My great great grandfather, Michael Lynch, came to the US from Ireland about 1847. He was born in County Laois around 1812. According to his newspaper obituary, he came from the Parish of Alananua. Since there is no such Parish anywhere in Ireland, I'm hoping locals either recognize a now-defunct place name or one that phonetically is close to such a place. All help gratefully accepted.
Donna Wakeman
Welcome Donna to IrelandXO
I read your query with interest. I too could not find the Parish/Townland. Could you send us on a copy of the death orbit and we might get a better idea of the area.
kind regards
Phyl
IrelandXO Volunteer
Gladly. Here's hoping it makes more sense to you.
Nola/Phyl:
It could be Attanagh parish in southern Co. Laois.
Roger McDonnell
Hi Nola and Roger,
I have cleaned the glasses and then cleaned them again BUT I still cannot make out the address. I did a lookup on roots.ie and cannot see any likeness. I looked up Griffiths Valuation for Co Laois and still no joy. I looked up the civil parishes of Co Laois - see link here: https://www.familysearch.org/en/wiki/County_Laois_Civil_Parishes ; no joy here either.
https://www.townlands.ie/laois/ ;
I am so sorry that I can be of much help to you. I do know that our Ancestors do love to play hide and seek with us.
Good luck with your searching.
Phyl, IrelandXO Volunteer ☘
Was he married in Ireland ?
If so and you know who his wife was then perhaps searching for a marriage might help as it would move the search along perhaps 20/30 years and Parish records are more plentiful the further into the 19th century you go .
Phyl,
I know the copy of microfilm isn't the clearest and Alananua is the closest I could come. I assume it was spelled phonetically. Like you, I had checked those sources and came up empty. Roger's suggestion of Attanagh is one possibility and someone else suggested that Cloonagh More sounds similar with a Laois accent(?).
Agha,
I don't know if my great-great-grandfather was married anywhere in Ireland. He married my great-great-grandmother in New Orleans about 1851 and I know it was her second marriage. He was about 39 so I assume it was also his second marriage. I did find a Michael Lynch in the Castle Garden Emigrant records for 1847 along with wife Ann, sons Michael, 1 and Patrick, 2. Can't be sure that's him, though.
Hello Nola,
Did another bit of digging and are you on Facebook?? if so, there are 2 FB pages which may be of interest to you.
1] Laois DNA and
2] IGP Co Laois Ireland Genealogy Group.
Local groups like these can be very helpful as they would have alot of local knowledge and could by your answer to all these blocked walls.
Good Luck
Phyl, IrelandXO Volunteer ☘