does anyone have any info on the Mcdonald's and Byron families who lived in Bellanagare Roscommon in the late 1700's and early 1800's. I know that my 4 x great grandparents are buried in kilcorkey disused cemetery which by happy coincidence is across the field from the holiday let I am coming to in kilcorkey at the end of September. I found a plan of this cemetery and my great grandparents are two of the lucky ones to have headstones and on the stone for John Mcdonald it mentions the stone was erected by his son's. Up till then I was under the impression that my 3 times great grandfather (also John McDonald) was an only child, born a year before his mother's death in 1818. his father died in 1830's. Desperate to find out if any of the McDonald or Byron families still live in Bellanagare or is it Ballinagare now? I know that Morahan's pub goes back to the 1600's so thought that might be a good place to start. Having e-mailed the parish priest, the parish secretary has got back to me and offered to get out the parish records from 1865 for baptism's and marriages. The lady is a star.
I know that at some time my 3 x great grandfather moved to Stockport in Manchester and stayed there until my nan moved to London where all the rest of us came onto the scene.
fingers crossed i find some answers before i leave this mortal coil, as at nearly 74 as my missus put it, "you might as well wait and speak to them direct!"
Bob Sibley
Tuesday 5th Sep 2023, 12:26PMMessage Board Replies
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Bob,
The baptism/marriage records for the RC parish of Belenagare began in 1865; and you can access those records yourself on irishgenealogy.ie. In Griffith's Valuation from 1857, there are four Byrons as tenants in the following townlands:
John Byron (landlord is Bryan Moraghan) Knockroe townland, Kilkorkey civil parish
Owen Byron (landlord is Charles Owen O'Conor) Knockroe townland, Kilkorkey civil
Andrew Byron (landlord is Charles Owen O'Connor) Knockroe, Kilkorkey
Andrew Byron ( as above) Cornamucklagh & Falmore, Kilkorkey
I did not find any McDonalds in the above townlands.
Regards,
Carolyn
Wednesday 6th Sep 2023, 05:18AM -
Thanks for that Carolyn, love that the owner of Moraghan's bar in Ballinagare was john's landlord. The secretary of the catholic chuch in Ballinagare is making the baptism and marriage records available to me. strange that they do not show death records as I would have assumed they would have had a requiem mass for the funerals.
As my 4 x great grandparents actually died in bellanagare, it's possible that the Moraghan's may have had some of the 30 houses there to rent in he 1830's.
Fingers crossed this heatwave goes in 3 weeks as i shall be tidying up the disused cemetery around my grandparents graves and would prefer the weather to be cool.
I have identified an area of the cemetery that does not have any graves on it from the plan I acquired as I do not wish to disrespect anyone that lay there, regardless of whether they have a headstone or not.
Once again thanks for your help.
Bob
Bob Sibley
Wednesday 6th Sep 2023, 05:00PM -
Bob,
Civil death records began in 1871...long after the time you are looking for. It's not uncommon not to find death records at the RC parishes...regardless of the type of funeral service they held. You do not have to wait to hear back from the secretary if you go to the link I mentioned above...just click on the "civil records tab", then enter the person's name, parish, and years you are looking for - these records begin in 1864. So you'll be searching for the descendants of the earlier relations you mentioned above.
Regards,
Carolyn
Wednesday 6th Sep 2023, 10:37PM