Parish of Athlone, Roscommon

Hi Anthea

Do you have the surname of the people you are interested in?    The parish of Athlone takes in St Peters Athlone and also Drum.  Drum is The Connaught side of Athlone so is in Co Roscommon so most likely your ancestors are from this area.   I may be able to guide you a little if you let me have the names and dates.   You could also link in to the DruM Heritage Site who are excellent in researching this general area.   But in the meantime please let us have the names, addresses if any and dates and I will point you in the right direction.  Where in the world are you mailing from    Kind regards.   Mary

I should mention Anthea that I am a member of a local history group called Moore 

History Group which parish joins  Drum and Athlone and indeed some of the postal address for the Moore area is in Athlone.   Athlone town itself is largely in Westmeath so the fact that you have Roscommon in your note suggests your ancestors are from the Connaught side of the River Shannon.   Look forward to your details to see can I help or pass your note to somebody who can.   Mary

Hello Anthea,

 

This site primarily organises its Parishes in accordance with what are understood as Civil Parishes which basically relate to the location of townlands for taxation, Administration and other land matters. Record sources dealing with life events BMD are often confused with these Civil Parishes but the ecclesiastical and civil record sources for BMD’s often cover different geographical areas and do not respect established County boundaries.

These are links to the Civil Parishes (maps and townlands) pertaining to non life events.

Civil Parish – St Peter’s https://www.johngrenham.com/c_parish/c_parish_main.php?civilparishid=2076&county=Roscommon&civilparish=St.%20Peters&CountyMap= or alternatively http://www.leitrim-roscommon.com/MAPS/st_peters.html

Civil Parish – Drum https://www.johngrenham.com/c_parish/c_parish_main.php?civilparishid=2040&civilparish=Drum&county=Roscommon or alternatively http://www.leitrim-roscommon.com/MAPS/drum.html

Parishes pertaining to life events are essentially from ecclesiastical and civil sources. Often the major genealogy sites refer to life events being organised by Civil Parish but these are misleading as many confuse these with the parishes pertaining to land, taxation etc. The Civil sources for life events should be referred to as Superintendent Registrar's Districts , the primary one which should interest you is Athlone as shown in the attachment Athlone2 which covers parts of Roscommon and Westmeath.

These Superintendent Registrar's Districts are made up of smaller districts called dispensary districts which can be particularly helpful where two or more counties are covered by a Superintendent Registrar's Districts. A dedicated Irish site, http://www.rootsireland.ie/ unlike the major sites organises their Civil life event records using these Dispensary districts.

The Athlone SRD can be broken down into six Dispensary districts. Those covering Roscommon are Athlone No.2, Brideswell, and Kiltoom. Those covering Westmeath are Athlone No.1, Glassan and Moate. The advantage with rootsireland is where common names between Roscommon and Westmeath occur the Dispensary district can narrow those relevant to your County of interest.

Ecclesiastical records for Athlone can again have unique borders and from the attachment Athlone1 you can see the town of Athlone covered by two Catholic Parishes St Mary’s in Westmeath and Athlone, St. Peter, and Drum in Roscommon. You can access online those records held by the NLI rot Athlone,St Peter and Drum at http://registers.nli.ie/parishes/0538 .

Catholic Parish Map Athlone - http://www.leitrim-roscommon.com/MAPS/athloneRC.html

Searching these records will be difficult as the Catholic Parish Registers at the NLI http://registers.nli.ie/ have no searchable index. You can however if you have registered for an account with FindmyPast – (Free Account with limited Free records) use their search facility for ‘’Free’’ which provides a transcript and link to the actual page.
Note the ‘’Free Records’’ can be viewed http://www.findmypast.co.uk/irish-parish-records

Whilst transcription errors are a common feature with the majority of the transcriptions online , you may wish to avail yourselves of one of the search tools available – ‘’Wildcards’’

https://blog.findmypast.co.uk/an-introduction-to-findmypasts-search-tools-1406297908.html

 

 

