I am looking for information on Mary Henaghan, born about 1822 in Tuam. I believe Henaghan was her married name, and that she had two children named Patrick and Nora before marrying my 2nd great-grandfather Michael Crisham on 15 October 1855 in Tuam. Michael and Mary had four children who were born in Tuam, and Mary emigrated to the United States following Michael's death in 1880. Thanks in advance!
Welcome to Ireland Reaching Out!
I haven't been able to locate a baptism for a Patrick Henaghan or Honor/Nora in Tuam. Neither can I locate a marriage for a Heneghan to a wife first name Mary in Tuam though there are 2 possibilities outside Tuam in the neighbouring parish of Cummer on 20-Jan-1849 and the other in Lackagh in 05-Mar-1843 but I can't say which, if any, is relevant at this point. Neither can I locate a marriage for Mary and Michael Crisham in Tuam though records in the parish begin quite early (1790) are you sure they married in Tuam parish? A child, Judith, was baptised on 09-May-1861 and the family are recorded in Tullynadaly in the town - this is the only baptism I can find for any children of Mary and Michael.
Best wishes
Clare Doyle
Genealogy Support
Hi Clare, thank you for the reply. I was able to visit County Galway in 1987 and received information from the genealogy center there regarding my family. Because I was unsure of the correct spelling of the name, the genealogist entered the information as a child Michael born to a father Michael C and a mother Mary. I am not sure we would have been successful had he not taken that approach. The Dublin repository had found nothing for me. At any rate, they were able to locate a record in the Parish of Tuam of the marriage of Michael Crushim (Standard Surname Clisham) to Mary Henahen (Standard Surname Henaghan) on 15 Oct 1855 . They also had baptismal information in the Parish of Tuam for the children of Michael and Mary: Michael Chrishen 25 Aug 1857; Peter Crisham 5 Sept 1860 on Tullynadaly Rd; Judith Crisham 9 May 1861 on Tullynadaly; Peter Chrisham 14 July 1864 on Tullindaly East; and Julia Chrisham 4 July 1867. The surname spellings are all over the place, but the parents names matched on these baptismal records. They were also able to give me Michael's parent's names and wedding information, in addition to all of his siblings. In speaking with locals in the town of Tuam, including a woman who’s maiden name was Crisham, they advised that they had never known anyone by the name of Clisham, and that the family had always spelled it Crisham. My great-grandfather went by the name of Michael Crusham after he emigrated to the United States, and he told his children that he had two half-siblings named Patrick and Nora Henaghan. Both of them are buried in a plot owned by Michael Crusham, which adds credence to some kind of a relationship between them.
Kim Wolterman
Hi Kim
Thanks for getting back to me - yes the marriage is there under Clisham but the rootsireland.ie site does not consider it a variant of the spelling of Crisham, if that makes sense so it escaped my search.
One of the issues is that both Tullynadaly Rd and Tullynadaly are mentioned. I asked my grandmother yesterday (see is 99) if she remembered any Heneghan or Clisham families living in Tullynadaly but she said to her knowledge there are none and that it was probably spelt Crisham. Tullynadaly actually extends quite a few miles outside the town and runs into Tullynadaly Road where is stops at Bridge Street in the town. There are no Crushim/Clisham entries on the Griffith's Valuation that I can find, neither are there any Heneaghan entries in Tuam parish. Heneghan wouldn't be a name much associated with Tuam which makes me wonder if her husband and therefore she was born outside the parish or in another county (it is much more associated with Co. Mayo).
As a longshot I had a looked on familysearch.org as they allow a search without a surname and surprisingly there are only about 15 girls, first name Mary born in Tuam between 1820-1825. You could take a look and see if the sponsors' names mean anything to you:
https://familysearch.org/search/record/results?count=20&englishSubcount…
It's such a pity we only have her surname by her first marriage and we don't know for sure if she was from Tuam or born outside the parish - perhaps in Cummer or Lackagh as I mentioned earlier.
Clare
Genealogy Support
Hi Clare,
Well, we certainly wouldn't want anything to be easy, would we? Ha, ha. I didn't realize there was a Tullynadaly as well as a Tullynadaly Road. I found one Griffith's Valuation on Ancestry.com for Michael Crisham, and I have attached it. I will look for Mary as you suggested on familysearch.com and see if any of the other names ring a bell. Thanks for your continued assistance.
Kim