Searching for Troy roots

Cork

I am looking for information about Patrick Michael Troy. He immigrated to the United States in 1856, and I have a lot of information about his life in America, but I have had trouble finding information about his life in Ireland.

Here is a summary of what I know:

Names: Michael Patrick Troy (O’Troighthgh / O’Trehy)

Dates: born 1820 Co. Cork, died 1903

Places: Immigrated to Pennsylvania, USA, in 1856; may have been living in Wales before immigration

Married to Elizabeth Allen, 1851, born 1836

Children's names:

- born in Ireland - Patrick (1852), Mary Ann (1854)

- born in US - Thomas (1857), Catherine (1859), Michael (1862), Sarah (1863), Elizabeth (1864), Dennis (1866), John (1868), Margaret (1870), James (1872), David Edward (1874 – my great-grandfather)

descendants' names - in my family’s direct line:

- David Edward married Hestella Erny – children: Stella (1905), William Erny (1909), David Edward (1911 – my grandfather), Walter C (1916).

- David Edward II married Maria Ruth Parent – children: Maria Ruth (1937), Margaret Louise (1940), David Edward III (1943), Michael John (1946 – my father), Theresa Helan and Thomas James (1951).

Anything else you can think of:

- He worked for the railroad, perhaps before immigration.

- He settled in Unity, Westmoreland, Pennsylvania, where he lived the rest of his life.

- There is a Michael Troy listed in Griffiths Valuation for Castletownroche in 1853, but I do not know if it is the same man.

I would appreciate any information about him and his family in Ireland.

IrelandXO member

14 years ago

Hi,

Thank you very much for your message.

Unfortunately, it may be difficult to find information without a more specific place of origin. Most Irish record sources- church records, land records, census records- are based on specific locations. Until you know a specific location within Ireland, preferably a parish or placename, it may be difficult to do anything more with these records.

There are some places where you can search online, however it may be difficult to discern whether the results are relevant to your family or not without more information:

www.familysearch.org has a huge database of genealogical records including some church records for Ireland.

www.rootsireland.ie have a large collection of Irish Church records, however you have to pay to use this site.

http://churchrecords.irishgenealogy.ie/churchrecords/ have begun a project to upload Irish church records to their site free of charge. However so far only Counties Dublin, Kerry, Carlow and some parts of Cork have been covered.

As Castletownroche is a possibility it may be an idea to look into the parish records there. Most Catholic records are held locally so you may need to write to the local parish priest for possible assistance. One website that you may find useful is the Irish Times where they give an overview of what records are available in specific parishes. It also shows you where copies of the records are available. For Castletownroche parish, follow this link:

http://www.irishtimes.com/ancestor/fuses/rcparishmaps/index.cfm?fuseaction=showidrecords&CityCounty=Cork%20East&parish=Castletownroche&churchid=31

As you can see from this Mallow Heritage Centre have copies of these records so if you would like to contact them here is their email, however a fee may apply for their services: mallowheritagecentre@gmail.com

Some other websites that you may find useful are:

The National Archives of Ireland http://www.nationalarchives.ie/genealogy1/genealogy-records/introduction/

The National Library of Ireland http://www.nli.ie/en/family-history-introduction.aspx

The National Archives UK ? genealogy search: http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/records/looking-for-person/

Failte Romhat: www.failteromhat.com

Genealogy Links: http://www.genealogylinks.net/uk/ireland/cork/index.html

I hope that some of these links are helpful. Remember to post any new information that you find here, particularly regarding parish of origin. The more information you post, the more likely it is that one of our volunteers will be able to advise or assist you. Also include information concerning which sources you may have already used so others may further your search.

Kind regards,

Genealogy Support

IrelandXO member

14 years ago

Searching for Troy roots

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