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re: Request for help

MeathJulianstown Stamullen (Meath)

Hello;

I believe I mayhave finally found my GG Grandparents after almost 20 years and am so excited that I'm having trouble keeping objective.

My GG Grandparents James and Mary (Keenan) O'Neil gave birth to their first son, John, Jan 31, 1847 in Dublin (according to Johns Civil War records here in America). Following this they had a daughter named Ann about 1848 (September according to one census record). They then left Ireland for New York arriving, I believe, in 1849. After arriving they had 4 more children abd sadly lost at least one. James O'Neil's parents were John and Martha and Mary's parents were Arthur and Jane Keenan according to their death certificates. I found a James Keenan living very close to my James and Mary in New York and a record of money he sent back to his father, Arthur in Meath. It is an awful lot of coincicence that this James has the same last name as my Mary, lives so close in a small town and that they both have a father named Arthur. So I think they are brother and sister.

I have found the following 2 parish records in Ancestry.com:

** Name:John Neil lParish:Stamullen Diocese:MeathCounty: Meath Baptism Date:1 Jan 1846 Father's Name:James Neill Mother's name:Mary Keenan Sponsor Witness 1:Arthur Savage Sponsor Witness 2:Margt Byrne

**Name:Ann NeillParish:Stamullen Diocese:Meath County: Meath Baptism Date:30 Jul 1847 Father's Name:James Neill Mother's name:Mary Keenan Sponsor Witness 1:Henry Nall Sponsor Witness 2:Ellen Kiernan

These records only show the parish. I would like to find out what specific church they came from and try to research further to prove that they are mine and also to find other info. I hope to come there soon if I can find more information.

Thank you very much,

Tom O'Neil

IrelandXO member

10 replies

Tom:

St. Patrick's Church in Stamullen goes back to 1831. Below is the contact info. 

By the way, Roots Ireland www.rootsireland.ie has  the baptismal record for Anne in 1847 in Stamullen. There is one other Neill baptismal record to parents james Neill and Mary Keenan. I presume the record is for John.

Roger McDonnell

 

Stamullen

St Patrick's Church, Stamullen
Eve of Sunday Vigil Mass: 18:30
Sunday: 09:00, 11:00
Tuesday & Thursday: 10:00
First Friday: 20:00

St Mary's Church, Julianstown
Eve of Sunday Vigil Mass: 19:30
Sunday: 11:00
Wednesday & Friday: 10:00

Parish Schools 
St Patrick's National School, Stamullen | Tel 01-8411804
Whitecross National School, Julianstown | Tel 041-9829229

Parish Contacts
V. Rev Declan D. Kelly PP
Preston Hill 
Stamullen
County Meath

Tel 01-8412647

Rev Robert McCabe CF
Office of the Chaplain
Gormanston Army Camp
County Meath

Tel 01-8413990

Parish Office
Preston Hill
Stamullen
County Meath

Tel 01-8412647
e-mail secsj@eircom.net
 

 

Castlemore RoscommonIrelandXO Volunteer

Thanks Roger. Nice speaking to you over the weekend Tom. I hope you find what you have been looking for for so long!

Best wishes

Clare 

Genealogy Support 

IrelandXO member

Hello Roger;

Thank you very much for your reply.

I believe that these 2 baptismal records for John and Ann are my ancestors. They come from the National Archives but only mention that they are from the Parish of Stamullen which I'm imagining is fairly large. I thought I would try to find out exactly which Church the records originated from so that I would know aproximately where they lived. Maybe other records can be checked once I know the general area they lived. Also I wanted to check records to locate other family members. 

In the message you sent I only saw one tel # that refered to St. Patrick's dirctly and that was for the National School. I called but only reached a recording. Do you know of a specific person I might call and / or a tel # at the Church to check on researching records of my family ? 

Thank you again.

Best regards,

Tom O'Neil 

IrelandXO member

Tom:

Try the number for Fr. Kelly. Tel 01-8412647

Roger

Castlemore RoscommonIrelandXO Volunteer

Roger;

Thanks again. I called the number but they answered as Preston ? They said they are only open between 9am and 12;00 I believe so I left a message and asked if they could email me so I'll wait a bit and hope for the best. 

I was also wondering if you might know a local person that I might speak to that can either help me research this at the church or perhaps a local history or family history expert that might know about additional records available or know of families that lived there around the 1840's and emigrated during the famine. I'm feeling like I have this great new info but I don't know where to turn next. 

Your are a great resource. 

Best regards,

Tom

IrelandXO member

Best of luck Tom!

Regards

Clare Doyle

Genealogy Support 

IrelandXO member

Tom:

I live in the States so I can't help with a local resource. I would contact the Co. Meath library. The branch library in Duleek is likely the closest to your area of interest. They may know of a local person that might assist you.

Roger

http://www.meath.ie/Community/Libraries/

Castlemore RoscommonIrelandXO Volunteer

Thanks Clare. I think I'll take Roger's advice and try the library to see if they know of a local historian or geneaologist type. Also, I emailed Stamullen Parish today to see if they hold the 2 records that I found for, whom I think are, my GG Aunt and Uncle. I'm waiting to hear back. If I can prove it with the discovery of additional records than I will have done the impossible, or close to it; Find your family without any prior knowledge of where they were from. It will have taken me almost 20 years though.  

IrelandXO member

Thanks Roger. The above reply to Clare was meant for you as well. That sounds like a very good idea. I will contact the library as soon as I hear back from Stamullen Parish. Maybe I should try to nail down as many records as I can first. I hope to get some idea of where, within the Parish, they may have lived. If you think of any other ideas they would be greaty appreciated. 

Best regards,

Tom

IrelandXO member

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