Researching Scanlan in Drogheda and beyond

Local volunteer contacted.

Hello, Louth is in the diocese of Armagh which covers the counties of Louth and Armagh, the latter is now in Northern Ireland. So seeing Armagh on the record you found may refer to the diocese, the marriage of Edward and Eliza may have taken place in the brides parish, the custom. Drogheda has two main parishes at the time, Mellifont was another but outside the town, Moneymore is the townland of the centre of Drogheda. To make things more complicated Drogheda is divided by the river Boyne and the south of the town St Mary's Parish is in the diocese of Meath, some of the parish is in the county of Louth and Meath. The records for St Mary's parish marriages only commence in 1834 for baptisms and in the 1870s for marriages, civil registration began for all in 1864, so I think the marriage may have taken place in St Mary's parish just across the river really from Georges Street but the bridge was further up at the time. The current church opened circa 1834. During the famine and later Drogheda was a major migrant port to Liverpool with regular sailings. The railway arrived in the town in 1844 so travel to Dublin and Belfast would be easier then too. The two children left behind either died or married or migrated elswhere. You do not mention the year of migration to see if there are civil records for the death of Edward but I see no deaths recorded and of the transcribed records only show one burial of a Paula Scanlon in I think the 1900s, the main graveyard for St Peters RC was only opened in the early 1900s so likely any burial was there but there were other small graveyards, Cord is transcribed but there is mention of most transcribed here. https://www.jbhall.clahs.ie/index.html There will be no passenger records for travel to England as it was all one then. I did not see Edwards birth that you found on Roots Ireland. I will look around for any marriage of the two children, Roots is showing no burial records to suit. Regards Pat

Hi I searched post 1864 and see no records for Scanlan in Drogheda area, there is one in the 1911 census a widow but Church of Ireland living in widows accomodation. I searched residents of Moneymore and see a Mary Scanlan in 1854 a tenant of John Reilly who is also a tenant of someone else. This is in Griffiths Valuation which is free online and only records the owner and principal tenant, it is possible Judith was there but would not be recorded. I found no obvious records for Judith or Judy, there were in other counties but not close. Have you looked on Ancestry or other sites for a marriage or death, Ancestry or My Heritage. Regards Pat