Mary and Margaret Watson from Galway migrated to South Australia on the "Lady Macdonald" arriving April1885. Gave Galway as location on the ship's register and father Thomas. Mary (who married Wilhelm Ernst Schultz in 1857 in Nuriootpa, SA) was my 3x great grandmother. Margaret married Isaac Leech in 1856 and moved to Victoria after having 2 children. I do not know the Parish let alone the townland.
Janne:
I assume 1885 for the arrival date was a typo.
I searched for baptismal records for Mary and Margaret from 1825-1845 with a father Thomas but found no record. Church records for the area are not online.
On July 8th, the National Library of Ireland plans to place all RC parish registers online for free searching. I would search the Ballynakill and Portumna registers at that time.
I also checked the 1856 Griffiths Valuation for Ballynakill civil parish. There was a Thomas Watson in Coos South townland. http://www.failteromhat.com/griffiths/galway/ballynakill.htm
Roger McDonnell
Thanks for your reply Roger. Yes 1885 is a typo. They arrived in 1855 which seems to be later than any Irish assisted immigrants - still working on this. They also may be younger than they said (and I thought) because I think they had to be over 18 without a guardian.
Lots of Australians are eagerly awaiting July 8th. I think the site may crash on that day!
I did find at least one Thomas Watson in Griffiths Valuation but I have no way of knowing if it was correct.
My mother seemed to think Mary came from a Ballyvaughan (or similar) but the shipping register says Galway so I will continue to investigate .
Janne
Hello Janne,
If you are waiting for the July 8th release I would suggest you focus on the Catholic Parish of Woodford and Cloncue (Diocese Clonfert NLI Film No. 2433) which is the parish in which Coos South is situated. The historic chapel (now in ruins) was located between Clonco and Looscaun about 7km north of Coos South. The Parishes of Ballinakill and Portumna border Woodford and Cloncue to the West and North.
In the event that your family used the nearest church rather than the church of their parish a historic church was located in, the townland of Gweeneeny, Co. Clare on the site of where the current Parochial house is situated about 5.5 km south of Coos South. This Parish is Clonrush (Diocese Killaloe NLI Film No. 2476) and covered parts of Counties Galway and Clare.
Woodford and Cloncue: available records ?
http://www.irishtimes.com/ancestor/fuses/rcparishmaps/index.cfm?fuseact…
Clonrush : available records - http://www.irishtimes.com/ancestor/fuses/rcparishmaps/index.cfm?fuseact…