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I have found Baptism records for my grandfather John Francis Dillon and his siblings at St. Finian's...near Waterville...
my Dillon great grandparents were John Dillon and Bridget Sullivan Sullivan...
they lived in Kineigh...on the River Inny...between Waterville, Caherciveen and Ballinskelligs...
I believe that she was a Sullivan who married a Sullivan before she married John Dillon and
that she had a daughter Mary Sullivan who emigrated to Willimantic, CT in 1880 where she married Maurice Kelly who emigrated about the same time...
John Dillon died at age 51 in 1887 and in 1889 Bridget and her Dillon children emigrated to Willimantic, Connecticut...
I have been unable to find birth records for John Dillon (b.~1836, d. 1887) or Bridget Sullivan...
At one time I thought that John Dillon was the brother of Patrick Dillon who is buried in the Old Dromod graveyard with his wife Mary Curran and (at least) his son John ("the teacher")...
now I'm thinking that they may be cousins ( John Dillon's death certificate says that information was provided by a cousin)...
can anyone shed light on my great grandparents John Dillon and Bridget Sullivan of Kineigh?

jfd

jfdillon

Monday 15th Jun 2015, 02:42AM

Message Board Replies

  • JFD:

    The records for the RC parish of Dromod start in 1850 and can be found on www.irishgenealogy.ie  On July 8th the National Library of Ireland will place all RC parish registers online for free searching. Dromod/Waterville is in the Diocese of Kerry. The records available on the NLI register are from 1850-1880.

    Dromod Baptisms Feb. 1850 - Aug. 5, 1867 P.4288 (Waterville) Marriages Jan. 29, 1850 - March 5, 1867 Baptisms April 13, 1867 - Dec. 31, 1880 Marriages Jan. 12, 1868 - Nov. 27, 1880 

    I did take a quick look at the www.irishgenalogy site and found an 1865 marriage between John Dillane and Bridget Sullivan in Dromod so likely the family surname in Ireland was Dillane. I would search for other records on that site and on the register when available.

    If John and Bridget were both from the parish of Dromod you won't find baptismal records for them.

    Let me know if you have questions.

    Roger McDonnell

     

    Area - KERRY (RC) , Parish/Church/Congregation - DROMOD

    Marriage of JOHN DILLANE of NR and BRIDGET SULLIVAN of KINNEIGH on 26 February 1865

    HusbandWifeNameJOHN DILLANEBRIDGET SULLIVANAddressNRKINNEIGHOccupationNRNRFatherNR DILLANENR SULLIVANMotherNR NRNR NR

    Further details in the record

    PriestREV. J. FITZMAURICEHusband's Father's OccupationNRWitness 1RICHARD BRADLYWitness 2PATRICK DILLANE

     

    Castlemore Roscommon, IrelandXO Volunteer ☘

    Monday 15th Jun 2015, 03:26PM
  • Hi, Roger!...thanks very much for your kind reply...
    it is ironic that the only activity I see on this Dromod forum is two guys from Maryland
    talking to each other! :)

    I found another marriage record for John Dillane and Bridget Sullivan Sullivan...same date...
    but listing place as Emlagh, Caherciveen, Kerry, Ireland...
    gives groom's father as Michael Dillane and bride's father as Corn's Sullivan...
    and says that his marital status was single but she was widowed...
    confirmation of a "family story" that my father's "Aunt May"...Bridget's daughter Mary...
    who helped to raise my father after his mother died a few days after his birth and his father died a year later..."was not a Dillon"...
    note that a witness was Patrick Dillane...who I take to be the Patrick Dillon whose grave I've seen in the Old Dromod Burial Ground...Dillon is the most common spelling of the surname but there are several variations...

