I believe my greatggreat grandparents were married in St. Murdach's Cathedraj about 1831 which I see is in couty Mayo but
stone at ourl ocal cemetary say they were from county Sligo. How can I find out which is correct?
Hank Fennell'
Hank:
Welcome to Ireland Reaching Out!
St. Muredach's Cathedral is on the River Moy in Ballina but not far from Co. Sligo. The marriage was normally held in the bride's parish and possibly she lived in Ballina. In any event there were likely people who lived in Co. Sligo who attended the church. http://www.ballinaparish.org/newspage.php
Another complication is that the Local Government Act of 1898 transferred some areas of Sligo near Ballina to Co. Mayo. http://sites.rootsweb.com/~irlsli/borders.html
Roger McDonnell
They are both correct! As mentioned above, the Local Government Act of 1898 transferred parts of Co. Sligo to Co. Mayo. The area where St Muredach's sits is one of those areas. When they were married, they were in Co. Sligo. Now it is Co. Mayo.
How do I know? We had the same problem. My great grandfather, John Mears (Meer/Mier/ Myers), son of Owen Meer and Ann McNaughton, was born about 1817 in Shanaghy, Co. Sligo (it is about 2 miles SE of St. Muredach's). We "young folks" told the old folks that it was in Co. Mayo. We were all right!
Thank you very much, I always suspected this was case but not all relitives agreed with me. Now I have another question, when my ancesters emigrated to America their name through accident
somehow got changed to Nocton but in records I have from Sligo has their name as Anthony Naghten (also Naughton) and Mary Callaghan any chnce they could have been related to your great-
grand mother Ann McNaughton, very doubtful but sometimes I think The Mc's could get mxed up or dropped. At any rate thank you for all the help Hank Fennell
Hank, my grandmother was Winifred Naughton (1892-1964). She and her predecessors were born in Cloonagun, Breaffy (Breaghwy), Ballina, County Sligo n/k/a Mayo. She married Patrick Neary in Saint Muredach's Cathedral circa 1915. Her Naughton ancestors date back to the late 1700s in Breaghwy. I am not familiar with Anthony Naughton but the Naughton family was very large and intermarried to many local families through the years. I took a dna test at "23 and Me"...you may be able to verify a connection to my Naughton relations through that means and also verify the Cloonagun, Breaghwy connection as well. Good luck. SMB