Ireland XO
Back to Message Board

Michael Kirk and Owen Kirk

LouthCharlestown (Louth)

I believe my greatgreat grandfather, Michael Kirk, together with his wife Margaret and children-John, Edward, Michael, Mary, Nancy and Ann settled initially in the St Armand area of Quebec in about 1821. I believe he had at least one brother named Owen Kirkwho immgrated and settled in the Fairfield/St Albans area of Vermont at about the same time. St Armand, Quebec and the Fairfield/St Albans area are adjacent to each other-butonly in different countries.There is a book entitled "Pre Famine Irish In Vermont-1815-1844" by Vincent EdwardFeeney where it is notedthat a Peter Kirk and Lawrence Kirk (who I believe are the sons of Owen)come from Louth, Ireland. Other people from Ireland who settled in the Fairfield/St Albans area of Vermont with Peter and Lawrence Kirk have surnames of Denever, Carroll, Sharkey, Rooney & McEnenay. On review of the Griffiths Valuation for 1901thesesurmames are located in County Louth, Charleston Parish. Other possible parishes in County Louth are Clogher, Darver, Drumshallon, Inishkeen and Louth. I'm wondering ifany parish records exist that could document Michael Kirk and his family.Thank you. Robert Kirk

bkirk1@optonline.net

4 replies

Hi Bob

you are at the outer reaches of Irish records for ordinary folk but the names you mention would be found in Louth particularly north Louth or even north west Louth, makes it sound like a big place but it is not, roughly 30 miles long and 15 wide. The only name I do not recognise as current is Denever. Irish RC parish records recently went on line here http://registers.nli.ie/

These are not an easy read as the registers are just online, all handwritten.

Also this site gives graveyards and other Louth information, search Charlestown gives a number of hits, Carroll is a popular name in Louth as is Kirk in North Louth. See http://www.jbhall.freeservers.com/

The county library is here and can assist, sometimes a small charge applies http://www.louthcoco.ie/en/Services/Library/Genealogy-Research-Sources/

Some parts of the county have active history socities and a good history site with a small subscription charge is http://www.clahs.com/ ;

This story from the area in 1816 is now in book form and will give you back ground to events at the time.

See http://www.jbhall.freeservers.com/1816_wildgoose_lodge.htm

Regards

Pat

St Peters LouthIrelandXO Volunteer

Thank you.  Appreciate the information. I will check out your sources.

Bob Kirk

bkirk1@optonline.net

Hi Bob,

Owen Kirk was in my family tree, born 26 Nov, 1790 in Clogher, Louth, Ireland. Owen was brother to my 3rd great-grandfather named Thomas Kirk. Thomas and Owen's parents were Peter Kirk and Ann Hoey.

Some of the Kirk family went to USA while others went to Lugar, Ayrshire, Scotland. I am descended from the Scottish side as Thomas had a son named Hugh Kirk who relocated to Auchinleck, Ayrshire, Scotland about 1851.

Don't know if we're related? Was fun merely to write to you.

Cheers,

 

David Kirk

dkirk905@gmail.com

Hello Dave.

Thanks for your reply. Sorry it took so long to get back to you but we were on vacation & I didn't get a chance to respond. I suspect that we are related from way back. We seem to have the many of the same people in our tree - Owens and Peters. I'm wondering if you have a tree on Ancestry.com or on Family Search or elsewhere that I can view.  I am on Ancestry.com and if you have an Ancestry account I could share a link. I've also done DNA tests with various companies. I wonder if you have done any DNA testing to see if we have a match. I live in New York State. My email address is bobkirk41@gmail.com. 

Regards, 

Bob Kirk

 

bkirk1@optonline.net

Reply

Reply
One image file up to 2 MB.