McCaffreys (Ballywholan, Meltigy, Bragan)

If you have found families in the 1901 & 1911 censuses that you think may be related and want to look for connections, the normal procedure would be to find the parents marriage certificates which will give their fathers names and occupations, and work backwards as far as you can. Death certificates may help with ages and sometimes relationships eg where a son or daughter is the informant and that is recorded.

But statutory registration only started in 1864. Prior to that you are reliant on church records. Clogher RC marriages start in 1825 (with a gap) and baptisms in 1856. Getting much further than that is pretty difficult.

If your family were farmers then the head of household should be listed in the 1825 tithes. There were approximately 25 McCaffrey farms in the parish then.

http://www.irishgenealogyhub.com/tyrone/tithe-applotment-books/parish-of-clogher.php

Go forward to Griffiths (1860 for Clogher) and look in the same townlands then. If a name in the tithes is no longer there, then in many cases that indicates the person had died. The farm is likely to have passed to a son.

Check the PRONI wills site. It has details of wills and administration files (intestacy) from 1858 onwards. Then wills are often a helpful guide to what family someone had.  Some of the wills up to about 1910 are on-line, and some you have to go into PRONI to see (or get someone to do that for you).

Check the 1841/1851 census abstracts on the nli site, and also in Josephine Mastersons book, in case a member of the family applied for a pension and used the old censuses to prove their age.

If farmers, the leases may have been registered in the register of Deeds. That’s on-line on the LDS site. Search by townland rather than surname. Leases can sometimes clarify relationships, especially if you get back to the 1700s and get a 3 lives lease (valid for the 3 lives named in it).

Search newspapers on the likes of the British Newspaper Archives site (subscription). Put McCaffrey plus the townland in, and see what comes up.

Most Irish research comes to a stop around 1800 due to the lack of records. We call it the 1800 barrier.

I assume you have asked the relatives in Ireland if they have any information, and I’m guessing they don’t. That’s not unusual. Unless interested in genealogy, most families in Ireland get a bit vague after about 3 generations back.

The Clogher RC marriage records cover 1825 – 1835 and 1840 onwards to 1881. So a gap 1835 – 1840.

In addition to the nli site which shows the originals, they have been transcribed and are on Ancestry. They are searchable there but there are transcription errors and I find the search functions don’t always work that well especially if you use parish name. Sometimes it’s easier leaving the parish name blank. You get better results.

https://www.ancestry.co.uk/search/collections/61039/

Though most people married locally, sometimes brides came from adjacent parishes. Tradition was to marry in the bride’s parish (after which she’d attend church in her husband's) so missing marriages might be in another parish. This map shows you the parishes that are adjacent to Clogher:

https://www.johngrenham.com/browse/counties/rcmaps/tyronerc.php#maps/

Yes many of the records are in Latin. That was the language used by RC clerics across Europe. If there’s one or two you can’t read, post the details and I’ll look at them for you.

Some of the words are certainly hard to make out. The terminology tends to follow a standard format, but the names can be a bit difficult since many Irish names don’t have a Latin translation so the priest tended to make something up. Cod latin, you might say.

1826: Following banns, the following were joined in marriage:

………… M’Caffrey & Rosann Owens. Witnesses were James Gallagher & Patrick Owens. First name might be Dionysius (Denis).

1828: ………. Kane & Brigid M’Caffrey. Witnesses: Edward O’Kane & Denis (Dionisio) M’Caffrey. Can't make out the first name at all.

1856:  Catherine McLeahy of  Tawnymore (?) parents James McLeahy & Mary McCaffrey.  Sponsors Patrick Corrigan & Catherine Leonard.

1832: After banns, Charles Divine & Catherine McCaffrey. Witnesses Edward & Patrick McConon.

1833: Patrick McKenna & Joanna Hacket. Witnesses Cormick McCaffrey & Bernard Mag……

1857: John McElroy of Ballymacan, parents Patrick McElroy & Margaret McCaffrey. Sponsors Patrick McCaffrey & May McElroy.

Note:  Griffiths Valuation of 1860 lists John McElroy in Ballymacan. He had plot 10 which was a 30 acre farm. Next door on plot 11 was a Patrick McElroy  with 33 acres. Probably related, I would think.

LDS = Latter Day Saints. I should just have said Familysearch. That’s their website.