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Burns Ancestors

Roscommon

I am looking for information on my Burns ancestors that were located in the Moore civil parish in the early 1800's. My great great grandfather William James Burns listed Moore County as where he was from in the US census records in 1850 and he was born around 1817.He had a half brother named Patrick who lists the same location and was born in 1820. I believe that location is near Ballinasloe or possibly southeast of that city in Clooneish. They may have attended church at the Church of Our Lady of the Rosary located in Clonfad/Old Town. Any information on current relatives living in the area or information about birth or baptismal records would be greatly appreciated.

I will visiting Ireland in early June and would like to visit this area and possibly meet with relatives.

Thanks.

johnaburns@comcast.net

11 replies

Parish of Moore

kellyeileen20@…

Hello,

Would you be able to post a screenshot of the 1850 census page?

Is it possible he was from Co. Mayo or Meath, say, and whoever wrote down the information erred?

In many years of research, I haven't seen the word "County" with a parish name in American records.

glanvil3@aol.com

Thanks for the quick response. Attached is the 1850 census. I have heard from other relatives that it could be Mayo but it looks like Moore County or possibly Moore City. Both William and Patrick are listed the same.

Any help would be appreciated.

johnaburns@comcast.net

Sure looks like Moore Cty or City! Thanks for posting.

glanvil3@aol.com

County Laois in Ireland, particularly known as "Queen's County," was also referred to as "O'Moore County." --From Google, AI Overview.

I do not know if a person in 1850 would have employed this usage, but I thought I would mention it anyway.

Roger? Elwyn? Any thoughts?

glanvil3@aol.com

Any other thoughts on where I could find information about my ancestors? I have contacted the local parishes and requested birth and baptismal records but nothing so far. Records from the early 1800's are hard to come by.

Thanks.

johnaburns@comcast.net

Patricia asked for my thoughts on this.

At the risk of stating the obvious, there are only 32 counties in Ireland so it’s easy enough to confirm there’s no Moore County or City. I had not heard that Queens was also known as O’Moore county so that’s something new I have learned in 15 years of researching. Not a term in wide use though, in my experience.

One question I would ask is what denomination were the Burns family? It’s a name found all over Ireland, particularly in Ulster where many would have been Protestant, in contrast to RC elsewhere. You can see from this link where the name was most common in the mid 1850s. By far it was Co. Down.

https://www.johngrenham.com/findasurname.php?surname=burns

If the family were RC, then the next problem is that few rural parishes kept baptism records before the 1820s, so even if you find out where they lived, there may be no records to search. (Taking the parish of Moore in Co. Roscommon as an example, both the RC and Church of Ireland records only start in 1820).

DNA testing might be the only way forward if there are no other sources in the US. 

Elwyn, IrelandXO Volunteer ☘IrelandXO Volunteer

Elwyn - thanks for the quick response. William and Patrick were both Roman Catholics and are buried in Catholic cemeteries in the US.

Would immigration records have the location in Ireland where they were coming from? Most records show the port where they left but not the place of birth or residence. Not sure if what I see online is all the information they have.

Many families carry the family names from generation to generation. William, James, Michael, Thomas and Patrick could have been used after 1820 but those are very common names.

Thanks again.

johnaburns@comcast.net

Hi John,

This may be stating the obvious, but just in case you haven't researched headstones, wiIIs, death notices/obituaries, these sometimes give pIace of origin. Good Iuck.

glanvil3@aol.com

John,

The majority of immigration records were compiled for the authorities in the country the person was going to and where they have addresses at all, they tend to be in the US rather than the place of origin. Plus in the early 1800s they didn’t all have passenger lists anyway. Philadelphia has them from 1800 onwards but for most US ports they start around 1820. And where they did have passenger lists, it was fairly limited information in the early years. I would not expect to see the place of birth in Ireland on a passenger list from say 1830/1840. There are no comprehensive departure records in Ireland. (By and large no-one was interested in who was leaving).

Elwyn, IrelandXO Volunteer ☘IrelandXO Volunteer

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