William McIntyre of Donegal
Hello,
I am looking for the parish of William McIntyre and his wife Catherine Reilly, b. ca. 1828, who are from somewhere in Donegal. They married there ca.1842 and had William Jr. in 1843 and Mary in 1847. They went to Scotland and then came to New York ca.1854 and then settled in Chicago. The Donegal Ancestry Center tried, but came up empty.
I have been at this for a while (next year makes it forty years!). Here is what one researcher told me:
“I like to be honest from the outset and I feel obliged to tell you that you that I cannot go any further with this nor do I think any other researcher can, which is a disappointment I know. If you want to throw away money it would be possible to dredge through Donegal records until one finds a William McIntyre or maybe a few of that name and then convince oneself that one of them must be your ancestor. Believe it or not some people do that . You will find a few of that name of course in a free search of Tithe Applotment Books circa 1830 and and Griffith's Valuation circa 1850 and looking at William's age quite possible one of those in the Tithes could be his father or uncle and 20 or so years later in Griffith's those listed could be his brothers. sorry I can't help you further. I assume your ancestors were Roman Catholic and unfortunately there are no RC records available back to the 1820s for Co. Donegal. I also looked for the 1842 marriage and the 1843 baptismal record with no success. The Griffiths survey was conducted around 1858 in Co. Donegal which would have been after William left for Scotland. There are a good number of McIntyre's in the Griffiths for Donegal. See www.askaboutireland.ie”
Anything I’ve missed?
Thank you
Michael
Comments
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Hello Michael,
The comments that the researcher made are probably accurate. You are looking at a time before Irish Civil Records had commenced. Catholic Church records of the early 1800's are also very sparse as Ireland was just emerging from a time when Catholicism was suppressed by law and making such records was a punishable offence.
What church records that do exist would be your most likely chance for some success. To make progress with these, standard advice is to gather every bit of detail that you can from his American records to determine if there is something there that you can leverage to help you to determine where to look in Ireland.
Things to look for in the American records are the name of a Townland in Donegal, names of relatives or other details that can help you refine your search in Ireland.
Regards,
John.
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Thanks for your input, John. I have exhausted my search in America. Oh well, you never know what may turn up down the line.
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Michael,
Sorry to hear about lack of records in County Donegal, I have many of my ten Irish lines that have the same dilemma. I think that researcher was very honest and accurate with their assessment. It's important, as they mentioned not to "adopt a record" or it could lead you into a big tangled mess. I suggest you do the only choice left at this time and intensify your DNA research for this family line.
Good luck!
Ali M. Pili
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Thanks Ali. Good suggestion.
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