I have traced one of my Irish great-grandmothers, Margaret Mahoney (born 1835), to East Schull church parish using irishgenealogy.ie. Her parents' names are Thomas Mahoney and Ann Moore. Her siblings are Murry b1829, Elizabeth b1830, John Thomas b1833, Robert b1841, William b1843, Hannah b1846, and Ann b1849. She and John were living in San Francisco, California in the 1860s and I believe, though I haven't been able to confirm, that they arrived there by way of New York. I don't have any information on the rest of the family. In looking at names of baptismal sponsors (other than Mahoney),the family name McCarthy seems to pop up frequently; others include Norris, Hickey, Fitzpatrick, McGrath, Lory, Sullivan, Donovan and Barry, if that is of any help.
If anyone has information on this branch of the Mahoney family tree, both past and present, I would appreciate it very much. I will probably not make it to Ireland this year for the Gathering but a visit after I track down the homes of as many of my Irish ancestors as I can is definitely on my "bucket list."
Thanks very much.
Beverley Downing Penzien
bevpenzien
Monday 8th Apr 2013, 12:21AMMessage Board Replies
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Hi Beverley,
Thank you very much for your message.
Civil registration became mandatory in Ireland in 1864 so any births, deaths or marriages that occurred in the family should be recorded here. Civil records are available from the General Register?s Office in Dublin. Here is their website:
http://www.groireland.ie/research.htm
You can search the indexes to these records online at:
https://familysearch.org/search/collection/1408347
Here is another good website for more information on civil records and how to obtain them:
http://www.irish-genealogy-toolkit.com/Irish-civil-registration.html
You could also check Griffith?s Valuation to see if you can find any of the older siblings recorded. This is a property valuation survey that was carried out in Ireland 1848-1864. Although it doesn?t offer any genealogical information it can sometimes be used to tie a person down to a specific place.
http://www.askaboutireland.ie/griffith-valuation/index.xml?action=nameSearch
Have you tried looking in the 1901/1911 census records to see if you can find any family that remained in Ireland? These can offer lots of useful information.
http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/search/
Some other websites that you may find helpful are:
The National Archives of Ireland http://www.nationalarchives.ie/genealogy1/genealogy-records/introduction/
The National Library of Ireland http://www.nli.ie/en/family-history-introduction.aspx
Genealogy Links: http://www.genealogylinks.net/uk/ireland/cork/index.html
Failte Romhat: www.failteromhat.com
Irish TImes: http://www.irishtimes.com/ancestor/index.htm
I hope that some of this is helpful and helps you narrow down where your ancestors came from so that you can begin to plan your visit over to us!
All the best,
Genealogy Support