Ireland XO
Back to Message Board

Looking for the parent's & sibling's names of Thomas Maguire born January 16, 1826 in either Enniskillen or Garrison, County Fermanagh, Ireland.

FermanaghEnniskillen (Fermanagh)

Looking for information about Thomas Maguire born on January 16, 1826 in either Enniskillen or Garrison, County Fermanagh, Ireland. I would like to know the names of his parents and his siblings. The information I have about him after he emmigrated to America is shown below.

Thomas Maguire came to the U.S.A. in 1847. He worked on a farm in Massachusetts for two years. He then went west and worked for the Michigan Central Railway for 28 years. He moved to Joliet in 1854 and purchased a farm in 1867 in Round Grove Township, Livingston County, Illinois and moved there in 1878. The farm was located on the edge of Campus, IL. All of the Maguires are buried in Sacred Heart Cemetery, Campus, Illinois, USA.

Record of marriage from http://will.illinoisgenweb.org/vitalrecs/marr-01.htm posted by Kathy Zavada:

"McGUIRE, Thomas McCANNA, Mary 7 Jan 1861 St. Patricks, Joliet, Witnesses: John KEION & Alice MAHER"

Record of marriage from the Illinois Statewide Marriage Index

Search Criteria: McGuire, Thomas and McCanna, Mary

Groom Bride Date Volume Page Lic No. County

"MCGUIRE, THOMAS MCCANNA, MARY 1861-01-07 00000899 WILL"

Thomas Maguire was born in Garrison, Fermanagh County, Ireland on the 16th day of January 1826. We have not found his parents to date, (2019) but he came to the United States in 1847, in the company of, we suspect, two brothers and maybe a sister. Thomass son James is remembered as traveling East to visit some Uncles and Aunts. Thomas worked on a farm in Massachusetts for two years before going West and went into the employ of the Michigan Central Railroad, for whom he worked twenty-eight years. He was foreman of a "push car" crew that inspected the rails and made repairs where needed when he located in Joliet, Illinois, in 1854. There he met and courted Mary McKenna, born in 1834 in Drumlish, Longford County, Ireland. They were married the 7th of January 1861 in St. Patricks Catholic Church, Joliet, Will Co., Illinois by Fr. Patrick Farrelly who was the Paster at St. Patrick's Church from 1858 to 1869. Thomas name was misspelled McGuire and Marys was spelled McCanna on the marriage license by Fr. Farrelly. They lived in Joliet and the vicinity until 1878, when they moved to their farm, which they had purchased in 1867, in Round Grove Township, Livingston County, Illinois. Marys brother, James McKenna, born 1832 in Drumlish, Ireland, lived near them for many years owning 80 acres abutting the Maguire farm. Thomas and Mary (McKenna) Maguire had 5 children:

VisDeaconMikeO…

2 replies

Michael,

Statutory birth registration didn’t start in Ireland till 1864. Prior to that you have to rely on church records to trace someone in Ireland. Unfortunately in this case Garrison RC church records don’t start till 1860 which means it will be very difficult to find any record of Thomas or his siblings in Fermanagh in the 1820s.

Your search won’t be helped by the fact that Maguire/McGuire is the most common surname in Co. Fermanagh. (Both spellings are used in Ireland and people often switched between them, though Maguire is the more common). In the 1901 census for example, there were 2249 people with that surname in the county, 89 of whom were named Thomas. The name would have been even more common in the 1820s as the population was considerably greater then. (The Maguires were the native tribe in that part of Ulster which is why the name is so common).

Garrison is in the civil parish of Devenish.  Griffiths Valuation of the parish was compiled in 1862. There were 69 Maguire households around Garrison in that set of records. 

You also mentioned Enniskillen as Thomas’s place of origin.  The church records there don’t start till 1838, so that’s not really any better.

Possibly DNA testing may be a way of matching with others who have additional information about where the family originate. Family Tree DNA reportedly has more people with Ulster roots than any other company. That obviously increases the chances of finding a match. You might want to try them or, if you have already tested, you can transfer your results to them for no fee.

The North of Ireland Family History Society is running an Ulster DNA project and can offer FTDNA testing kits at a reduced price.  http://www.nifhs.org (Go to DNA project on the website). You don’t need to be a member of the NIFHS to participate in the DNA project.

Elwyn, IrelandXO Volunteer ☘IrelandXO Volunteer

Hello - my name is Holly Bishop and I am a descendant of Thomas Maguire - although I can't quite figure out the connection.  That's what I have been working on.  I am finding lots of DNA match for this family in Livingston County, IL and tons of DNA conncections to Maguires in Fermanagh.

Any suggestions on how to find a connection.  I assume I am descended from a sibling of Thomas Maguire.  Do you have any information on the names of his siblings?

Thanks so much for any help.

Holly Bishop

Holly Bishop

Reply

Reply
One image file up to 2 MB.