Grimes, Austin and Mary - Tourmakeady

If your family was Catholic, you should be able to find a baptismal record for John in Tourmakeady parish. The records only go back to 1869, but you may be able to find Mary as well. You can access the parish records at this link:

https://registers.nli.ie/parishes/1049

Civil records for Catholics began in 1864, so there are likely civil birth records for both of them (the early years can be spotty in some places, however). Civil records for births, marriages, and deaths can be searched at the Irish Genealogy site:

https://civilrecords.irishgenealogy.ie/churchrecords/civil-search.jsp

The dates may differ in the civil and parish records, because there was a fine for not reporting births promptly to the civil authorities once they started, and people often lied about the birth date in order to avoid a fine.

The baptismal record should show the townland in which the family lived at the time of the baptism. There is an online database of townlands you can search, but note that it is arranged by civil parishes (which were civil administrative divisions by then, though they had an origin as religious divisions). The civil parishes are often much smaller than the Catholic parishes, which can include parts or all of several civil parishes. If the family were actually from the town of Tourmakeady or the surrounding area, then the civil parish would be Ballygovey/Ballyovey. You can see more about that civil parish at this link, which has further links to info for each of the townlands in the civil parish:

https://www.townlands.ie/mayo/ballyovey2/

If the baptismal record shows a townland not shown at that page, then it's probably in a neighboring civil parish, which you can find through the links at that same site.

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Grime Time,

Wondering where you got John's birth date. I Iooked at some records on Ancestry--censuses and his draft reg. They gave his birth date as Aug 1870, 1874, 1876, 1864, 1872, and May 1874. One census said he was born in the Irish Free State, but another said Northern IreIand.

Patricia:

You are correct - his dates have been all over the place. The family word was that we emigrated from County Mayo.

I have US Census records:

1900: August 1870

1910: 1874

1920: 1876

1930: 1864

Death Record:

May 20, 1871

Tombstone: 1871

kevin45sfl

While I wasn't getting hits on John Grimes, I did see a couple of potential matches for Catherine Ronan 1877/78 - 1928 (his wife). They were NOT married before they came to the United States, but married once they were here. Wondering if maybe Catherine Ronan is actually the reason for the St. Mary's Church photo in Tourmakeady.

Grime Time,

I found this record on RootsIreland (paid subscription)

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Aughaval, Tuam - Catholic Parish Registers at the NLI

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Tourmakeady, Tuam - Catholic Parish Registers at the NLI

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RootsIreland also found in Tourmakeady Parish Register above

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Perhaps a sister

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Cappaghduff

WINIFRED DEVER "PRESENT AT BIRTH."

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First Catherine might have died

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Regards- Mary

James Ronan and Mary Devers had the following children- Mary 1868, Bridget 1870, Catherine 1872, Margaret 1875, John 1877, Michael 1880, Peter 1885

Possibly James' death record

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Grime Time,

I just found Catherine's death record on Ancestry. Her parents were James Ronan and Mary Higgins. I did not find Catherine's birth record on RootsIreland but found some of her siblings- Ellen 1868, William 1871, Bridget 1876

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Record from Ancestry

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Maybe family in 1901. Did not find John's birth record. When he married in 1900, age 30.

@MaryTV

This gives me some great information to get started on!

Will have to get on Ancestry also, and see some of the information behind the paywall.

Thank you all so much! Excited to do more exploring now!