John Daniel McCarthy / Inchigeelagh

Brian,

Attached are John's civil birth record from 1866 and his family in the 1901/1911 censuses in Silvergrove. The birth date is different from what you stated above, but keep in mind that self-reported birth dates in US records were not always accurate as folks often did not know the year let alone month and day they were born. Additionally, when emigrating, some gave different dates to make themselves older or younger for a variety of reasons.

Regards,

Thank you very much, Carolyn. I sincerely appreciate the help.

Very surprising to me that his birth would be 5 years earlier, and a very different birthdate as well. The US sources I have founds so far (naturalization, voter registration, marriage certificate, death announcement, gravestone) all tie him to that March 1871 birthdate, so perhaps he had a reason to make himself 5 years younger at some point and stuck to the story. Family oral history holds that his birth family had 13 children, so the 10 noted here in the Ireland census is fairly close as well.

Are these birth records for Inchigeelagh searchable from the US, so that I can double-check several years in either direction?

Again, many thanks for helping us with this mystery!

Best,
Brian

Brian,

Yes, you can check the free site irishgenealogy.ie for births & marriages from 1864, and deaths from 1871. Under the civil registration district, put Macroom in the field.

The Church of Ireland has marriage records back to 1845. 

From the 1911 census, it appears that 10 children were born and 9 were still alive at the census....see the column and information in the mother's information line.

Regarding birth dates different post emigration vs actual dates, all 8 of my Irish great grandparents gave dates that do not match up to their actual records in Ireland.

Reasons for this include: finding a job, a spouse, a lower fare on the passage over, and just not knowing for sure! Once they did pick a date, they usually stuck to it. One

family of siblings on my tree all made themselves 8 to 10 years younger when they emigrated to San Francisco. So, don't put too much weight on the US records.

Regards,