Loftus-Geraghty families from Newport, Ballina, Kilmorey, Dooncastle areas

Hi Kathleen, 

You could try checking the land records called the Tithe Applotment Books (1823-38) or the later Griffith's Valuation (1848-64). The 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). 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.

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.

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 . Church records may be of use to you as well. These would be available throughhttp://www.nationalarchives.ie/. If you have any difficulty, you could try writing to the parish priest for more assistance.

Valuations office in Dublin (http://www.valoff.ie) will have a record of the land registry from 1855 to modern times. This will assist in seeing what happened to Machiel's land, if he owned any, as it usually passed on to a relation.

Information regarding County Mayo records are available for a fee from http://mayo.rootsireland.ie/ .

I wish you the best of luck in your search. 

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,

Cynthia O'Connor

Genealogist

Ireland Reaching Out

Hello,

While researching my family tree I think I may have found a connection here.  

Honor Loftus was my great,great grandmother and some of the details that I have are probably incorrect, however the dates and names are too similar to ignore. Here's what I have:

My Honora Loftus was born in Ballina,co. Mayo in 1864, then the next record I have was from 1881 England Census which places her in Bernley, Lancashire,England with the following people:

Thomas 46, Briget 40, Honora 17, Anne 15, Anne 15, John 13, Anthony 11, Mary 10, and Patrick 6--all with surname Loftus.

Also in the household were the Mullen's; James 64 ( listed as Honora's father), Mary 58, Margaret 20, Sarah 18, and Peter 16.  At first I was confused about her father but then it occured to me that James Mullen was the head of household and therefore listed as "father" for that reason.  Also, Honora's age at the time was 17 which is consistent with the Census record and the birth year that I have.  

Though 4 of the names on my record and this one are the same, the ages do not match and I had Honora's parents listed as Thomas and Briget.  I am thinking that these may be some other relatives that she went to live with in England instead of her parents, who may in fact be Machiel Loftus and Catherine Geraghty. I do hope so because I have not been able to go any further back than this in my tree because I cannot confirm her parents.

My next record is her arrival in the United Sates in 1888, then her Marriage to David Cordingley (my maiden name) in 1890.  They resided in Lowell, Massachusetts, USA where they had 2 children: Ellen, and John (my grandfather),