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Seeking Murphy family information

Fermanagh

Greetings to the County Fermanaugh Group! I am seeking information on my great-great-great grandfather, James Murphy, and his son, my great-great grandfather, John Murphy. Following is the information I have. It was all obtained from records written in our family Bible, census records that I have found on ancestry.com, and from newspaper clippings and courthouse records in Martin County, Minnesota, where James Murphy ultimately settled.

 

James Murphy

Born: 4 Sept 1801 in Ireland

Married: Bridget Murphy (no maiden name given)

Immigrated to US about 1849 with children John (see below), Mary, and Ann; James, the oldest son, stayed in Ireland. We believe Bridget must have died in Ireland before the family left. There is no mention of her, except in Ann’s obituary where her mother is listed as Bridget Murphy.

Died: 31 August 1883 in Westford Twp, Martin County, Minnesota, USA

 

John Murphy (picture is attached to this message)

Born: 15 August 1837 in Drumbrughas, Fermanaugh, Ireland

Died: 22 April 1893 in Westford Twp, Martin County, Minnesota, USA

 

Note: I joined this group because I cannot figure out which parish Drumbrughas belongs to. If you can provide any advice on the specific group I should join, it would be much appreciated.

 

Thank you so much for your help!

Sue Anderson

IrelandXO member

1 reply

Sue,

There are unfortunately 4 quite unconnected townlands called Drumbrughas in Co. Fermanagh. One each in the parishes of Aghavea, Clones, Killesher & Kinawley.

I assume the family were RC. Aghavea?s parish records (baptisms, marriages etc) don?t start till 1866;  Clones? start in1848  (most of Clones is in nearby Co Monaghan but a small part is in Fermanagh); Killesher?s start in 1855 and Kinawley (RC parish of Kinnally) in 1835. So they are all too late to pick up your ancestor?s baptism or marriage.

You can see where each of the townlands is using the maps of Griffiths Valuation (1848 ? 1864) which will also list all the occupants with land in each of the townlands. However it only lists heads of household and does not list every agricultural labourers cabin, so the absence or presence of a Murphy family there cannot be taken as conclusive.

There were no Murphy families in any of the 4 townlands by the time of the 1901 census. It?s a common name in Fermanagh though, with 631 listed in that census:

http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/

There?s a fair bit of Fermanagh information on the attached site:

http://www.fermanagh-gold.com/

Though most of the Irish censuses pre 1901 have been destroyed, a few fragments remain. In particular the 1821 census for the parish of Kinawley does still exist. A copy is held in PRONI (the Public Record Office) in Belfast. So you could look for your Murphy family in one of the 4 Drumbrughas townlands using that resource.

 

You should also search the tithe applotment records for Fermanagh (1820/1830) which again list householders with land (for tax purposes). Again, for Fermanagh, these are held in PRONI in Belfast. (I am not aware that they are on-line anywhere yet).

 

 

Elwyn

Ahoghill AntrimIrelandXO Volunteer

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