Adams of Killashee Co Longford

re the location - Cloonmore is a townland and consists of just over 670 aces, and one of just over 40 townlands in Killashee Civil parish. Killashee civil parish is located to the south west of Longford town, with Cloonmore townland being about 9km (abt 5.5 miles) from Longford town by road. The towns of Cloondara (abt 4km to the north) and Kilashee (abt 3km to the south) are also located in the civil parish.

see :  Cloonmore townland, Co. Longford (OSI Map c1900)

and : Cloonmore townland to Longford town (Goole map route)

re the family - This Adams family consists of Ralph, a farmer, his wife Mary with two daughter and four sons, all born Co. Longford, eldest Elizabeth Jane age 13, and youngest George Ralph age 2. According to the census they have had just these 6 children.Ralph and Mary state they are married aboiut 14 years so married around 1897.

1911 census return for reference

The poor law union and registration district for this part of the County was Longford and based in the town of the same name, and the closest likely marriage appears to be one in neighbouring Granard district in 1896 as follows :

Name : Ralph Adams
Event Type : Marriage
Quarter and Year : Apr - Jun 1896
Registration District : Granard
Volume 3 / Page 135

The possible brides to this marriage i.e. same page references, include a Mary Wilson, so probably the maiden name of James' mother. There is also a less likley cross match with a Maria Howden / McDowell

and in case you dont already have the full details on your Grandfather, these are his birth Index references. You can use these to order a research birth cert costing €4 from the GRO.

Name : James Henry Adams
Event Type : Birth
Quarter and Year : Jan - Mar 1899
Registration District : Longford
Volume 3 / Page 164

THanks for this! What/where is it that you are searching - the 'Volume 3/Page 164' etc?

It seems unclear where Ralph and Mary came from as when I search the 1851 census, there are no Adamses listed for Killashee, so they must have moved in. Any tips from anyone on where I go next in tracing this back? Can I get anything from the marriage info referenced above?

...obviously they were not born in 1851, but no others with the same surname are listed in Longford at all.

birth dates

Ralph: 22/6/1862

Mary 25/10/1869

The census returns before 1901 are only fragments so you need to check the areas are covered first..

The details with reference numbers above are from the Civil BMD Index, a copy of which is on FamilySearch - see : BMD Index this is an Index to civil records - i.e. births, marriages and deaths from when registration started in 1864. In addition non-Catholic marriages were registered from 1845.

Using the Index references you can order research certs from the GRO which will show the full details - e.g. on birth certs - date & place of birth, names of parents etc.

For vital records before civil registration started you have to check or church records which requires knowing the denomination, which you know to be Church of Ireland, and the locations - so likely starting point Kilashee, and possibly the Granard area for the Wilson branch. (Marriages often took place in the brides' current parish)

Thanks. Yes, stick with this thread. So I look for a marriage certificate through giving the BMD index to GRO?

Just to confirm - based on the index at RootsIreland (pay-website) Ralph Adams and Mary Wilson married in 1896 in Clonbroney Church of Ireland parish, which is located to the north east of Longford town.

The RootsIreland baptism index also includes at least two of their children in Killahee Church of Ireland parish. Note that baptisms often include slightly less detail than civil records, so I would go for civil certs as a prefenece.

To order research certs downland the relevant form from GRO/Welfare.ie , fill in the details and send to the GRO by post or fax. You can also use the Index references to order and collect research certs form the GRO Research Room in Werburgh St. in Dublin City.

you didn't mention where those birth dates came from ?

Dates reported on later records are not always correct, so treat with caution. If correct Ralph was born before civil records, but Mary should be included in civil records. Once you know the church they married in, their father's names and where Ralph and Mary were living iat the time of marriage you would have better clues for searching back further

re your last question yes - give the marriage references I mentioned above when ordering and the GRO will not need to search, hence the cheaper €4 certs.

For some notes on the details included on certs, and samples see  here  (a page I put together for ref.)

The birth dates of Ralph and Mary are from James's bible, so I assume they are probably accurate. If I want to look at marriage/baptism records while I am in Co.Longford would I go to the churches themselves or a central office, or is it all really done from Dublin?

forgot to mention, I think to document the trail fully and be 100% certain everything adds up, when ordering a marriage cert for Ralph and Mary I would also include an order for a birth cert for your Grandfather. This should hopefully confirm that his mother's maiden name was Wilson. (references posted earlier)

research is generally easier in Dublin - that's where you can research civil records in the GRO research room, and many church records. Most historic Church of Ireland records are held by the representative Church Body Library in Co. Dublin, although some are held on microfilm in the National Archives. Once you establish the correct parishes you could try contacting the churches to see if they hold their historic records, and are in a position to allow research.

I'd start with those civil records and then work from there.

Thanks for all your help.

no problem ... good luck with your trip, and further searches...

There's a possible baptism for your Ralph showing up on the Index of RootsIreland - definitely worth following up on when you get the marriage cert, especially since the names are not common. It's in 1862 and in Templemichael Church of Ireland parish, which covers parts of Longford town. Parents names's are matching James and Jane.

and finally for now... if that baptism for Ralph is correct, then there are three possible siblings for him, all older and in the same parish - Richard 1859, Mary 1857 and John in 1856. Also a likely marriage for the parents in the same parish in 1855, James Adams and Jane Foster.

Thanks Shane. Good luck with your search Ant

Regards

Clare Doyle

Genealogy Support 

one more - there's only one James Adams listed in Co. Longford on Griffith's Valuation - and he's shown at Mullolagher townland in Templemichael civil parish, so very likely father to Ralph. James is shown as leasing a house, offices* and just over 11 acres of land in the townland, from a Lady Elizabeth Rusell. This section of the valuation was published in 1854.

The Valuation can be searched on the Library Ireland website, which also have images of the books and links to slightly later maps - see Griffith's Valuation.  

(*offices is the term used on the valuation for additional buildings such as barns, stables, workshops etc)

Thanks! You have the knack for this. Anything else you think of, let me know.

took a chance on Mary's birth date being accurate - a very promising partial extracted civil birth shows up on FamilySearch. Date matches the one you have, parents are Edward Wilson and Mary Jane Mccormick. The district is Ballinalee, Co. Longford, and page reference 192.

see : here

If you are thinking of order a cert to show further details (e.g. exact place of birth father's occupation etc), let me know and I'll work out the full Index refereces.

would love the index reference please... I will be pursuing it.

Ballinalee sub-district is part of Granard registration district, so that's what should appear on the index, but for some reason nothing is showing up 1869, in fact very few.. . Never spotted that before but wonder if there's an issue with some birth Index records being missed for that year from the FamilySearch, transcripts  ...

for ref. here are links to the two extracted entries Mary Wilson 1 , Mary Wilson 2  I suspect that the place of birth mentioned on the first of these 'Carralina' is probably a variation or misreading of Carrowlinan, which is a townland in the district.

I'm pretty sure the GRO would be able find a cert for you using just page number (192), year, child's name and the district.

one more marriage for you from extracted records on FamilySearch -  James Adama married Jane Foster in Templemichael, Co. Longford on the 3rd Mar 1855, his father is John Adams, the the bride's father Ralph Foster. Both John and Ralph are shown on the Tithe records at  Mullolagher townland.