    I'm really hoping to make contact with someone in the Waterville-Caherciveen-Ballinskelligs area who might know my Dillon history there...six years ago I met some Dillons there...they were very kind to me while I was there...but will not communicate with me since I left there! :(
    There's Michael Dillon...who has a wonderful farm in Fermoyle?...his sister Bridey Dillon O'Neil...of the wonderful pub "The Point" at the ferry in Caherciveen...Jack and Mary Dillon Dillon of Kinard? and the "McCarthy sisters" Mary Horgan of Waterville? and her sister Frances.
    I'm hoping that one of these "relatives"...or perhaps someone else in the area who is interested in genealogy... or might know something of my Dillon family history there...
    will post a reply...or just email me directly at jfdillon@gmail.com...

    Originally I thought that Bartholomew Dillon...who is all over the 1852? Griffith's valuation
    was the patriarch...and all of us are descended from him...maybe all the above "relatives" are...but...now I've got to try to track down confirmation that the father of my great grandfather John Dillon of Kineigh was actually a Michael Dillon.
    Since the Dromod parish started around 1850...maybe I should be looking in older parishes...in particular Prior...was there a church in Dungeagan?

    best regards,
    jfd

    jfdillon

    Tuesday 16th Jun 2015, 02:25AM
  •  

    JFD:

    I see that we have a parish liaison in your area of interest. Let me e-mail him and ask him to look at your messages. Sometimes churches lost early records or possibly records were not kept. 

    I'm away from my reference books today ( babysitting) so I can't check on Dungeagan until later tonight.

    Roger

    Castlemore Roscommon, IrelandXO Volunteer ☘

    Tuesday 16th Jun 2015, 03:29PM
  • Hi, Roger!

    Sadly...I haven't heard from anyone since your kind responses six months ago!...so I'll try again!  :)

    Could you put me in contact with the parish liaisons for Dromod and Prior parishes? I know that my father's side of the family come from there... My mother's paternal grandmother was a Mary O'Shaunessey born april 1855 in Cork... who after emigrating to the US married Nicholas Ash whose father was a Nicholas Ash born in Kerry in 1827...son of Richard Ash and Ellen ?...unfortunately I don't have more detailed info on where my mother's ancestors lived! :(

    Are there "researchers" for the Waterville-Ballinskelligs-Cahersiveen area who might be able to help?

     

                                                                                                                  cheers,

                                                                                                                   jfd

     

                                                                                                                   

    jfdillon

    Tuesday 7th Jul 2015, 01:05AM
  • Hi again

    One of our Kerry volunteers has been back to me with the following:

    I have checked Prior Parish but found no Dillon to correspond. I think his Dillons may have come from another Parish not in South Kerry.

    Clare Doyle

    Genealogy Support 

    Tuesday 2nd Aug 2016, 03:07PM
  •  

    still no luck finding birth records of my great grandparents John Dillon and Bridget Sullivan Sullivan who raised their family in Kineigh until he died at age 51 in 1887 and she and her Dillon children emigrated to Willimantic, Connecticut in May 1889.

    Their 1865 marriage record says that their fathers were Michael Dillon and Cornelius Sullivan.

    I have just found her official Connecticut death certificate which confirms the name of her father as Cornelius Sullivan and gives the name of her mother as Abbie Keating!  :)

    That should help but so far no birth record  has popped up anywhere for me...

    it should be "around 1840"...her age was given as 90 on the 1930 death certificate...but I might have to look beyond Kerry?

    anyway...hoping it might be useful to update this thread...might ring a bell for somebody?  :)

                                                                                                                             cheers,

                                                                                                                              jfd

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

    jfdillon

    Wednesday 20th Sep 2017, 05:48PM
  • JFD:

    I still believe that the baptismal records for your great-grandparents are not available. Some parishes have records back to the 1700s while many have records which start later in the 19th century. Likely they were from Dromod and the pre-1850 records were lost. 

    Hopefully, someone will see your message and comment.

    All the best!

    Roger

     

    Castlemore Roscommon, IrelandXO Volunteer ☘

    Thursday 21st Sep 2017, 11:40PM

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