Looking for the families of MEEHAN & FINNIGAN from around Cloonlara & Ballyhaunis

1. Six children of Patrick & Mary Meehan (Hunt) were born after civil registrations of births began in Ireland (1864). Their births were registered in Ballyhaunis District which was part of Claremorris Superintendent Registrar's District. They were born in Cloonlara where their father resided. The official website is  Irish Genealogy ie  https://www.irishgenealogy.ie/en

Pat 1864, allegedly born 1st August and registered on 7th September* (Compare with baptism register) 

James 1867. The name William was scored through.

Maria 1870

Sarah 1872  Informant Bridget Meehan** of Cloonlara. (See family of Mathis & Bridget below)

Martin 1876

Thomas 1882 

I found births of Martin and Thomas  first as I assumed  they were youngest and most likely to have been born after birth registrations began. Then I did a search for all Meehan births registered in Claremorris District 1864-1884. I could have searched for each named child; different routes to the same outcome. I assumed Catherine and Honora were the eldest, born before civil registration. Btw Honora may have been Honor, Nora, Onny or Ann(ie) in records.  Among 48 Meehan births registered in that 20 year period, the family of Mathis ? Mathew? Meehan & Bridget (Morley), also of Cloonlara may be worth a closer look. They had Winifred 1868 and Mathew 1871 and probably others.

Cloonlara is a townland of 345 acres in Bekan civil parish. The linked RC parish is Bekan and the post town is Ballyhaunis. Information from https://swilson.info/index.php

Catholic parish registers for Bekan are on National Library of Ireland website https://registers.nli.ie

The Bekan registers are incomplete. Patrick's baptism was on 6th March 1864 and according to the baptism register, he was born on 29th February.* This conflicts with his officially registered date of birth which was 5 months later ! Perhaps the news about registering births was slow to reach the Meehan family. Patrick's godmother was Bridget Morly. She may have been  the same Bridget Morley who married Mathis Meehan. Patrick's entry is fairly clear. Ink has faded on later pages. 

2. I couldn't see a death registration for Winifred Lyons between 1864 and 1870.

3. If Sarah Meehan married in Ireland 1864 or later, her marriage would have been registered and should be indexed on Irish Genealogy ie. If the marriage was before 1864 the only record would have been in a church register.

4.Did Catherine Meehan and William Duffy marry in Ireland or elsewhere? 

There was a Matthias Meehan (aged 48) with wife Ellen + children John (21), Mary (20), Katy (18) and Thomas (2) in Cloonlara townland on 1901 census. Matthias, Ellen and Thomas were still there in 1911. Mathias had aged more than 10 years so he was a bit hazy about his age.  www.census.nationalarchives.ie

There were 2 Prendergast households in Cloonlara. Godfather at baptism of Patrick Meehan in 1864 may have been Prendergast.

Birth registrations Thomas Meehan born Dec. 1898, registered 1899, and John 1877, mother's maiden name Morley.

Possible  marriage registration Claremorris, January 1877 Mathias MEATH and Ellen Morly. The wedding was in Bekan R.C. parish. Both parties made their mark instead of signing their names so Meath may have been an error. Fathers were James Meath and Dominik Morley. Note Morly/Morley spellings, so a careless scribe at work.

Death registration of a Mathias Meehan of Cloonlara, aged 88?,  widower, 1938. He died Dec. 1937. Informant was grandson, John Glynn? of Cloonlara. 

I don't know if this Mathias Meehan who was husband of Ellen Morley was the same Mathias who was married to Bridget Morley and the father of Winifred (1868) and Mathew (1871) from  my previous post.

Do you have an older Mathias Meehan with Patrick Meehan and James Meehan in Cloonlara townland in Grifffiths' Valuation? They farmed 58 acres and shared another 119 acres with the other tenants, most of whom were callled Tarpey. There were still Tarpey households in Cloonlara at the time of 1901/1911 census.  

Oh Maggie - thank you so very much.  Your genorosity is wonderful.  As to your questions and musings - I am unsure as yet so will take some time to digest your extensive research and reply soon.

Once again thank you so much.

Marie

Hello again,

The only Mathias Meehan I have to date is the father of Patrick, Winifred, Sarah and Catherine MEEHAN.  I have not been able to push any further back unfortunately which is probably due to my talents rather than the availability of records.

I know the LYONS and MEEHAN's who came to Australia mentioned  a place called LOGBOY and one of the LYONS named their property LOGBOY. 

I purchased Catherine's death certificate and it seems she and Wiliam DUFFEY/DUFFY married in the USA.  

As yet I had not come across the suranme of Prendergast not that means they arent related.

Regards,

Marie

My name is Martin Meehan and my childhood was spent less than 2k from Cloonlara. It has proved very difficult to trace the Meehan name in our locality. I once heard that all the Meehans came from Corraun known as Gurrane. It is a townland between Cloonfad and Ballyhaunis. I myself had a Granduncle called Matty. (Mathew). So it was a name that ran in the family. I know the Lyons family from Culnacleha. There is also a record of a William Meehan marrying a Bridget Lyons on the 27 Sept 1826 Annagh Parish, Witnesses Pat and Owen Meehan. Link below to National Library of Ireland Website which has The Church Parish Registers viewable free. 

