Crowe, Glynn and Laffey families of Galway

Hi there,

Altough you have provided lots of details, the most important detail is to find out an exact place of origin. You have given Galway, which is at least a very good start, so lets try to work out a bit more from that.

You can check for information about the frequency of the name in the mid-19th century and any other variant spellings of the name here: http://www.irishtimes.com/ancestor/surname/

Civil registration records are available from the General Register Office (GRO). These start from 1864 however. You can access the website here: http://www.groireland.ie/research.htm

You could also try checking the land records called the Tithe Applotment Books (1823-38) or the later Griffith's Valuation (1848-64). Griffith's is freely available here: www.askaboutireland.com or here: www.failteromhat.com Failte Romhat has lots of other useful links you could try looking at. Tithe Applotment Books (1823-38). Microfilm copies of the books for all of Ireland are available at the National Archives of Ireland (NAI) http://www.nationalarchives.ie/genealogy1/genealogy-records/tithe-applotment-books-and-the-primary-griffith-valuation/ or the Church of Latter Day Saints (LDS).

The Tithe Applotment List might be of use to you, or at least interesting for you. These lists constitute the only nationwide survey for the period, and are valuable because the heaviest burden of the tithes to the Established Church, the Church of Ireland, fell on the poorest, for whom few other records survive. The information in the Tithes is quite basic, typically consisting of townland name, landholder's name, area of land and tithes payable. Many Books also record the landlord's name and an assessment of the economic productivity of the land. the tax payable was based on the average price of wheat and oats over the seven years up to 1823, and was levied at a different rate depending on the quality of land. For Parishes where the registers do not begin until after 1850, this information can be useful, as they are often the only surviving early records. They can provide valuable circumstantial evidence, especially where a holding passed from father to son in the period between the Tithe survey and Griffith's Valuation.

Do you know much about their emigration? Generally, more information was given at the port of arrival rather than the port of departure. If you knew which city they arrived at, this could be a good place to find more information, and perhaps even find out an exact place of origin. There are lots of books and documents available about the Irish emigration to NZ. There is a website you could look at: http://www.teara.govt.nz/en/irish/2 for information about the Irish in New Zealand.

You might also find this link useful for sources: http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~fianna/county/galway/gal-1.html

Please make sure you link anyone else in your family who is interested in their Irish heritage to our site - and indeed anyone else you know of Irish heritage.

Kind regards,

Sinead Cooney

Genealogist (Ireland XO)

Heather

These are all surnames found frequently together in the Moylough - Abbeyknockmoy - Menlough area of east Galway

The Crowe came there in the 1840s as a result of evictions elsewhere and the other families were indigneous

Jimmy Laffey from near there is a keeen genealogist so may be able to help

I will pass on contact details when you reply

Martin

Hello Martin

Sorry I have been so long replying - I have started a new job so have had to put family research to the background until I got used to the job.

Thank you for your interest and I would indeed be grateful if you could pass my details on to Jimmy Laffey.

My email address is cjhl@xtra.co.nz and I know no more than the information originally supplied.

kind regards

Heather Maloney

I have just sent your message on to Jimmy

Hope that he may know more

Martin

Hi Heather

Did you find out what Ellen Laffey's parents names were?  My great great grandfather was Thomas Laffey who arrived from Galway to NZ in 1859.  His parents were Mathew Laffey and Bridget Schill according to Thomas' death certificate. I have long wondered if your Ellen and her brother Patrick were Thomas' siblings.  My mother remembers the name Crow(e) but we don't know if they were related at this stage.

Lyn

Hi Lyn

No I have never done anything else about this branch of my family - too many other priorities and work committments but your email has spurred me into action.Looking through my file, I see I do not even have her death cert - I have Patrick Crowe's, so will get going and follow up.

Laffey is not a common name in NZ so maybe we do have the same ancestors.

kind regards

Heather

I have located the marriage & death certificate I have for Ellen Laffey & Patrick Crowe but unfortunately her parents are not named on any of the documents.

However I did find a note I had made that Ellen (listed as Eleanor) & Patrick Laffy were assisted with their passages on the Zealandia that berthed in Canterbury on May 23 1862 by Bills sent from the Colony, for the undermentioned passengers:

Patrick Laffy, - drawer Thomas Laffy, acceptor Jno M O'Neill, 11 pounds 6 shillings & 8 pence, 

Eleanor Laffy, - as above

Ellen Carr - as above.

These bills had been drawn on 5th Aug 1861 and I found Ellen Carr had been a witness at the marriage of Ellen Laffey & Patrick Crow(e). I haven't found a connection to the Carr name but she may have been a friend.

From this information I think we can say that Thomas Laffey was definitely a brother to 'my' Ellen.From clippings I have read it seems they may have had another brother John. Do you know if there were any more siblings?

Ellen married fairly quickly after arriving in New Zealand (May to Nov of 1862) so it makes me think that they had known each other in Galway.

I would love to share information,

regards

Heather

Hi Heather

That little bit of info you have would certainly most certainly mean that our families are related.  I'm very happy about that, as I have almost as much in my database about Patrick Laffey's family as I do about Thomas', although I haven't anything about Ellen's.  It does seem a bit strange that no-one in her family obviously knew her parent's names for her death certificate, but I guess they just didn't talk about the old country and just got on with life.

I am away at present, so when I get home next week I will have another look at what I have and will let you know.  Is your email address still the same as on a previous post?  I will contact you on that if that would be easier.

Lyn

Hi Lyn

Look forward to hearing from you and yes that is still my email which will make corresponding easier.

regards

Heather