Ireland XO
Back to Message Board

William, Michael and Margaret Smith - late 1800's

CorkGrenagh (Cork)

My great-grandfather William Smith was apparently born between 1863 and 1866 in Grenagh to parents Michael and Margaret (nee Killochan).  He later left for Scotland likely in the 1890's where he settled, got married and raised a family, before moving to Canada in 1920.  He was raised in the Roman Catholic faith.  Anyone who has any tips or suggestions about where to start looking for further information about him would be greatly appreciated!  I am aware that civil records are not available for the late 1800's, so the big mystery for me is what church(es) to start with.

billcs777

10 replies

Grenagh volunteer alerted

Castlemore RoscommonIrelandXO Volunteer

Hi Bill, 

It might be worth your while contacting Grenagh Parish office. Their contact information is here: https://cloynediocese.ie/parish-grenagh/ . Perhaps you might find some evidence of marriage or baptism certificates of interest. 

I would also recommend you contact Mallow Heritage Genealogy Society. They may have contacts in Grenagh or know local experts that might be able to help you. 

Good luck!

Dave 

dwhyte@irelandxo.comIrelandXO Volunteer

Thank you very much Dave, I will pursue those leads to see what I can find!

billcs777

Just in follow up, I have written to the local Parochial House, as suggested by Cloyne Diocese, but have yet to receive a response from the parish priest. It appears he does not use email!  

billcs777

Also, Mallow Heritage Centre only referred me to the site rootsireland.ie - I don't want to waste my time there if I'm unsure of the county since it's a subscription site.  I need to confirm if my great-grandfather was from Grenagh or not - one of his records says Derry but I'm not sure that's right.

billcs777

Bill:

I searched the subscription site Roots Ireland and there was no William Smith/Smyth  baptismal record in Grenagh with any parents name. So I don't think he was from that parish. Here is a link to the parish register which is the same source the local church would have to access https://registers.nli.ie/parishes/0058 ; You can scan the register for the years you mentioned to see if you see a record that the Roots Ireland transcribers missed.   

Roger McDonnell 

Castlemore RoscommonIrelandXO Volunteer

Thank you very much for your time Roger to check for me. The link that you provided doesn't work, could you please try again?  There is a possibility he may be from Derry - information was passed down to relatives that he was from Grenagh. Unfortunately any other records we have just indicate "Ireland" as a birth place.

 

Bill

billcs777

Thanks again Roger, will give it a try!

billcs777

While I haven't gotten any further with looking for my great-grandfather William through parish records, I have found his mother Margaret Killegar (not Killochan - it was misspelled on his marriage certificate), who was christened 16 July 1845 in Youghal. Unfortunately I have no way of knowing when she married husband Michael or where he was from in Ireland. I would like to be able to trace William's steps back to Ireland from Scotland, where he was married in 1899, but I think I'll need to go there and spend a day at the registry house to try and find other leads.

Today's post about Smiths in County Cavan gives a good argument for where my Smiths may have originated, but too hard to say.

Any Smith or Killegar descendants, please feel free to reply :)

billcs777

Reply

Reply
One image file up to 2 MB.