Rhatigans of Cartrongarrow

Hello

A good place to start would be to find a marriage record for Michael and Catherine. The church or civil records should give you both of their father’s names and also their place of residence at the time of the marriage. This will be a great help in tracing your tree backwards.

Most Catholic records are held locally - One site which might be of use is - http://www.irishtimes.com/ancestor/browse/ - where you can ‘browse’ an overview of available records per county. If you have any difficulty, you could try writing to the parish priest for possible assistance.

Civil registration records are available from the General Register Office (GRO). These start from 1864. 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) http://titheapplotmentbooks.nationalarchives.ie/search/tab/home.jsp  or the later Griffith's Valuation (1848-64) http://www.askaboutireland.ie/griffith-valuation/    

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.

Best regards Michael
Genealogy support

Dear Joseph,

I have checked the index to the baptismal register of Ardagh and Moydow parish and have found the family. Michael's wife was Catherine McLoughlin. They were married in the parish in Oct. 1856. The name Rhatigan is unusual in that part of Longford, but McLoughlin is a local name.

The other Rhatigan family mentioned in the baptismal index is Michael and his wife C. McGeoy, who had a son William baptised in Oct. 1833.

The marriage index shows a Thomas Rattigan marrying Mary Duffy in May 1845.

Kind regards,

Martin Morris

Hi!

I've been trying to find information about Rhatigans from Longford as well. The connection I know of is a John Rhatigan who emmigrated from Longford to NYC in 1887. He had sisters Mary and Bridget, and his parents on his death certificate are James Rhatigan and Mary Kline. I noticed your post because we have also researched those records with Michael Rhatigan. We wondered if that was a brother or cousin of John. If you find any connection to those names, I'd love to know!

Thanks!