Hermine, Thanks so much for your response.  My 3rd great grandfather was William Henry Glennon, a teacher.  There are few extant records but on various notices he is described as being from Athlone, Roscommon.  His wife was Deborah.  He had four daughters: Deborah, Catherine, Maria, Betsy.  It appears that his wife, Deborah, passed away in Ireland.  He migrated to Melbourne, Australia in about 1850 with his daughters.  Some of his daughters ran a school for girls in Melbourne. I would like to establish where the family was from in greater detail.  If they can be found, I want to find any church records of baptisms, weddings etc. I am from Gippsland, Victoria, Australia (about 120 kms from Melbourne).  Perhaps this will help. Kind regards, Anthea Dacy (an Anglicisation of Deasy)

 

Dear P McG, Thanks so much for your fullsome response.  I have a lot of leads to follow up now.  Will do so and let you know how I get on.   Thanks again.  Anthea Dacy

 

Hi Anthea

 

Good to hear from you and hope all are well in Australia.   Personally we have many great stories of ancestors in Australia especially Melbourne, Benalla ect and the Ned Kelly story!!!!   Because of this we are very familiar with records in Australlia and know that they are a wonderful source of information and have been for us.   I assume your have got the death certificate for William?    I also assume you have contacted the cemetery he is buried in as they hold loads of details.   Place of death including years in Australia are on many of these.    Also a great free source for you over there is TROVE which is an on line resource and particularly good with death notices and obituaries which always, if the person  has emigrated, and especially if they held some responsible job, will give a detailed description of where they originated from.    I have done a quick search for you and the name Deborah seems to be the problem are you sure about this name?    The maiden name for Williams wife should appear on the death notices, if they are dead? Of their children in Australia.   Having the maiden name would help a lot.   I came across a William Glennon born on the 1 oct 1797 baptized in St Peters Athlone, Roman Catholic, Father Edward mother Judith Kelly and the sponsors were Rose Flynn and Bridget Lennon. The entry has their names in Latin     Will keep searching on and off for you and will pass this on to the DRUM HERITAGE CENTRE for them.  No address with this record.       

Passenger lists also are very helpful I am sure you found their one easy enough with him travelling with kids.

Also if you have the marriages if married of the four girls, normally in Australia the maiden name of their mother would be on it.   Also presumably William before he left for AUS may have put up a headstone for his wife knowing that he was leaving.

So hopefully I have been a help to you and if I find anything else I will do so.

 

 

Hermine

Thanks again.  I have searched TROVE and found all the relevant public notices regarding the Glennons.  I have yet to purchse death certificates etc.  You're right.  They will yield more detail.  I guess I was hoping to get onto the Parish Registers for Athlone and look up whatever I can find.  I have done this with other relatives with great satisfaction.  The public notices I have found put William's wife as Deborah.  I will keep searching though.  Please expect a delay before I respond: we are travelling in Far North Queensland at present so a long way from home with many kilometres to drive before I can settle down with my research materials.  I will look forward to hearing about anything you might turn up re the Glennons.  Cheers for now, Anthea

 

 

I’m interested in this parish too (St Peter’s Athlone, Roscommon). My great-great grandparents, James Michael McDonnell and Eliner Sherwood married there on January 17 1837. Does the church still exist? I have just visited (last week) Athlone (from Australia) and erroneously visited St Peter and Paul’s... as soon as I entered I knew it wasn’t the right church. Thanks, Amanda  

 

 

 

 

I am researching the Kellys from drum. I believe Edmund Kelly to be a great great grandfather. They moved to Galway city probably 1800s. I would like to receive any information on Kelly families in drum. Thanks

I am researching the Kellys from drum. I believe Edmund Kelly to be a great great grandfather. They moved to Galway city probably 1800s. I would like to receive any information on Kelly families in drum. Thanks

I read with interest the post about the Parish of St Peter’s Athlone and Drum. My great grandfather (or his brother) was baptised there on 23/06/1847. It says Johannes. I think this could be John, my great grandfather, but the date seems to be that of his brother James. They emigrated with their parents, Patrick and Mary/Maria (nee Gavin) Gilligan, sister Ann and brother Bernard, and settled in York, where the family settled and multiplied! I’d love to know more about the family.