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Looking for Mary E. McSweeney

On my grandmother's death certificate, it states that her mother, Mary McSweeney, came from "London Derry." On my great grandmother's death certificate, it states that she was born on August 1, 1845, and that her father was Louis McSweeney and her mother, Mary O'Donnell.

I joined the Derry group and a volunteer there told me that most of the McSweeneys came from Tamlaghtard Parish but they could not find any of my relatives. Years ago, Ancestry targeted my DNA to Donegal/Londonderry but recently, it's been revised to just Donegal. My great grandmother, Mary, stated on a US Census that her first language was Irish. Her son stated on a US Census that his mother came from the Irish Free State. I believe now that my great grandmother may have been from Donegal.

Any help you can offer would be most welcome. 

Thanks,

Barbara Beaucar

barbara.beauca…

4 replies

Barbara:

I searched on the subscription site Roots Ireland and could not find any Sweeney/McSweeney baptismal records with a mother with the maiden name of O'Donnell and father Louis. I then dropped Louis but found no Mary Sweeney/McSweeney records anywhere in Ireland around 1845. If she was from Co. Donegal, the problem is that most RC parishes in Co. Donegal do not have records pre-1850.

I also searched the Griffiths Valuation for all of Ireland for any head of households with the name Louis Sweeney and found none.

Have you considered DNA testing? Possibly you will have matches that have more info on the origins of your McSweeney family.

Roger McDonnell

 

Castlemore RoscommonIrelandXO Volunteer

Hello Barbara,

Do you have any other documents for your ancestor, like her marriage record, one for which she herself would have given the names of her parents?

The trouble with death certificates is that the person providing the info may not have the correct info. I've seen many wrong names for parents on death records. So if you can find other records, that would be helpful to your search.

 

glanvil3@aol.com

Dear Roger and Patricia,

First, let me thank you both for your time. I really appreciate it. 

Roger, my cousin in Carlow suggested doing GED match with my DNA from Ancestry. I started doing that but found it very confusing. I suppose it would be worthwhile to try again.

Patricia, you are right about mistakes on records. When I was visiting Cobh, I spoke with the genealogist there who suggested "casting a wider net." I have been looking at my grandmother's siblings' records and found no additional information but one birth location for my great uncle that was wrong. 

As far as Mary's marriages, I have only found records for her second one to my great grandfather in Connecticut in 1876. No parents names are included. BUT. I haven't checked the church's records. Next step. I'm also going to check the various churchs' records for her children's baptisms and marriages too.  

On the 1900 US Census, Mary's birth date is listed as1845 and she that she arrived in the USA in 1862. I found one record in the Massachusetts Archives passenger manifests for a Mary Sweeney, age 18, who arrived on the ship, "City of Boston," on 5/26/1863. This could be her. But I have found no naturalization records for her. 

I will keep searching--I know I'll find her! In the meantime, my sincere thanks for your help.

Best,

Barbara 

barbara.beauca…

Barbara:

We had a systems problem with our notification process and very notifications were being generated. the problem was fixed last week and all of the older notifications were released.

Gedmatch can be confusing and intimidating. There are instructions for uploading your DNA data from Ancestry. Once you complete the process, I would stay with the basic Gedmatch. They have some more elaborate tools in their subscription Tier 1 process but at this point, the basic process should be sufficient for you. 

Roger

Castlemore RoscommonIrelandXO Volunteer

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