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Trying to trace my O'Brien/White/Meara ancestors in Borrisokane and Tipperary

Borrisokane (Tipperary)

Hello,

I have been pouring through marriage and baptism records on Ancestry.com for quite some time as I try to identify my Irish ancestors. My great great grandfather, Thomas O'Brien, immigrated to the United States in the 1870s and enlisted in the U.S. Army Calvary shortly thereafter. According to his death certificate, his parents were Michael O'Brien and Mary White and he was born in Tipperary. After his discharge from the Cavalry, Thomas married Bridget Meara who also immigrated to the U.S.

My struggle with the Irish marriage and baptism records is that there appear to be many Borrisokane and Rosecrea Parish records which list members of the "Brien," "Whyte," and "Mara" families throughout the 19th century. But I am not sure if these individuals are the same relatives of my ancestors from the O'Brien, White, and Meara families. I found a marriage record for Michael Brien and Mary Whyte from Feb 1842 and baptism records for Thomas Brien and at least two other potential siblings all with Michael Brien and Mary Whyte as the parents.

Since I live near Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in the United States I am not able to research in person. I have attached a photo of my great great grandfather Thomas O'Brien late in life (right) and his son, Charles (left).

Were O'Brien/Brien, White/Whyte, Meara/Mara truly the same respective families or different? Can anyone provide guidance to me on how to interpret these records? Also, is it highly plausible that the family would have been spread across both the Borrisokane and Rosecrea Parishes within Tipperary?

mike.macarthur…

3 replies

Hi, As a fellow researcher in the U.S., may I say that you don't have to go to Ireland to research the church and civil records.

Irishgenealogy.ie has civil records (birth, death, marriage).

RootsIreland.ie has millions of church and other records.

AskAboutIreland has Griffith's Valuation and more.

 

glanvil3@aol.com

macbeth83:

Like Patricia, I'm also USA based and searching your family online has become so much easier particularly in the last five-ten years with more and more records placed online and many of the sites are free.

I searched the subscription Roots Ireland and found four baptismal records in Borrisokane for children of Michael Brien/Brian/Bryan and Mary Whyte

John February 4 1843

Michael September 28 1845

Mary February 17 1850

Thomas September 3 1854

When researching surnames in Ireland in the 19th century, you will note many variants for the same surname. Spelling was less rigid and many were illiterate. Also the prefix O was suppressed by civil authorities.

Brien and Meara plus the variants were very common surnames in Tipperary and likely found in many parishes. Not sure I understand the connection between Borrisokane and Roscrea. Although both are located in North Tipperary, the two parishes are located about 16 miles apart.

Let me know if you have any questions.

Roger McDonnell

Castlemore RoscommonIrelandXO Volunteer

Hello Roger,

Thank you for your response. I'm trying to determine how narrowly I can focus my geographic searches. Although I know that my relative was from Borrisokane, I'm not sure if I may also have relatives in other Parishes such as Rosecrea, Terryglass, etc. I certainly see individuals with the same surname in these Parishes, but am not sure if they are part of my family tree. Unfortunately, it is very difficult to determine this based on how the records are organized within the Ancestry, Roots Ireland, and Irishgeneology websites.

mike.macarthur…

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