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McNamara/MacNamara/Vesey in Achill, Mayo

Searching for the parish of Thomas McNamara who married Honora Vesey. He was born around 1800 but we are not positive about which county. but when my husband had his dna tested he comes up with a match to a Dominick Vesey in Valley Achill.. Thomas had a son Dominick McNamara, born around 1829 that emigrated to Lanarkshire Scotland. They were Catholic. Any help you could give me would be greatly appreciated. Recently I have found that two McNamara orphans from the Westport workhouse, were sent on the Earl Grey Scheme to Sydney, Australia on the Panama, arriving in January 1850. Does anyone know of any information on that program or how far back it would be reasonable to find information on the McNamara/Vesey families? We are planning a visit to Ireland, including Achill in May and would appreciate any information we could get prior to our visit.

Cambigdog@aol.com

14 replies

Carol:

Welcome to Ireland Reaching Out!

My first reaction was Co. Clare also. I was not able to find a baptismal record for Dominick from 1824-1834. Many RC parishes do not have records back to 1829 so it is possible the baptismal and marriage records are not available.

I know a little bit about DNA and I'm puzzled by the comment that your husband's DNA was interpreted. If I may ask what compamy did he test with?

Roger McDonnell

Castlemore RoscommonIrelandXO Volunteer

Hello Roger,

  My husband had his y-dna tested through FTdna.  We were surprised to find NO McNamara matches.  Since I was preparing to go to Salt Lake City on a research trip and wanted to know about the results I had them interpreted through the Irishorigenes site.  Recently I saw a post from someone debunking the theory Tyrone Bowes has for determining homelands.  I am thoroughly confused  

 

 

 

 

 

Cambigdog@aol.com

Carol:

I have seen the work that Dr. Tyrone Bowes has done on his site and it is very interesting but I have also seen commentary where others in the field have criticized his theories. I have also had the Y-DNA test and I do have matches but they go back to the 17th and 18th centuries. I found it helpful but the test that is more helpful is the autosomal DNA test which identifies matches on your maternal and paternal lines including matches that are paternal but not "pure paternal". My wife and I have both had the Family Tree and Ancestry DNA tests and we been able to break down some brick walls. 

Roger

Castlemore RoscommonIrelandXO Volunteer

Doing a bit more research on Thomas and Honora MacNamara I have found death records for each of those names in the time period - 1800 give or take - in Kilrush, she in 1867 and he in 1872.  Can you tell me what other records I could possibly find there to see if these are the folks I am looking for? 

Cambigdog@aol.com

Carol:

I have good news and bad news. The Irish government has updated www.irishgenealogy.ie with all of the civil records from 1864 on to be searched for free. The bad news is that death records prior to the 1880s do not yet have the images available for the records. Not sure if that is a future release or not. We will have to wait and see. For now, all you can do is write to the General Register Office and get a copy of the record whcihs costs 4 euros. If you need instructions, let me know.

I just looked up the 1872 record for Thomas and there was no image.

This morning I found the 1942 death record for one of my great-grandmothers. I thought she died in the 1920s but it turns out she died in 1942 and the image was available.

Roger

 

Castlemore RoscommonIrelandXO Volunteer

What a great feeling when you find these pieces of information. Thank you for checking on this for me, and I would appreciate instruction on how to apply to the General Register Office.  

 

 

 

 

Cambigdog@aol.com

Carol:

Go to this link https://www.welfare.ie/en/Pages/Apply-for-Certificates.aspx   print out the death form and fill it out to the best of your ability include the data from the index record. You have to mail the request to Ireland (address provided when you print the form) but you can ask GRO to e-mail the copy back.

Roger 

Castlemore RoscommonIrelandXO Volunteer

Thank you so much Roger.  Keeping my fingers crossed that this it who I am looking for.  The evidence seems to match but we shall see.

Cambigdog@aol.com

Sometimes you just cannot give up so I have been beating the bushes on this family that I now know came from Achill. I am reading the book the Preacher and the Prelate about the Achill Mission and it mentions orphans Mary and Bridget McNamara whose parents Thomas and Hanora are now dead in 1849. Thereby I assume they died in the famine. Are there are kind of records of those that perished in the famine since there are so many?

Cambigdog@aol.com

Sometimes you just cannot give up so I have been beating the bushes on this family that I now know came from Achill. I am reading the book the Preacher and the Prelate about the Achill Mission and it mentions orphans Mary and Bridget McNamara whose parents Thomas and Hanora are now dead in 1849. Thereby I assume they died in the famine. Are there are kind of records of those that perished in the famine since there are so many?

Cambigdog@aol.com

Carol:

Civil registration of deaths started in 1864. Prior to that date, a few RC churches retained some death info. However, Achill parish does not have death data and their baptismal and marriage records start in 1867.

Roger

Castlemore RoscommonIrelandXO Volunteer

That is what I was afraid of. Thank you for your help Roger.

Cambigdog@aol.com

 

regards,

joseph Mulliganhi,

i'm related.  Honora's Father was Francis Vesey and mom Catherine Niland both from Galway.  Honora was born in 1801. Baptised May 1801.  Honora married Thomas McNamara.  Later the McNamara's changed to MacNamara.  Lanark Scotland.

My grandfather was Joseph Gabriel Macnamara born around 1895 in Phila., PA

 

 

 

Jay Mulligan

Hello. I welcome another relative and hope we can together find more on this family. It looks like your grandfather Joseph G was a brother to my husband's grandfather Louis F. It has been a challenge finding answers and have now concluded I will not be able to find anything more prior to Thomas and Honora so am now trying to determine the children of them as I am sure they died in the famine and there were so many there was not much documentation. We had planned on visiting Achill last year until Covid struck so that is on hold  now. Would be glad to share any info. 
Regards

 

 

Cambigdog@aol.com

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