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In search of info on Patrick Conwell of Drumbeagh/Killybegs

DonegalInver (Donegal)

Hello from Pennsylvania!  

I am hoping to gain some information regarding the Conwells of Killybegs. Patrick Conwell would be my GGGrandfather. He was married to Ellen Montgomery. He was born in March 1835 in Mountcharles, Donegal and came with his wife and family to Wilkes-Barre, Luzerne County, Pennsylvania some time in the 1880s, maybe 1885?  They had 10 children, 7 boys and 3 girls. My GGrandfather was their son, Patrick, born 22 May, 1864 in Donegal.  He always told my grandfather (his son, John, who was born in Wilkes-Barre, PA) that he came to America from Killybegs, Ireland.

A cousin descended from Patrick and Ellen's daughter Anna, who married William Gildea of Mountcharles, Ireland, has done a lot of research and has, through the use of much research, including Griffiths Valuation, has deduced that Patrick Conwell of Drumbeagh (page 39 of Griffiths) is our GGGrandfather and gotten the plot # for the location of their homestead there before they left for America.

I was hoping/wondering if there would be any way I could determine the location of this plot currently in Drumbeagh.  We will be in Killybegs in June of this year (2015) for one day and I'd love to make it to actually see the lands where they lived.  My cousin took the Griffith Valuation map and overlaid it with a modern Google map. The plot appears to have a current building on it.  

How can I either determine where this plot of land is or is there a geneaologist or geneaology society/group in the area that may be able to help me with this?

Thank you very much in advance!

Holly Clark Chandler (Pennsylvania)

IrelandXO member

6 replies

Locating a property on a Griffiths map today is really just down to careful map reading and sometimes knocking on a few doors to check you have the right location. You can follow through to see who the occupants were after the Primary VAluation, by using the revaluation records. They go up to 1929 and are in the Valuation Office in Dublin. Be aware that not all the population were listed in Griffiths. In general it was only people with land that were listed and only heads of household at that. So servants, people in many towns, people with property of too low a value to be listed etc are not there. So make sure that your ancestors were of a profession likely to have had land eg a farmer before concluding "this must be it.".

 

Statutory birth registration started in Ireland in 1864 so you should be able to find a birth certificate for Patrick born in May 1864. If so, that should give useful information on where the parents lived and what the father's occupation was.

Regarding a researcher in the Killybegs area, you mould try the local library to see if they know of anyone able to help. (I would e-mail them now, rather than just approaching them when you get there).

Ahoghill AntrimIrelandXO Volunteer

Check out Facebook, many Irish towns have pages set up. Sometimes they might have historical clubs etc.

IrelandXO member

I appreciate your response and suggestions.  I will definintely attempt to contact the local library soon.

IrelandXO member

I appreciate your response and suggestions.  I will definintely attempt to contact the local library soon.

IrelandXO member

I appreciate your response and suggestions.  I will definintely attempt to contact the local library soon.

IrelandXO member

Thank you for that suggestion.  I have been following several Killybegs related pages, as well as geneaological pages related to both Killybegs and Donegal, so hopefully I will find some help with those as well.

IrelandXO member

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