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My Irish Ancestors

MonaghanMonaghan (Monaghan)

By 1851 in Dunfermline, Fife, Scotland, the census reports record my Irish family as resident in the town. I have no record of them in Scotland prior to this date. The 1881 census records that Catherine McMahon, my great great grandmother came from County Monaghan. Catherine was born in 1836, her father, Peter in1811 and mother Mary Lennan (spelling from Scottish reords) in 1806. Peter died in Dunfermline 16/10/1866 and Catherine in 1908. I cannot yet find the death information for Mary.

Catherine married Francis McConnell also born in Ireland (aged 36 in the Scotland 1871 census) in Dunfermline 31/10/1858. There is no record of where in Ireland Francis was born. The McConnells are my direct ancestors. Francis's parents were Patrick McConnell and Bridget MacKinnon (Keenan?).

I have fairly full records of the family throughout the 19th Century in Scotland and know about the early/mid 20th Century throiugh my grandmother and her brother.

However, I have spent days trying to find even the slightest trace of the McMahons in Monaghan but no success at all. I have even tried with the McConnells even though I can't be certain they came from Monaghan. The sites I have used are Family Search and Roots Ireland.

If anybody can tell me anything at all I'd be very grateful.

Alex.

MDFalco

5 replies

Alex:

I checked Roots and very few of the RC parishes in Co. Monaghan have records back to 1836 so it is not surprising that you could not locate a record for Catherine.

The name McConnell was found in many counties in the mid-19th century, however, it is most prominent in Antrim, Down, Tyrone, Armagh and Donegal.

I looked at Roots and they have an 1835 baptismal record for a Francis McConnell in Co. Westmeath and an 1837 record for Francis McConnell in Co. Galway. However, neither record had a father named Patrick. Question: Did Patrick McConnell emigrate to Scotland?

Roger McDonnell

Castlemore RoscommonIrelandXO Volunteer

Thanks, Roger for the reply. As you can imagine, I'm a bit disappointed that there's no record for Catherine but not surprised. I'm assuming from what you've written that there won't be a record for her parents marriage either. Catherine also appears to have been an only child as no other children appear in the Scottish censuses (censi?). To answer your question, I can find no records in Scotland for either Patrick or Bridget McConnell. On Catherine's marriage record for 1858 in Dunfermline, Patrick is already deceased. Is Keenan the Irish form of MacKinnon? Alex.

MDFalco

Alex:

I could not locate the marriage record on Roots.

I was not able to find a connection between Keenan and MacKinnon. You may want to check out this Irish Times web site.

Roger

http://www.irishtimes.com/ancestor/surname/

 

Castlemore RoscommonIrelandXO Volunteer

Alex:

I could not locate the marriage record on Roots.

I was not able to find a connection between Keenan and MacKinnon. You may want to check out this Irish Times web site.

Roger

http://www.irishtimes.com/ancestor/surname/

 

Castlemore RoscommonIrelandXO Volunteer

Thanks, Roger for the help. I'm now assuming there are no records any of my Irish ancestors although I'll try to find the death records for Patrick and Bridget McConnell since they seem to have remained in Ireland when their son, Francis moved to Scotland. I think all I can do now is to gather as much information as I can about the McConnells once they settled in Scotland.

 

Thanks again,

 

Alex.

MDFalco

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