Charles McDermott-sea captain-Ballinrobe, Ireland

Mary Jo:

RC baptismal records for Ballinrobe parish start in August 1843 and marriage records start in 1850. I searched on the subscription site Roots Ireland and did not find any McDermoot baptismal records for children of Charles McDermott and any mother in Ballirobe RC parish. So very likely the baptisms occurred in another parish that does not have records back to the 1840s.

Ballinrobe was land-locked so I'm surprised Charles' family was in Ballinrobe.

Have you considered a DNA test?

Roger McDonnell

Hello Roger,

Thank you for your reply. Yes, I have tested with Ancestry and 23andMe. 

I apologize, I'm not familiar with the geography of Ireland, Looking at a map of the area it doesn't make sense that Charles would be a sea captain. I was given this information from a direct ancestor, the information was obtained from Malcolm McDermott, grandson of Charles and his wife Mary. I was hoping that finding Charles McDermott would be easier than trying to find his wife, who could lead me to my ancestor Ellen Linskey. 

Mary is possibly the sister of my 2x's great-grandmother Ellen Linskey Conroy. I have newspaper accounts of Thomas McDermott, Mary, and Charles' son, visiting with his aunts, Ellen (Conroy) and Catherine (Dugan) in Urbana, OH. To help support this theory my dad has a DNA match to a 3x's great-granddaughter of Charles and Mary. 

Unfortunately, this is the only DNA match I have found so far that's a direct descendant of Charles and Mary. Many of the other DNA matches show their ancestors to be from Ballinrobe, Hollymount, and Shrule. All the information I have on the Linskey's was that they were from County Mayo and their father's name was Michael. 

Again, thank you for your help,

Mary Jo

In case you're interested, the surname Lynskey/Lynsky is an anglicization of the Irish surname Ó Loinscigh, found principally in Mayo and Galway.  There is another surname, Ó Loingsigh ("descendant of the mariner") used by several different septs (tribes) in other parts of Ireland, which is believed to be related, but which was usually anglicized as Lynch or Linchy.  Ó Loinscigh was also sometimes anglicized as Lynch, but the Lynskey form is much more common in Mayo, and is sometimes found in older parish registers as just “Lynsk” or “Lensk”.

I have a number of Lynskey's among my collateral relatives in/from East Mayo, and I've noticed some other Lynskey DNA matches online whose connection to me I don't know, but the name is so common that we're likely only very distantly related.  Still, if you want to check it out, my kit number at GEDMatch is T780556.

The McDermot/McDermott surname, the Irish form of which is Mac Diarmada ("son of Diarmuid"), also originated in Connacht, in the western part of what is now County Roscommon.  A McDermott/Lynskey marriage might thus point to somewhere in the area where East Mayo and Roscommon border one another.

The surnames Conroy/Conry/Conree/Conary are also from Connacht, mainly from what are now counties Galway and Roscommon, but also Mayo.  There were several distinct but similar-sounding names which merged into those anglicized forms, though they were not originally related.  The anglicized forms Connery, Conrahy, and King can alsso be related.  The name King (which was the surname of one of my great-grandmothers in Mayo) was created by mistranslation of one of those Irish names (probably Mac Conraoí - "son of Conry"), which was misunderstood as "mac an rí" ("son of the king").

Mary Jo:

I did some searching on your Lynskeys but did not find any records on Roots Ireland. All the best with your family research.

Roger

Thank you Roger

Hello kevin45sfl,

Thank you for the information, I did find it interesting. 

I did check GEDmatch and didn't find a match.

I also find it interesting that you say Lynskey is such a common name. I live in Ohio and can barely find any Lynsky's in my area.

Recently I took the 23andMe test and have found more DNA connections to the name Lynskey. Many of those matches live in New Zealand. Why, and when, my ancestors came to the US I don't know. I have a few DNA matches on Ancestry but most of those matches are in New Zealand.

Mary Jo