Melia/ Mille;
I'm looking into my family history and am stuck at my great grandparents.
Thomas Melia was born around 1845 in the Galway area. When I was a child I remember us stopping at a ramshackle cottage somewhere near Galway and my uncle telling us ( my dad and me) that was where their grandfather was born. It's not much to go on!
Thomas Melia emigrated in the 1860s to live in and around Irlam, near Manchester. He worked on a farm and later on the construction of the Manchester Ship Canal. He appeared on official records variously as Maley, Mallia, Malley, Mallor as well as Melia.
He married Catharine Killeen (Kate) from County Roscommon. They married in Irlam, in early 1866, with fathers listed as John M and James K deceased. They named their first daughter Bridget and second one Mary, so if they followed Irish tradition Kate's mother will also be a Bridget, and Thomas' mother Mary.
From what my uncle said, the surname was originally Ó Maille.
Certainly my uncle changed his name from Melia back to its original Gaelic Ó Maille.
Anyway, I am now stuck, with Melia and Killeen, and any help or advice would be very much appreciated.
thank you, Helen