Friday, August 28, 2009

Claremorris, County Mayo Records

Some time ago, Uncle Jack gave me this information about Grandpa JJ (John O'Hara)'s mother, Mary King O'Hara:

Birthdate - June 21, 1874
Place - Carraconnor, Ballindine,Claremorris, County Mayo
Father - Michael King
Mother - Bridget Hopkins

This evening, I was playing around on the Ireland GenWeb site, looking at the Mayo records, which include transcriptions of parish registers from Claremorris, and I found the following citations:

Marriage
26 Mar 1865 Michael King to Bridget Hopkins-pt-Thomas Conry, Catherine Roache

Baptisms
11 Sept 1842 - Michael of Nicholas King and Margaret Conoly-sp-Michael King, Mary Conoly
25 Sept 1837 - Henry of Nicholas King and Margaret Creary-sp-Henry King, Margaret Creary
25 Dec 1837 - Henry of Nicholas King and Margaret Conry-sp-Henry King, Margaret Conry(?)
15 Sept 1844 - Pat of Nicholas King and Pegy Creaby-sp-Pat King, Mary Creaby
26 Nov 1846 -Thady of Thady Charles and Mary Judge-sp-Nicholas and Mary King--Cuilmore(?)--
26 Nov 1846 - Ann of Nicholas King and Mary C.(?)-sp-William McGah, Mary King--Cuilmore--
9 May 1853 - Honor of Nicholas King and Margaret Curraby-sp-John King, Catherine Curraby--Cloonmore--

If these are accurate - and the microfilms are now on my list for whenever I make it a Family History Center, so I can check - it looks like my great-great-great-great-grandfather was Nicholas King, and my great-great-great-great-grandmother was Margaret C-----y. There appeared to be a couple related King families in the area, but only one Michael King that I came across. I found a couple Hopkins families, but not a Bridget Hopkins other than in the marriage record.

It looks like Michael King had siblings Henry, Pat(rick?), Ann, and Honor - he being the second oldest - and possibly aunts and uncles named Michael, Henry, Pat, Mary, and John. It also looks like one of the witnesses at his wedding may have been a relative on his mother's side, but I'd really like to see the handwriting myself to see if I can gain any insight on Margaret's disputed maiden name - and to check whether these are, in fact, all the same Margaret.

I included one citation up there that's not of a King child - but on the same day as Ann King was baptized, "Nicholas and Mary King" were godparents to another child, Thady Charles. This could be either Nicholas King and his wife Mary C. King/Margaret Conoly-Creary-Conry-Creaby-Curraby King OR Nicholas King and the Mary King who was Ann's godmother, potentially a sister or cousin.

5 comments:

TK said...

That baptism list cracked me up! It may be the answer to the question, "What happens to the leftover communion wine?" Hope you'll share images of those records when the time comes. ;-)

Unknown said...

I HAVE BEEN FOLLOWING YOUR BLOG SINCE BEFORE YOU GOT MARRIED sorry all capitals !!. my mother was Mary Hopkins and she was a 1st cousin of the Gillan sisters, their mother being my mother's aunt. Mary Hopkins my mother went to USA with one of the Gillans July 1920, I found them on the same ship on Ellis Island. Marion Coleman

Kathleen O'Hara said...

Marion,

Thanks for the comment! As far as I know, these Hopkins aren't related to the Gillan Hopkins, but I'm glad to hear from you!

kevin45sf said...

Nicholas King and Margaret (Peg) Curraby were my great-great-grandparents. I'm descended from their daughter Bridget King, baptized in 1850 in Claremorris (Kilcolman parish), County Mayo, so it looks as though we may be related. The surname Curraby is a less common variant of the surname Corboy, which is Ó Corrbuidhe in irish, possibly from the words corr ("crane") and buidhe ("yellow"). The surname originated in the counties to the east of galway, but spread into galway, matyo, and other nearby areas.

Kathleen O'Hara said...

Hi Kevin,

Thanks for calling my attention to this post again. I've since realized I was following the wrong King line, so we're probably not related. I need to do some editing!