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Looking for McQuade Family

Tyrone

Greetings,

I am looking to determine in which town my great-great grandfather, Michael McQuade, was from in Ireland. He was born around 1862 to John McQuade (born around 1815) and Ellen McQuade (I believe her maiden name was the same as her husband's, birth date unknown). I was told Michaelwas from County Tyrone, but could never find any documentation on this. He had many siblings including Patrick (born around 1850), John (born around 1852), Mary (born around 1854), Sarah (born around 1856) andCatherine (born around 1860).

Michael departed for the US from Moville, Ireland on the boat Europa, which landed in New York on June 16, 1869. He traveled with his sisters (Mary, Sarah and Catherine) and a woman named Mary McQuade who was 60 years old at that time. I am not sure how Mary McQuade is related to Michael and his siblings. In the 1870 US census it shows John living with his children (including Michael), but no recordof his wife Ellen or the woman Mary who traveled with the children to the US.

Can you please offer some advice on how to trace where Michael's family was from in Ireland? So far I have had no luck narrowing it down.

Cheers,

Pam

IrelandXO member

7 replies

Pam,

Statutory birth and RC marriage registration started in 1864. Prior to that you are dependent on church records. If you don’t know where in Tyrone the family came from you could try searching on rootsireland (subscription). There’s about 25 RC parishes in Co Tyrone. Not all may be on-line. Alternatively you could work through the parishes on the NLI site (free): http://registers.nli.ie/parishes

Probably worth searching marriage and death records in the US to try and get parents names from those sources.

 

Elwyn, IrelandXO Volunteer ☘IrelandXO Volunteer

I have Michael McQuade's death certificate in the US listing his parents as John McQuade and Ellen McQuade. Based on his age at death, he was born around 1862 in Ireland. 

I've tried searching for him (and his siblings) on findmypast, rootsireland and ancestry.com, but I have never been able to find him or any of his siblings. I even searched using different spellings of the last name McQuade, but had no luck. I do know they left from Moville to come to the US in 1869 and their last name recorded on the ship leaving from Ireland was spelt as McQuade.

I'll try to look through the Catholic register to see if I can find them, but to be honest I find it hard to read! I don't know how you do it! Do you have any other suggestions on places to look? 

 

IrelandXO member

This weekend I spent some time digging and I found a potential hit for Michael McQuade on ancestry.com - they are spelling his name as Michael McQuaid, said he is Roman Catholic and state that he was born on May 16th, 1863 in County Fermanagh with his residence in Killea. Unfortunately, it doesn't provide any other info.

I was trying to figure out which parish Killea would belong to in County Fermanagh, but couldn't find it on the Catholic Parish Register. Do you know how I could figure out which parish Killea belonged to?

Thanks!

IrelandXO member

Pam,

Variations in spelling names are very common in Ireland. People weren’t that bothered how their name was spelled (most were not very literate anyway) and you can expect to see it vary. Michael McQuaid/McQuade is a reasonably common name in Ireland. There’s 16 of them in the 1901 census for example, so I’d be cautious about going for the Fermanagh one, unless the parents names match your information.

I can’t find a Killea in Fermanagh, Nearest is Killee. There’s 2 of them. One in the civil parish of Magheracross, the other in Enniskillen. RC parishes of Irvinestown and Enniskillen respectively.

I have no other suggestions for you other than searching the RC parish registers. That’s really the only source that is likely to contain the information you need. Yes they are hard to read. They are faded, and many priests handwriting wasn’t always the most legible. And some are in Latin, just to make it a bit more interesting

Elwyn, IrelandXO Volunteer ☘IrelandXO Volunteer

Ok thanks so much for the information, I will look into that. Again, really appreciate all your advice.

Pam

pnmcqu08@gmail.com

IrelandXO member

My great-grandfather was Michael McQuade died around 1914 in North Dakota, USA. He was born in Ireland and left from Cork. His wifes name was Mary (Finnegan) McQuade and together they had 10 children. After Micheal died, Mary remarried in North Dakota William McClarin and had 5 more kids.

IrelandXO member

Hi. I think we’re cousins because Michael McQuade was my great grandfather too. He was born in 1862 and died in 1911 in Montpelier North Dakota. His wife was Mary (Minnie) McQuade and they had 10 kids: Mary (May), Catherine (Kate), Martin (Marty), Sarah (Sadie), Peter, Patrick (went by his middle name Emmet), Josephine (Jo), John, and I believe the last was was Griselda (Girl). The names they went by are in ( ). Michaels wife remarried in 1912 to Bill McLaren and had 5 more children: Agnes. Clarance, Maxine, Rozine and Fred. I have some pictures. Send me an email at klmcquade1981@gmail

IrelandXO member

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