Geraghty in Longwood

Rob: According to my resource book, Longwood town is partially in Castlerickard civil parish and partially in Clonard civil parish. Both parishes border Killyon civil parish in southwest Co. Meath. From the 1854 Griffiths Valuation head of household listing, it appears the Geraghtys were in Clonard civil parish. http://www.failteromhat.com/griffiths/meath/clonard.htm Roger McDonnell

Afternoon

Welcome to Ireland Reaching Out!

Killyon and Longwood are RC parishes in the civil parish of Castlerickard. Earliest records begin in 1829. The death records only seem to be available between 1829 and 1855.

I see that rootsireland.ie have a baptism record for a Laurence Geraty in Co. Meath in 1841. It might be a good idea to have a look if you haven't already done so.

Hopefully someone researching the family will be able to assist you

Best wishes
Clare Doyle
Genealogy Support

Thanks Clare! Yes, I have that record for my ancestor from that site. Interesting that you say the earliest records are 1829 because I was previously told that they only went back to 1840. From the baptism record I have the names of Laurence's parents but not his siblings or anyone's date of birth. I found a gravestone for a Catherine Geraghty (his mother's name) which seemed to have the date 1856 and also the name John Geraghty, an uncle. Unfortunately the text was very hard to read, and I didn't have the means to attempt a rubbing from it.

Thanks Roger! So all the information in that link is from 1854? There's records for Nicholas and Catherine Geraghty, and Laurence's parents were Laurence and Catherine. Laurence was born in 1841 so perhaps the reocrd for Nicholas is the more likely one. That says Middleborough, which according to Google Maps is a triangular area just to the west of Longwood. The record for Catherine says Towlaght, which is a short distance further west in Meath (about 9km).

PS Roger - since you appear to have a connection with Roscommon, do you know anything about the Geraghty family there? I understand that the name originated in Roscommon (Mag Oireaghtach, previously O'Roduibh).

Rob:

Yes, the Griffiths for Co. Meath was conducted in 1854 and is head of households only. A 13 year old would not be listed.

I do have a connection to Co. Roscommon in the Ballaghaderreen area. Don't know a lot about Geraghtys other than it was a fairly common name in Roscommon but a lot more prominent in Mayo and Galway. See http://www.irishtimes.com/ancestor/surname/

Roger