Cecily Connare (nee Burke) - Derrybrien, Co. Galway

GalwayBallinakill Derrybrien (Galway)

Looking for the parents/siblings for my great-grandmother, Cecily Burke. Family records indicate that she was born in Derrybrien, County Galway around 1838, but no birth records have been found. She went on to marry John Connare in the mid to later 1850s. Family records indicate they were married in St. Patrick's Church in Derrybrien, but no listing was located in the church records there.

Cecily and John had seven children - all born in Derrybrien:

Mary (b. 1858) emigrated to Cleveland, OH in 1883; Honora (b. 1862) married Patrick Ward and settled in Derrybrien then moved to Slieveanore, Co. Clare; Delia (Bridget) (b. 1864) emigrated to Cleveland, OH in 1883; Patrick Joseph (my grandfather) (b. 16 March 1867) emigrated to Cleveland, OH in 1898; Thomas (b. 1872) emigrated to Cleveland, OH in 1893; Margaret (b. 1875) emigrated to Cleveland, OH in 1892; Michael (b. 1877) emigrated to Boston, MA in 1901. I have significant information about all of Cecily's children. (One of the children's birth/baptismal records had Cecily's name listed as Bridget Burke).

Cecily Connare lived in Derrybrien until her death on 18 Oct 1895. I have a copy of her death registration from the record of deaths listed in 1895 for the district of Woodford in the Union of Loughrea (Co. Galway). Her age is listed as 57 years. John Connare's name in this record was spelled John Cunaire.

ceccarpenter

3 years ago

10 replies

Derrybrien is in the Catholic parish of Killeenadeema, and the parish registers for that parish are available online back to 1836 for both baptisms and marriages. They can be accessed at this link:

https://registers.nli.ie/parishes/0332

You might try looking through the earliest couple of years, since you have 1838 as a target date. Keep in mind, though, that people in rural Ireland back then often had only a vague notion of when they were born (often not even the exact year). Civil records of birth did not begin until 1864, and even then people rarely had need of the info, so when censuses were taken (in Ireland or the US), they often estimated their age.

There are actually four adjoining townlands in Galway with Derrybrien in their name: Derrybrien North, South, West, and East. You can see more info about Derrybrien East at this link, and you'll see links there to move on to info for the other three, along with an interactive map allowing you to look around the area:

https://www.townlands.ie/galway/loughrea/killeenadeema/derrylaur/derryb…

kevin45sf@yahoo.com

3 years ago

You will find numerous 1856 Griffith's Valuation records for the following tenants:

Derrybrien East: Michael Connare, Mary Burke, Patrick Burke, Sarah Burke

Derrybrien North: Michael Connare

Derrybrien South: Patrick Connare

Derrybrien West: Patrick Connare

Regards,

carolyntoohey@…

3 years ago

Hi There,

I am Anne a volunteer for KilbeacantyIRO, a neighbouring parish.

I think I found Michael Connaire , son of John, in the 1911 census. He is working as a farm labourer in a neighbour's house. The age is slighly off for Michael ( 24 in 1911 but 20 in 1901)but that was also true of the 1901 census if your birthdate of 1877 is correct.

How he ended up there is another story.

You will have noted that the Connairs, John and Michael were Irish speaking in the 1901 census!!

I was in contact with friends in Derrybrien. They had a memory of two siblings, Martin and Annie Connair who went to Toronto in Canada. You can see in the census that they were next-door neighbours to John and Michael. It is a good guess that next-door neighbours with the same name in the same townland are related!

I have to post the other census documents separately