I have an email page that I rarely use you can contact me there if you like.

martinmeehan123@hotmail.com

https://registers.nli.ie/registers/vtls000637417#page/158/mode/1up

Hello Martin,

Thank you so very much for your reply.

I have emailed you at the address provided.

Marie

Marie,

Your post Caught my interest due to the location and the nane of Logboy and the lyons family.

Although I cannot directly answer your questions, I may have some useful information. My Father's ancestors back to the timeframe you were addressing are all from the same vicinity based on my research and I have spend about a week in the area in 2016.  I have been to the Logboy Church which was known as Saint Mary's and I believe my Grandfather and his sibling were all baptised in that church. It is now in Ballihaunis Parish, but it was part of Annagh Parish. 

The Farrel family lived in the Ballybaun (Ballybane)  Townland which is list under the DED of Culnacleha and 3 miles south of your Townland Cloonlara, which is closer to Bekan. I visited the Bekan church and reviewed some of the historic records and I suggest you look at these for your Meehan and Finnegan ancestors. The records are a little later than the 1820/30 timeframe, but I did find my great Grandparents marriage  in 1873 and and my great grandmother (Francis Darcy) baptism record in 1846. This Bekan church is less than 2 mi /3km from the ceter of Cloonlara and would be more probably the home parish of the Meehans'.  

The last remaining descendant of the Farrell famiy in Ballybane died in 2008 and he and his parents are buried at the  Tulrahaun cemetery, which is a short distance from the Logboy church. His parents were married in the Bekan Church in 1927 and Micheal was baptised there also. Tulrahaun is one of the few  cemeterys in the area and I do recall seeing the Lyons name there and in another cemetery. As you may know, Claremorris is the closest village of any size and the district seat. The area is still rural but seem to be prospering during my visit.

I hope you are successful in your search. There is very little data available before about 1850 for all of Mayo, but I feel very fortunate to have identified so many family names and several locations for my ancestors in the same immediate vicinity - Claremorris and Ballindine.  in adddition to Farrell and Darcy. My other GGP are Murphy and Glynn who were both born in the area but married in Middleton, Lancashire England.    

BTW Culnacleha is both a Townland and a DED (Demographic Election District ??) I found this a liitle confusing. I do have some distant relatives in Australia on my mothers side from County Tyrone and CountyTipperary.

Bob Farrell  /farrellbob1@verizon.netM

Hello Bob,

Lovely to receive your post.  I will respond via email later today as Im heading out to see my soon to be 99 year old mother in law.

Regards,

Marie

Greetings,

My great-grandmother Catherine (Katherine?) H Meehan, born 1875, was from Mayo according to my 88 year-old mother.  Catherine emigrated to the USA in 1892 or 1893, and married Bernard McManus in Manhattan, NY, on 18 Sept 1898.

Any chance we are related?

Best regards,

Richard Smith

Hello Richard,

Have you considered having your DNA Tested?  If as yet you havent had it done and would like to perhaps if you use FamilYTree DNA and specifically the Family Finder test.  This is on sale at the moment for $59 AUD.  The Family Finder tests gives results/matches for both parents.

My cousin who is our resident expert in using DNA for genealogy much prefers FamilyTree DNA and for the reasons I have promptly forgotten.  I know she uses DNA Painter because of the elements available through FamilyTree DNA results. DNA Painter enables (through processes she understands and utilises very well) the identification of the family per chromosome.  She tells me she has identified 75% of her husband's DNA.  Thus when someone matches on a particular aspect of a Chromosome she knows which line and family the match originates.  No longer is it hard to say where the common ancestor is with accuracy.

I don't know how to contact you without putting my personal email and I dont wish to do that; I dont know if we are related however I do know some of the family went to the USA.  Do you know how we can connect outside this forum?

Regards,

Marie

Hi Richard,

By any chance would you have any more information on Catherine, Katherine, H Meehan, Could the H stand for Honor, Do you have a date of birth. There could be a few options that might match. 

I will include one.

https://civilrecords.irishgenealogy.ie/churchrecords/images/birth_retur…

Also it may be easier to follow if you start a new enquiry thread rather than having two enquiries on the one thread for ease of reference. I have a temporary email set up if you want to contact me directly, martinmeehan123@hotmail.com

Martin Meehan. (From Mayo)

Hello Richard,

Martin MEEHAN has kindly agreed that you could contact me through his occassionaly used email at martinmeehan123@hotmail.com

He will pass along your email to me then we will be set.

Thank you Martin.

Regards,

Marie

Message for Bob Farrell.

Hello Bob, My Great Grandfather William Farrell was born in Mayo in 1844, and his brother Robert in 1845.  Their parents were Lewis Farrell born c1810 and Esther Bellew born 1813 in Meath.  I suspect that William and Robert were born in Mayo because Lewis was employed in The Irish Revenue Police, so it's possible that Lewis, like Esther was born in Meath.  Any link with your family tree?

Kind regards.