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Maguire(s) of Kilmore

CavanKilmore (Cavan)

Hello, I think I've found a connection between my family in Canada with Kilmore, Cavan. My 3X great grandfather Francis McGuire (or Maguire) and two sons (James and Bernard) arrived in Quebec, Canada in 1820 but there are other Maguire families also in the area (probably brothers/cousins). They all arrived around the same time. Francis had been married to a Mary Farley (spelling is per Quebec-based church records so may be incorrect) who I believe had died prior to their emigration. Other Maguire names are Roger, Thomas, Bernard. I did find a connection for a Thomas Maguire back to Ireland in the 1820 Irish Census; father Denis and mother Elizabeth Fitzpatrick at townland of "Kellawella", barony of Upper Loughtee, parish of Kilmore, County Cavan.

I have two questions: 1) Does anyone know what townland of Kellawella refers to (I can't find it anywhere) and 2) Since so many folks from the area emigrated to Canada in about 1820 would there be any information in the area about those folks leaving?

Thanks, Ken McGuire.

IrelandXO member

2 replies

Ken:

Welcome to Ireland Reaching Out!

I was going to suggest that you check out the 1821 census for Kilmore parish but I think you already located Kellawella on that site. I believe Kellawalla is actually the townland of Killyvally a small (107 acres) townland in Kilmore parish.

Regarding your second question, I would contact the Main Library in Cavan town and ask for their guidance on emigration from Kilmore parish or Co. Cavan in general 200 years ago. You see many instances where one or two families went to a certain area in the States or Canada and wrote back home and invited others from their home parish to make a clean break and take advantage of the opportunites in a New Land. 

http://www.cavanlibrary.ie/Default.aspx?StructureID_str=22

Roger McDonnell

Castlemore RoscommonIrelandXO Volunteer

Dear Ken,

Hello! I saw your post online and thought I might have a little info to help with your genealogical search. I've a 9cM DNA match on AncestryDNA with a descendant of Francis McGuire of Kilmore (born abt. 1764); somehow, your 3x great-grandfather must be related to Bryan McGuire who was born in about 1773 - I'm not sure where - and died in Dooriel, Ballycroy, Mayo, in 1850. Going by Griffith's Valuation in the Kilcommon Erris area, Bryan appears to have had a brother called Thomas. Bryan, Bernard, and Thomas are common first names for Ballycroy Maguires/McGuires. 

I've also an 8cM match with someone who has an ancestor called John McGuire, born in Cavan in 1815. A little research shows that the provenance for this match is Drumgoon (Cootehill), Kilmore. Furthermore,there's a match to a descendant of Charles Maguire, born in Enniskillen, Fermanagh, in 1803. Somewhere in this cluster of matches, we could have the answer to our question of how to go about finding shared origins. My y-DNA haplogroup is R-Z16337.

Regarding Kellawalla/Killyvally, there's also an 1821 census entry for a Hugh McGuire, a farmer and tailor. Whether he's one of our ancestors, I don't know.

Best wishes,

Richard McGuire

IrelandXO member

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