I am looking for information on my 2nd Great Grandfather. According to his Military Discharge paperwork he was from Islandeady and born in 1830 and enlisted in the Military in 1865 in Cork.According to his marriage certificate to Jane Scanlan his father Maurice was a stone mason. After Joseph's discharge from the military he, his wife and their 5 children emigrated (from England)to the US in Oct 1887.
Thanks!
Joan:
Welcome to Ireland Reaching Out!
The RC parish records for Islandeady do not start until 1839. I did a search on Roots Ireland looking for baptismal records where the father was Maurice McGrath and got no record. I was looking for possible younger siblings. The 1856 Griffiths Valuation head of household listing for Islandeady civil parish did not list andy McGraths and I also checked the Tithe listings for Co. Mayo and there were no McGraths in Islandeady.
Roger McDonnell
Are there any other parishes that sound similar to Islandeady in May county?
Joan:
No. Do you have a document you can share that shows Islandeady?
Roger
Roger, here you go
Joan:
I agree Islandeady. There is an Island Eddy in Co. Galway but no where near the Mayo border.
Roger
Roger
Thanks for checking. Are you aware of any other spellings for mcGrath I should look for?
Joan
Joan:
Magrath is a variant of McGrath. The name was about 1/3 as common as McGrath and very rare for Mayo (only 3 in the Griffiths).
Roger
Good Day Joan and Roger,
I think I have found your Maurice in County Tyrone. I will copy what I found and wrote to another McGrath descendant recently after discovering that both myself this person had dna matches with a descendant of Maurice McGrath"
"I was looking at the list of Griffith’s Valuations List that you recently sent and the name Maurice McGrath, New Deer Park, Newtownstewart, jumped out at me, ie
26239 McGrath McGrath Maurice Strabane Lower Ardstraw [part of] Upper or New Deer Park Newtownstewart Strabane
I think this is the only ‘Maurice’ McGrath I have come across, other than as noted below in FTDNA and the dates are correct for match in the Griffith’s Valuation!!
“I found the Edward admin Jim Francis McGrath in my autosomal matches at FT DNA. 15cMs, longest block 8 cM. He is listed as 4th cousin for me
Per his tree he is descended from Joseph McGrath (b. 1835, County Mayo, d. 1904 in Lancashire England) whose father was Maurice (bef 1815 - bef 1867 in Ireland with no location specified in his tree at FTDA”
As this is a match with you and also Walter Kennedy McGrath, could this be a connection to our mutual ancestor.
Hope this helps,
Marlene from Brisbane, Australia