Gaughan Family

The third record at this link has the 1870 civil marriage record for Peter Gaughan and Maria Egan. Names of the fathers of the bride and groom are shown. You will have to sign in to see the record. The Egans lived in Cloonmung townland in Toomore civil parish. Not sure of the John Gaughan townland. Maybe Cuillonaghtan in Killasser civil parish.

https://civilrecords.irishgenealogy.ie/churchrecords/images/marriage_returns/marriages_1870/11376/8176725.pdf

The RC baptismal records for Toomore (Foxford) parish do not start until 1871 which will make it very difficult to research John Gaughan.

This could be John Gaughan's death record in 1886

https://civilrecords.irishgenealogy.ie/churchrecords/images/deaths_returns/deaths_1886/06230/4783198.pdf

Here is Peter and Maria and their children in the 1901 census in Cloonmung. My guess is that Peter took over the Thomas Egan holding.

http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/pages/1901/Mayo/Toomore/Cloonmung/1593966/

By 1911 Peter was a widower and the children were gone.

http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/pages/1911/Mayo/Toomore/Cloonmung/735691/

Maria Gaughan died suddenly in 1909. See next to last record.

https://civilrecords.irishgenealogy.ie/churchrecords/images/deaths_returns/deaths_1909/05466/4530081.pdf

I did not find a death record for Peter.

Roger McDonnell

Roger asked me to see whether I could add any info, since I'm familiar with the area, and it turns out that I can.

My grandmother grew up in the next parish east of Toomore, which is Killasser.  I've checked, and there's no townland in Toomore called Curnagelta today, which is not to say that there never was.  The townland names and boundaries were not standardized until later in the 19th century, so some names and boundaries were changed (some parish boundaries also changed).  Also, some places which people had thought of as townlands did not make the cut in the standardized records (they are sometimes referred to as "sub-townlands").  Despite that fact, I think I've located Curnagelta.

The townland where my grandmother grew up is called Callow, and it straddles the N26 highway between Swineford and Foxford.  The parish of Toomore also straddles that road, a bit further to the NW, and actually wraps around Callow to the north.  There's a place called Cornageltha just a half mile or so to the NE of where my grandmother grew up.  Given the vagaries of 19th century spelling and the way that Irish names were "anglicized", Cornageltha and Curnagelta are the same name.

Here are links to info and maps of the civil parishes of Toomore and Killasser, and the townland of Callow:

https://www.townlands.ie/mayo/toomore1/

https://www.townlands.ie/mayo/killasser/

https://www.townlands.ie/mayo/gallen/killasser/callow/callow/

Note that these civil parishes are older divisions which evolved into administrative districts.  When the Catholic parishes were re-created in more modern times, they did not always follow the same boundaries or use the same names.  Catholic parishes tend to be larger, and may encompass some or all of several civil parishes, and this can lead to confusion when referring to locations.  In the case of Toomore and Killasser, the Catholic parishes use the same names as the civil parishes, but do not have exactly the same boundaries.  It appears that Cornageltha is now in Killasser parish (in the townland of Callow), and I've seen some genealogy records online referring to it as being in Callow as well.  It may be one of those places where the parish boundary was moved in the 19th century, so it may once have been in Toomore parish.  It also appears not to have made the cut for becoming an official townland, but it's still on the map, and people in the area may still think of it as at least a sub-townand.

You can see Cornageltha on both Google Maps and Google Earth, and when you do, the location called Knockaganny just to the SW of it is essentially where my grandmother lived.  If you look a bit more to the SW below Knockaganny, you'll see the Callow Lakes.  There's a church on the east side of the lakes (a sub-church within Killasser parish), which is actually much closer to Cornageltha than the church in Toomore parish (which is further off to the west, beyond the Callow Lakes).  I'm mentioning all of this, because it strikes me that you might want to search the parish records for Killasser, because your ancestors may have used that church, even if they were technically in Toomore parish back then.  The parish records for Killasser, which go back to 1847, are available online at this link:

https://registers.nli.ie/parishes/0134

I'm not aware of any connection of my family to the Gaughan's, by the way, despite the proximity, but would not be surprised if there were some intermarriages.  I do have known Egan relatives, including a great-great-grandmother.  I've done genealogical testing, and my results are on all the main sites, if you want to see whether we're related.  In case you're interested, the Gaughan surname is an anglicization of the Irish surname Ó Gáibhtheacháin (now Ó Gacháin after the spelling reform). and it appears to have originated right there in the area.  The name means "descendant of the [little] anxious one".  Most Gaelic surnames are based on the name or nickname of a real or legendary ancestor.  They can seem insulting nowadays, but were not really thought of that way in the past.  Your ancestors would without doubt have been Irish-speaking when they left for the US (my grandmother grew up speaking Irish into the 20th century there), but they wouldn't have thought much about the name's meaning, any more than someone named Cooper nowadays thinks about having an ancestor who made barrels.

Kevin:

Thanks for sharing your knowledge. I knew Curnagelta was not a townland so you explanation really helps.

Roger

Glad to help.  I forgot to mention one thing.  After emigrating to the US, my grandmother used to tell people she was from Foxford, which is not even in Killasser parish, and in fact is on the far  side of Toomore parish (or, at least, most of the town is).  I never asked why, but I think she did it because it was just easier than trying to get non-Irish-speaking ears to hear Irish place names correctly.  She actually grew up in a sub-townland called Corthoonduff, next to Knockaganny, within the townland of Callow, which would all have been hard for an American to comprehend.  Your grandfather may have felt the same when he referred to Foxford (which is at least much closer to Toomore than Callow is).