McDonalds / McDonnells of Louth and Drogheda

Local Co.Louth volunteer contacted.

Keri, I can find no suitable Michael McDonald born Louth to a parent James and Mary (one born in 1853 but not married in 1866 then) most likely Michael born in 1842 in Englishtown, Ratvilly, Wicklow. this county lies south of Dublin on the east coast, this Michael was born in 1842 baptised October, father James and mother Mary Doyle, two siblilings Mary and James, no other children found plus or minus 10 years. Bear in mind not finding another one doe not mean this is correct as some churches did not have records at that remove or had gaps and you may be unlucky. 

If he married Mary Coyle in NY then he may not be from Louth at all but there are 3 James McDonald's on Louth in Griffiths in Griffiths but no suitable baptisms. 

As Mary was RC I am assuming Michael was too, this is important as we rely on church records at that remove. Is there any information on the marriage certificate to assist.

St Marys in Drogheda is the parish south of the river Boyne, it is partly in the civil area of Counties Louth and Meath but wholly in the religious diocese of Meath, 

There is a site here about Louth and if you see any grave listed it is possible to look them up in hard copy usually but some are online, Cord cemetery in Drogheda is the oldest and the reference to transcriptions is in the local library, Calvery only opened in 1902 and similiar for St Peters. https://jbhall.clahs.ie/ ;

I do not see a record for the Coyle / King marriage but the church was only opened in 1834 and marriage records appear to have been lost as they do not commence until the 1870s, civil records begin in 1864. There appears to have been 9 children in total last in 1863, no further info on the address. 

Good Luck

Pat

HI Keri and Pat!

Keri:

If you have not done so already, please complete this form regarding your trip next spring. Thanks!

Roger McDonnell

Hi Keri, I live in St Mary's parish on the south side of Drogheda, the church you refer to as Gerrards Church is formely the Protestant Church of Ireland built circa 1801 I think, a church of the First Fruits (tax on the first harvest of the year) pre 1800 a Catholic Church stood on the grounds, some ruins remain. It is now used in recent times as a funeral home and place for civil marriages. I think your ancestors were married in St Marys RC Church just down the hill from it opened in 1834 and the marriage records are missing pre 1874, locally it is said they were burned accidently at some point by an over zealous person tidying the place.

The Cord graveyard is closed to the public, a bit of local contention to the public locally here. I have looked at Griffiths Valuation done in 1851 for St Mary's parish, this would be the civil land divisions, there are 18 entries for Coyle in the townland of Bryanstown, most to a Stephen Coyle, some others in the townland of Lagavoureen, but also in Lagavoureen there is a Thomas McDonnell, there are no McDonalds listed in St Marys in this land census of landlords and tenants, head of house only. The 4 McDonnells listed in Legavoureen are Christopher; Michael; Thomas and Edward.

There are maps with Griffiths Valuation and you can see the plots but a lot of tooing and froing to see the over lay to the present, I cannot do it really but it can apparently be done. Unfortunately the area south of Drogheda and both townlands mentioned have been extensively developed for housing in the last 25 years or so so unlikely you will see it as was. There is a Drogheda Down Memory Lane Facebook page with a lot of photos, some old some not so old, there are a lot of old photos of Drogheda in the National Library of Irleand website, search digital photos, I think you can purchase them also if you wish. 

I do not get notifcations of postings for some reason but if you wish my site email is stpeters@irelandxo.com but I will look in to see if you post again, I can send you some links to local places of interest if you wish, there is a local hotel formely a school where a teacher at one point was a Christian Brother and migrated to the US, name of Holland and there is always a US Navy submarine of that name as he built the early ones to his design for the US Navy, he was not born here.

Regards

Pat

Keri:

Sorry! Forgot to add the link. Here it is  https://www.irelandxo.com/meet-and-greet

Roger

Hi Keri, people would move around but often to Drogheda which at that time mid 1800s but for centuries Drogheda was a large trading port and industrialised town, there was a military barracks and also the police (RIC) could not serve in their own or their wives county. Drogheda was the 2nd largest port for migrants during the famine (after Queenstown now Cobh (Cove)) Migrants from Drogheda would have travelled to Liverpool using the regular crossings. Also in 1844 the railway arrived in Drogheda, then the viaduct was built (I understand the largest in the world at that time but can't swear on it) finished in 1852, so plenty of work, add in breweries and distillilers, shoe making and flax mills, the Marsh Road had many factories etc Also landlords would sometimes move tenant farmers around their properties (Huge farms were the norm then) good tenants would be moved to improve holdings in poor condiiton etc

You can search Griffiths for free on this site https://askaboutireland.ie/griffith-valuation/index.xml?action=placeSea… This shold default to Griffiths Places, so if you insert St Mary and Meath you will get all the townlands, click on the icons to see occupants in each townland, I understand the maps are somewhat later than the originals. You can also use the ordnance survey office maps and overlay, https://osi.ie/ and you can see the various civil townlands here (religious parishes may vary slightly) https://www.townlands.ie/ Best to use townlands and parishes as Baronies and EDs are not really helpful.

If you sign into this site you can see civil records (ignore church unless you are interested in Dublin; Cork or Kerry for now) civil records from 1864 for everyone, some death certs are not visible as transcribed until after 1871 I think. You can purchase those online for just over $4 this is just the register extract and you may find the death there, Drogheda is a registration district. https://www.irishgenealogy.ie/en/ ; and if you want to read the Catholic parish register you can search them by event and date only, some are a tricky read and while most available registers are here they are not all there. https://registers.nli.ie/ ;

There is a Louth Gedmatch page but it is a recent addition but has a few hundred kits I think.

Regards

Pat

Hi Keri, not only is it still there it is an imposing church on the skyline of Drogheda (there are a few of them) my own kids were baptised there, imagine it is the same font. There is a book on the history of it and there was a talk last week on it to fundraise for a new roof. 

The church is in Drogehda, County Louth, but in the RC Diocese of Meath. It is visible on Google street view and I attach hopefully a snip of it, think there may be pictures of it on this site under St Mary's Meath (careful there are two parishes of that name in Meath)

Sometimes the pictures are too big to attach, if you go on Google Earth streetview it is at the jumction of Duleek Street (Domonos Pizza  near by comes up) and the R132 opposite Scotch Hall and Dunnes Stores.

There is a book on its history and the author is still about not sure if the book is but will check as I may have two copies.

Regards

Pat