Looking for any evidence of my 4th great grandparents and their children in County Tyrone. Peter McMahon (1818-1883) and Ann Quinn (1815-1875). Children are as follows: Mary (1838-1904), Hugh F (1841-1873), Eliza (1845-1908), Bridget (1847-1870), and James F. (1849-1916). James F. is my 3rd great grandfather.
They immigrated as a family from Liverpool to Boston on the Agnes and arrived on July 13th, 1854. They settled in Lowell, Massachusetts.
In 1851, Griffith's Valuation of Tyrone listed four heads of household in Tyrone named Peter McMahon. One of them is likely your ancestor:
| Surname | First Name | Townland | Parish | County | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mahon | Peter | Lenamore | Bodoney Lower | Co. Tyrone | |||
| Mahon | Peter | Gortin | Bodoney Lower | Co. Tyrone | |||
| Mcmahon | Peter | Anacramp | Aghaloo | Co. Tyrone | |||
| Mcmahon | Peter | Cloghfin | Termonmaguirk | Co. Tyrone |
Source: RootsIreland
I looked at RootsIreland for the marriage of Peter and Ann and the baptisms of their children, with no findings.
Is it common to not be able to find marriage and/or baptism records? Thanks for your help.
Sean
Sean,
You ask whether it’s common not to find any records. The answer is yes. Problem you face is that many RC parishes didn’t have records for the years you are interested in (1849 and earlier). You can use this site to check, parish by parish, when the records start for each.
https://www.johngrenham.com/browse/counties/rcmaps/tyronerc.php#maps/
Taking as an example, Termonamongan, you’ll see their records only start in 1863. Badoney Upper & Lower both start in 1866. So if any of those is where the family lived then there are no records to search. No easy way round that.
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 in conjunction with FTDNA and can offer testing kits at a reduced price. http://www.nifhs.org (Go to DNA project on the website).
Thank you for the information, Elwyn.