommon) however you need to pay to view the actual records and there is no guarantee that any of these are even relevant to you. Here is the website: www.rootsireland.ie

I also did a search for John FLaherty in Griffith?s Valuation. This is a property valuation survey carried out in IReland 1848-64. However it doesn?t give any genealogical information so it is hard to know which is the John you are looking for. However, maybe by looking at parishes along the Galway/Roscommon border you may find a starting point. Here are the results for Galway:

http://www.askaboutireland.ie/griffith-valuation/index.xml?action=doNameSearch&familyname=flaherty&firstname=john&offset=0&countyname=GALWAY&parishname=&parishname&unionname=&baronyname=&totalrows=64&PlaceID=0&wildcard=

For Roscommon:

http://www.askaboutireland.ie/griffith-valuation/index.xml?action=doNameSearch&Submit.x=45&Submit.y=15&Submit=Submit&familyname=flaherty&firstname=john&baronyname=&countyname=ROSCOMMON

Here is a link to maps of the two counties showing parishes:

http://www.irishtimes.com/ancestor/fuses/civilparish/index.cfm?fuseaction=GetMap&CityCounty=Galway

http://www.irishtimes.com/ancestor/fuses/civilparish/index.cfm?fuseaction=GetMap&CityCounty=Roscommon

Some other websites that you may find useful are:

Some other websites that may be helpful are:

The National Archives of Ireland http://www.nationalarchives.ie/genealogy1/genealogy-records/introduction/

The National Library of Ireland http://www.nli.ie/en/family-history-introduction.aspx

Irish Genealogy Tool kit: http://www.irish-genealogy-toolkit.com/

Family Search: www.familysearch.org

From Ireland: www.from-ireland.net

Genealogy Links: http://www.genealogylinks.net/uk/ireland/index.html

All the best,

Genealogy Support

 

Hi Maureen,

Flaherty is also one of my family names and my line come from the R.C. parish of Athleague & Fuerty, Roscommon. Naturally, this Catholic parish not only encompassed two civil parishes, but also straddles the Galway / Roscommon border.  It makes for the most intersting research. I have done extensive research on this line.  There is no Catherine Flaherty baptised in this R.C. parish between 1835 - 1865. Indeed, there are no parents John Flaherty & wife Catherine listed. (I will not tell you how many trips to Ireland to the National Library it has taken me to gather this info! lol!)

The R.C. baptisms for the neighboring parishes Kilbride, and Roscommon & Kilteevin have been extracted (for the most part) by the Genealogical Society of Utah and are available free online at https://familysearch.org/search/collection/1584963.  However, going about it from this angle is speculation.

One of the good things is that Flaherty is not a very common name in Roscommon in the early years pre 1864, but the not so good thing is that it is proliffic in Galway.  Not an easy task to find people.

My suggestion is to go back to the records in the United States and gather more information on Catherine from those.  When did she arrive?  Have you found her Ship passenger manifest?  Is she on the 1880 Census?  Who is she with?  and so on.  We Irish are a clannish lot and a young girl would not have just taken off into the unknown.  Most likely she came over to a relative. Don't get thrown off by the "Teresa" part of her name, it may or may not have been recorded on documents.

Start with the oldest official document you have for Catherine and work forwards and backwards from that.  

Good luck,

Nuala

 

Hi, Nuala.

Thank you for checking. My problem, as you have gathered, is looking for "the needle in the haystack." I am 99% sure that my Catherine Theresa Flaherty was born on the 16 or 17 Jan 1860/1861. The date is reoccuring on numerous records, including RI State Census records and her death certificate. Her parents have been established as John Flaherty and Catherine (maiden name unknown) on her marriage and death certificates. Her obituary states she was born in Co. Roscommon, but no parish or townland. There is a problem trying to establish exactly "when" she arrived in the United States. Varying census records peg her arrival as: 1874, 1878, 1880, and 1881. The oldest censuses 1880 & 1900 narrow that date down to 1878-1880. The 1880 RI Federal Census has two Catherine Flahertys of the same age living in Providence, Providence, Rhode Island. I suspect the correct one to be "Kate T." Flaherty, b. 1862, living as a domestic servant og George and Eden (?) Leonard, a produce dealer born in Connnecticut. His wife was born in Rhode Island. Checking the 1870, I've established this Kate T. Flaherty was not a member of the Leonard household which appears to confirm her arrival after 1870. Narrowing down her exact arrival has been elusive. I suspect she left Ireland after the death of her parents since their surnames were omitted from her marriage certificates and she had no known relatives living in Rhode Island. In 1886, she married Patrick Joseph McHugh in Providence. Patrick's cousin, John, was married to a Maria Flaherty, dau. of James Flaherty and Mary Reynolds, but it is not known whether Catherine (Kate) and Maria were related. Also working against proving Catherine's date of arrival is the lack of information on passengerss traveling from Ireland which does not give detailed information about origin and destination other than the port. So orgin for the time period I'm dealing with state "Ireland" and destination "United States" which is not helpful. It is possible she has Galway orgins as my father vaguely reminds that there is a Galway connection somewhere in our family. Our McHughs appear to be from Sligo, again, unfortunately, no parish or townland. I believe there was a John and Catherine Flaherty based in Galway during the time period that Catherine was born but, so far, I have also struck out there. According to the Griffith Valuations, there were five John Flahertys living in Roscommon, two in Clooncraff and one each in Fuerty, Kilmore, and Kilbride. In Galway, there are 64 John Flahertys listed. I've also checked RootsIreland and Ancestry.com. Not sure what my next move should be for 1820-early 1860s Ireland records online (if any). Suggestions welcome.

Thanks gain for your help.

Maureen

Since my last post, I've discovered DNA matches for Cathereine Flaherty lead to John Flaherty of Cloonyourish, Athleague (as I suspected). This John Flaherty married Catherine Finneran of Lisgobbin in 1864 and all DNA matches come from half siblings from this marriage. So it's certain that John Flaherty of Cloonyourish is definitely her biological father and Catherine Finneran, her step-mother. It is possible that Catherine Finneran is the only mother Catherine Flaherty knew and that her mother has a different name. Both John Flaherty and Catherine Finneran are listed as "widowed" on their marriage certificate. There is also the possibility that the Flahertys came from Easterfield, Galway, just over the border. However, Catherine's birth record of Jan. 16/17 1861 still has not been found attached to any know parish or civil record (with a 10 year +/- to search range) John Flaherty also lived in "Crabtrees" and the family farm had been converted into a B & B for a number of years, owned by Flaherty descendants. The search has now expanded to find the prior marriage(s) of John Flaherty and Catherine Finneran, each having a spouse who died prior to 1864.

Again, thanks to any help offered.

Maureen