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Laffy & Scahill

GalwayAnnaghdown (Galway)

I am tracing my ancestors and plan to visit in August this year. My great, great grandmother was Eleanor (Ellen) Laffy bap 1 Jul 1841in Annaghdown parish records, the daughter of Mathias Laffy & Brigid Scahill.

Would love to know where they lived.

Ellen came to New Zealand with her brother Patrick and relative Ellen Carr in 1862 - their voyage was sponsored by their older brother Thomas who had been in New Zealand for a few years.

Any help would be really appreciated.

regards

Heather Maloney

IrelandXO member

11 replies

Heather:

Welcome to Ireland Reaching Out!

According to the 1855-1856 Griffiths Valuation head of household listing for Annaghdown civil parish, there was a Matthew Laffy living in Annaghdown townland.   There were also Skahills in the parish. http://www.failteromhat.com/griffiths/galway/annaghdown.htm

We have a parish liaison for Annaghdown. I will alert him about your message.

Roger McDonnell

Castlemore RoscommonIrelandXO Volunteer

Laffey, Annaghdown

Hi Heather,

Thanks for your message. I believe Mathias or Matthew Laffey and Ellen Scahill lived in Annaghdown townland (a village with the same name as the parish). According to the records here, their children were  Catherine (1834), and Patrick (1838) and Ellen (1841) whom you mentioned. Their brother Martin (born abt 1829 according to 1901 census) lived in Annaghdown. There is no record here of Thomas - I presume he was born prior to 1834 when the recording of baptisms for Annaghdown commenced.

Great to hear you are planning a visit - I hope to be available to show you where they lived if you wish. Feel free to contact me at annaghdown [at] irelandxo.com.

Best wishes,

Paul.

annaghdown@ire…IrelandXO Volunteer

Wow, Paul I am so excited to get your reply and I would love to take you up on the offer to have you show me where they lived. We (my adult daughter and I) are actually going to Adare for a gathering of another branch of my family and would make it a day trip from there - during the first few days of August. I will be back in touch closer to the time to arrabge a day and time to suit you. Thank you so much. Sadly I don't have any photos of my great great grandmother but I do have some of her daughter and nephew. kind regards

Heather

 

IrelandXO member

Hi Heather (and Paul)

Let us know how you get on - delighted Paul could help you out

Best wishes

Clare Doyle

Genealogy Support 

IrelandXO member

Would you believe that my good friend here in Pukekohe New Zealand has ancestors from Annaghdown as well - her family is Greaney, in a different townland from mine BUT not far away.

Thankd so much to you all - now just need to find my Molony (Moloney/Maloney) relatives !!!!!!!!!! a much harder job as we don't actually know where they came from other than Limerick. 

IrelandXO member

Give us a shout closer to the time of your visit - hopefully the weather will be as good as it is today!

Best wishes

Clare 

Genealogy Support 

IrelandXO member

Annaghdown to New Zealand

Hi again Heather,

Many Annaghdown people went to New Zealand from about 1860 onwards, and many settled around the Invercargill area in particular. My own great-granduncle settled in Bluff. Would love to know your friend's connection with Annaghdown.

Best wishes,

Paul

annaghdown [at] irelandxo.com

annaghdown@ire…IrelandXO Volunteer

Hi Paul,

I'm Heathers friend, and quite by accident we discovered we had ancestors from the same area. We both belong to the NZ Society of Genealogists and are active members in the local branch. It was while working on our cemetery project that the discussion of Galway ancestors came up and as they say the rest is history. And yes Paul you will know me I'm the Greaney connection for Glenrevagh.

Regards, Mary Mercer nee Greaney

Greycloud

Hi Paul We purchased this death certificate hoping it might be OUR Mathias LAFFEY, but as you will see it is light on detail that will help us. Can you tell from the place of death or registration district if it is a possibility ?

Your assistance will be appreciated,

kind regards

Heather

IrelandXO member

Mathias Laffey

Hi again Heather,

You've hit upon the correct record - Knockbluff is/was an unofficial name for the village where the Laffey family lived. The townlands in that part of the parish were in the Turloughmore registration district. I'm certain that this is your Mathias Laffey! Thanks for posting the record, glad to see it.

Best wishes,
Paul.

annaghdown@ire…IrelandXO Volunteer

Hi Paul

Thank you so much - we are very excited about this, money well spent and we like the Irish system of being able to buy a copy for 4 Euro. The cheapest we can get in NZ is $20 about 10 Euro, so it gets expensive when you are only guessing.

 

kind regards

Heather

IrelandXO member

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