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Looking for Dempsey and Ryan in Roscommon

RoscommonBoyle (Roscommon)

Hello, I'm looking for my great-grandfather, Martin Joseph Dempsey, who was born around August, 1866 in Ireland, and immigrated to the US around 1883. I found an obituary for his brother, Michael, that said he was a native of Cloonfree (sp?), Strokestown, Roscommon.  I don't know who his parents are or anything else about the family.  He married Winnifred Mary Ryan in San Francisco.  Winifred was also born in Strokestown, Roscommon around August, 1860.  Her parents were Thomas Ryan and Winifred Mc Laughlin. That is all I know about either of them, and would be so grateful to receive any information on them!  Thank you so much!

Debbi Lawson

California

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Prlywte@pacbell.net

5 replies

Debbi:

Welcome to Ireland Reaching Out! The only Cloonfree townland in Co. Roscommon is in Cloonfinlough civil parish which is not far from Stokestown.

I has some success finding an 1864 civil birth record for Winifred. The Ryan family lived in Bunnamucka townland in Killukin civil parish. Killukin is the parish to the west of Cloonfinlough. See below.

Finding Martin is more difficult without knowing his parents names. The 1855-1856 Griffiths Valuation head of household listing for Cloonfinlough parish showed two Dempsey records in Cloonfree. One a Margaret and the other a Martin. Margaret was likely a widow. Based on the possibility that this Martin was the father of  Martin who went to the USA, I located an 1858 baptismal record in the Strokestown records. That record is below. 

The same couple (Martin Dempsey and Bbridget Farrell also had a son Michael born in 1866 who lived in Cloonfree so this may be the correct family for your ancestor. See below.

Roger McDonnell

 

 

Name:Winifred RyanDate of Birth:12-Feb-1864

Registration Date:25-Feb-1864Address:BunnamuckaParish/District:STROKESTOWN CIVILGender:FemaleCountyCo. Roscommon

Denomination:Civil Parish
Father:Thomas RyanMother:Winifred McLoughlin

Occupation:Farmer

Sponsor 1 /
Informant 1:Thomas RyanSponsor 2 /
Informant 2:Ng Ng

 

Name:Martin DempseyDate of Birth:24-Jan-1858

Date of Baptism:1-Jan-0Address:
Parish/District:STROKESTOWNGender:MaleCountyCo. Roscommon

Denomination:Roman Catholic
Father:Martin DempseyMother:Brigid FarrellOccupation:

Sponsor 1 /
Informant 1:Thomas WalshSponsor 2 /
Informant 2:Maria Walsh

Name:Michael DempseyDate of Birth:10-Aug-1866

Date of Baptism:1-Jan-0Address:CloonfreeParish/District:STROKESTOWNGender:MaleCountyCo. Roscommon

Denomination:Roman Catholic
Father:Martin DempseyMother:Brigid FarrellOccupation:

Sponsor 1 /
Informant 1:Edward NearySponsor 2 /
Informant 2:Brigid McLoughlin

Castlemore RoscommonIrelandXO Volunteer

Hi Roger, thanks for getting back to me so soon!  I think we are spot on with My great-grandmother, Winifred Ryan.  However, I'm still not sure about Martin. I've  been doing some sleuthing today and found out that there was another brother, John.  He is listed with Martin in the New York immigrants saving bank roster...the other brother, Michael is listed as living at the same address in SF when they registered to vote.  The ages of both Martin and Michael are all over the map.  For Martin, 3 different years of birth on three different censuses, 1900, 10, 20. Only one is close to the date you gave.  The voter registration gave a completely different date as well.  So now I'm wondering if the death notice had the place of birth wrong too.

what do you suggest?

debbi Lawson

Prlywte@pacbell.net

Debbi:

I searched for a John Dempsey with no success.

The obituary for Michael and the baptismal record for the 1866 Michael both have Cloonfree. Certainly there can be two Michael Dempseys. I think there is a high probability that this is the correct family.

Your next step woudl be to wait until July 8th (or whenever you can get into the site since there will be high demand) when the National Library of Ireland places all RC parish registers online for free searching. Listed below is info from NLI for records availabe for the Strokestown area. There were a number of churches/chapels so it will be confusing. I would take time and go through the registers and look for Dempsey baptismal records. Hopefully you will be able to confirm your connections. Let me know if you have questions.

Roger

Strokestown Baptisms Oct. 17, 1830 - May 31, 1835 P.4608 Marriages Oct. 24, 1830 - June 15, 1835 June 17, 1833 - Oct. 30, 1864 

Strokestown (continued) Baptisms July 5, 1835 - Jan. 12, 1846 P.4608 (There are three chronological orders of dates) Lisanuffy & Baptisms Jan. 6, 1831 - Feb. 16, 1833 Cloonfinlough Marriages Oct. 18, 1830 - May 30, 1833 (Strokestown) July 6, 1835 - Sept. 27, 1849 Kiltrustan Baptisms June 24, 1842 - Dec. 29, 1942 (Strokestown) Dec. 14, 1851 - Nov. 1, 1852 Nov. 20, 1853 - Dec. 23, 1864 (Many of the pages are out of sequence). Strokestown Baptisms May 3, 1857 - Nov. 30, 1862 (Entries for 1857, 1846 and 1845 bound out of order at the end of the volume). Strokestown Baptisms Apr. 15, 1865 - Nov. 18, 1866 P.4609 Kiltrustan (Strokestown) Baptisms Jan. 1, 1865 - Dec. 30, 1880 Marriages Jan. 9, 1865 - Nov. 11, 1880 ____________________________________________________________________

Castlemore RoscommonIrelandXO Volunteer

Hi Debbi, I descend from a Brigid Dempsey who married Francis Conry and had Luke Malachi Conry, M.L., who was baptised in Elphin in 1811. I found two farms in the Baslick parish, which is immediately north to Raheen which Luke's son had described as 'his people's place' to my grandfather's eldest brother, who was writing back to relatives on Luke's wife's side, the Garveys, in 1929. There did seem to be a few other Dempseys in Griffith's valuation, but not many, they are native to Offally, so you might narrow down where Dempseys held land in Roscommon and look into it the other way. I now have to go to the NLI, but I recently found out there are numerous tenant records for Lord De Freyne's estate, so I may be able to come up with something good !

O'Maoilchonaire

Oops missed the main point of my post is through the 1800s my ancestors, and their relatives seemed to have moved quite a lot.

O'Maoilchonaire

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