I am looking for information on my great-great-great grandfather Luke Doherty who was born between 1817 and 1820, and immigrated to the US between 1846 and 1850, settled in South Carolina and raised a family. At the time he left Ireland, he was not married, and I do not know the names of his parents or where they lived other than County Mayo.
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Dear Rachel
Looking quickly at this there are a few difficulties:
(1) few parish records will have baptisms recorded that far back. Some do alright but it's a lucky day to find an ancestor born in a parish where early records exist. On the off-chance I looked at Roots Ireland www.rootsireland.ie - there are 3 Luke Doherty baptisms but all of them are post -1820s so they are not relevant. Civil certs for briths, deaths and marriages are not available until 1864 so that avenue is also closed to you.
(2) You say that Luke wasn't married before he emigrated so we have no marriage record to go on
(3) do you have any way of finding out anything furtther from a naturalisation record or somesuch? The Ellis Island search didn't give any further info.
The only othe thing to do is make a general observation of the Tithe Books (1830s) and Griffith's Valuation (1850s) for Co. Mayo and see how common the Doherty name was. As you can see from the Tithes link below there were 50 Doherty's listed in the Tithes for Co. Mayo.
http://titheapplotmentbooks.nationalarchives.ie/search/tab/results.jsp?…
There are 322 Doherty's listed in Griffith's Valuation, so unless you can find some way of sussing out a townland or further info you are a bit stuck. On the off-chace that Luke's father was also named Luke I check the Griffith's but there is not Luke Doherty
Could Luke's Death Cert in the USA shed any further light or his US marraige cert?
Sorry I couldn't be of more help
Mrs Doyle
Thank you so much for your help!
Marriage - Luke Doherty was married in the US to an American woman in rural South Carolina. I have not been able to find any marriage certs for them, as they probably do not exist. That was before they were required to keep such legal documents, and many pre-Civil War documents were lost in that area due to fires, and war. I have not tried contacting the Catholic diocese in the area to see if they have any records from the marriage yet, but I have checked with LDS and they don't seem to have anything either.
Naturalization - I have found no records of passenger lists that I can say with certainty "this is him". I was able to find a document from Charleston city court that he filed a notice of intention on December 17, 1850. However, it's just a list of county records there is no additional information provided. I just learned that LDS has some of South Carolina's naturalization records on microfilm and plan on visiting their facility to see if I can find it there.
Death cert - again, unfortunately this was prior to the requirement of official records keeping. So all I have been able to find is a handwritten note, stamped with a file number that is from his treating physician explaining the cause of death, date, and the seal of the cemetery where he is buried. I have looked at most of his childrens' death certificates and they simply say father's place of birth "Ireland" or "County Mayo, Ireland".
Other than that, I think I'm just plain stuck. I know a lot about this man's life in the US, but nothing of his life or family in Ireland. It may be possible that while Mr. Doherty's birthplace is County Mayo, he may have lived elsewhere in a different county as an adult prior to immigrating to the US.
Thanks so much for your help, I truly appreciate it! I will broaden my search to include Luke Doherty in other counties and see if anything turns up, as well as checking with LDS on the naturalization records.
Hi Rachel
When did your Luke come to the US? I have Dogherty/Dougherty ancestors from Foxford, Co Mayo who emigrated to Philadelphia PA c. 1883. There were tons of Doughertys in Philadelphia.
Kate