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I have an entry for a G-G-G-grandmother in the England 1951 census which has been transcribed as follows:

1851 Census - Washway, Timperley
MCDONALD, Frank        Head Married M 30 1821  Farm Lab           Mayo Weasdimaid
MCDONALD, Catherine Wife                F  32 1819  Farm Lab Wife   Mayo Weasdimaid
MCDONALD, Michael    Son                M  10 1841  Farm Lab Son    Mayo Weasdimaid
MCDONALD, Mary        Daughter        F     6 1845  Farm Lab Servant Mayo Weasdimaid
MCDONALD, Catherine Daughter        F    2  1849  Farm Lab Servant Altrincham, Cheshire
DEAN, James                Visitor           M  18  1833  Farm Lab              Beverley, Yorkshire

but I can't find 'Westdimaid' anywhere, so I assume that this is an (English) enumerators interpration of what was said to him.

Can anyone help me with identifying the actual place?

Many thanks

Richard

ferndale85

Wednesday 6th May 2020, 08:57PM

Message Board Replies

  • Richard:

    Welcome to Ireland Reaching Out!

    Likely they lived in Westport Demesne. There are actually two locations with this name. One near the town of Westport in Oughaval civil parish. The other was in Kilmeena civil parish north of Oughaval parish.

    Roger McDonnell

    Castlemore Roscommon, IrelandXO Volunteer ☘

    Thursday 7th May 2020, 12:25AM
  • You can find more info about the two townlands named Westport Demesne (in Irish, Diméin Chathair na Mart) at these links:

    In Kilmeena civil parish:  https://www.townlands.ie/mayo/burrishoole/kilmeena/kilmeena/westport-de…

    In Oughaval/Aughaval civil parish:  https://www.townlands.ie/mayo/murrisk/oughaval/westport-urban/westport-…

    You can find the Catholc parish records for Aughaval which are avaible online at this link:  https://registers.nli.ie/parishes/1043

    You can find the Catholc parish records for Kilmeena which are avaible online at this link (though they are less comprehensive than those for Aughaval) : https://registers.nli.ie/parishes/1146

    Keep in mind that, in Ireland, the surname McDonald is a variant form of the name McDonnell, and you might see either in parish registers or in offical records.  According to MacLysaght’s "Surnames of Ireland", the McDonnell surname is of three separate origins, two of them related to one another.  There was a gallowglass (in Irish, gallóglach, or “foreign fighter” = mercenary) family living in the Glens of Antrim (many people in Ireland have ancestry in such gallowglass families), and a western Connacht sept (or tribe), living principally in what is now Mayo, which is related to the first group.  The third family lived further south in Ireland, and was unrelated to the first two.

    In his "Lore of Ireland", Ó hÓgáin explains that the McDonnell's in Antrim were related to the Scottish MacDonald clan.  The McDonnell’s came from Scotland to settle in the Glens of Antrim in the 13th century, from where, by the 15th century, they controlled all of North Antrim.  If you've been to Ireland, the big ruined Dunluce Castle which is a popular tourist site near the Giants Causeway on the North Coast was a McDonnell family castle.  A large number of those McDonnell's were brought from Antrim to what is now Mayo in the late 14th century, to assist the ruling family of that area, the Anglo-Norman Burke family.  Some also live across the border in neighboring counties (the county boundaries were a later creation).

    The surname in Irish is Mac Domhnaill, which means “son/descendant of Donal”, but it is spelled MacDhòmhnaill in Scottish Gaelic (with the same meaning).  The "d" at the end of MacDonald is a later addition to the anglicized version of the name.  MacDonald is more common in Scotland (and among Scots settlers in Ireland, especially in Ulster), but McDonnell and McDonald were both used in Ireland as anglicized forms of the surname, sometimes within the same family in various records.

    kevin45sfl

    Thursday 7th May 2020, 07:53PM
  • As Catherine, the younger daughter was born in England after civil registrations of births began there (almost 30 years before Ireland), you should be able to find out her mother's maiden surname. However, you can't be sure that she had the same mother as the older children, especially given the high death rate in Ireland in that decade.

     I'm puzzled by the 2 little girls recorded with occupation servant. What work could a 2-year-old do?

    By the way, you put 1951 census in your opening sentence instead of 1851. You can make corrections and amendments to your posts.

    Maggie May

    Saturday 9th May 2020, 12:51PM

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