McKay - 1820 - 1840

Hi Stacie,

Thank you very much for your message.

Unfortunately, it may be difficult to find information without a more specific place of origin. Most Irish record sources- church records, land records, census records- are based on specific locations. Until you know a specific location within Ireland, preferably a parish or placename, it may be difficult to do anything more with these records.

There are some places where you can search online for records, however these websites do not have complete collections:

www.familysearch.org has a huge database of genealogical records including some church records for Ireland.

www.rootsireland.ie have a large collection of Irish Church records, however you have to pay to use this site.

Have you tried looking into the their emigration? Sometimes more infomation can be found at the port of arrival rather than that of departure. You may be lucky and find a place name here. For information on US immigration records check http://www.archives.gov/research/immigration/

Is suggest that you check the UK National Archives to see if you can find some record of his father in the Navy. if you can find these records it will give you an specific place in Derry. Here is a link to the National Archives website:

http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/records/looking-for-person/

You mentioned that Termoneeny may be a possible parish of origin. Unfortunately, Catholic records for the parish do not begin until 1837, so even if the boys were born there there will not be a record of it:

http://www.irishtimes.com/ancestor/fuses/rcparishmaps/index.cfm?fuseaction=showidrecords&CityCounty=Derry&parish=Termoneeny&churchid=371

However, in the19th century new Catholic parishes were created so starting dates can sometimes be misleading. Many parishes changed their geographical spread so you may find earlier records relating to your family in the records of adjoining parishes:

http://www.irishtimes.com/ancestor/browse/counties/rcmaps/derryrc.htm

It may be an idea to get in contact with Derry Genealogy Centre for some assistance. http://www.derrycity.gov.uk/Genealogy/Derry-Genealogy

Some other websites that you may find useful are:

The National Archives of Ireland http://www.nationalarchives.ie/genealogy1/genealogy-records/introduction/

The National Library of Ireland http://www.nli.ie/en/family-history-introduction.aspx

The National Archives UK ? genealogy search: http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/records/looking-for-person/

The Public Records Office of Northern Ireland http://www.proni.gov.uk/index/family_history.htm

Genealogy links: http://www.genealogylinks.net/uk/ireland/derry/index.html

Please be patient - as our programme has only begun to rollout across the island of Ireland and volunteers in some areas may not yet be organized.

Kind regards,    

Genealogy Support

Emma,

Thank you for the information. Unfortunately, George never filed immigration papers and the Port is not listed on Lawrence's. US Immigration information is lacking during the time my family came. Most information is just passenger lists [sometimes with an age] with no other information.

It figures that the church records don't start that early - that seems to be the brick wall I'm hitting on all my Irish family lines.

I'll keep looking for their father, that might be my best attack at the moment.

Thank you again!

Stacie