William McIntyre of Donegal

Michael Siciliano

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

John Curran

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.

Michael Siciliano

Thanks for your input, John. I have exhausted my search in America. Oh well, you never know what may turn up down the line.

Ali.M. Pili

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

Michael Siciliano

Thanks Ali. Good suggestion.