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I am looking for any records or other information about firstly my Slevin/Slaven ancestors.

My great grandfather, John Slaven was born about 1866 to John Slevin, 1839 -  1907, and Frances (Fanny) Mc Glinchey in Letterkenny. I have found birth recoords for 8 other children of these parents but not for John jnr. From John snr's death records from Scotland it seems that his parents were Robert Slevin 1816-? and Martha Broadley (Bradley?). I have recently been contacted as a DNA match to a man who indicates that Robert's parents were William Slevin 1790ish-? and Hannah Nichols. The only record I have been able to find has this William and Hannah coming from Longford. Would that be reasonable for them to have moved from Longford to Letterkenny? Robert and both Johns were shoe makers, so not likely to have been wealthy or have land.

Also from Letterkenny was John snr's wife, Frances McGlinchey. The only records I have for her are the births of all the other children. For her, no birth, baptism or marriage. I do have the recoord of her death 5 Nov 1880 (Vol 2 p 117).

When visiting letterkenny in 2006 I was told that there were lots of McGlincheys/McGlisheys but no one I sspoke to knew the Slevin/Slavin/Slaven name. 

Any information would be appreciated.

Carolyn Grimward

Carolyn G

Thursday 14th Feb 2019, 01:36AM

Message Board Replies

  • Hi Carolyn: 

    Many thanks for your post to the Ireland Reaching Out message board.  We have a local volunteer in the Letterkenny area who may be able to assist and I have copied this post to her.  You can expect a reply within the next week or so. 

    Kind regards, 

    Jane

    Jane Halloran Ryan

    Thursday 14th Feb 2019, 03:20PM
  • Carolyn

     

    I hope below will be of some assistance.

     

    The surnames Bradley (not Broadley)  and McGlinchey are still common in this area. Slevin as found on trip would not be associated.  Civil registration in Ireland was not until 1865, it is hit and miss to find detail for earlier of births/marriages for earlier in particular Catholic records, Protestant churches vary in start date although some go back to the eighteenth century. The church records for Conwal and Leck which is the Catholic parish for Letterkenny are on microfilm which can be located on website, their baptism records start in 1853.

    . https://registers.nli.ie/

     Work is ongoing on uploading information from microfiche.  In order to check on right path I scanned and found one of the family - Daniel’s birth in 1878, people were not always accurate with records as church has birth as December 1878 whereas civil was in January 1879. The church used latin for names hence the Francesca, below should link to this page-

     https://registers.nli.ie/registers/vtls000631933#page/12/mode/1up

     I can see that Family Search (https://www.familysearch.org/) while appears image is not currently available have Conwal & Leck transcriptions also.

     I also found the civil record which you mentioned for the death of Fanny Slevin shoemaker’s wife in 1880, registration district Letterkenny, on original record it is difficult to make out age and feel the transcription of 50 may be incorrect, with present at death here Bridget. I used www.irishgenealogy.ie under civil records here. Other sites listed have more detail on the church records as this section is currently being updated.

    As John had a trade it would have been an option for him to move from one area of Ireland to another. Word of mouth, suppliers of materials also advertisements would have assisted to find work in other areas.  The link below can be used to show distribution of this surname, further south in Donegal and area around stretching to Longford have a heavy distribution. Below Irish Ancestors site shows breakdown of names by location.

     https://www.johngrenham.com/

      I have looked for articles on shoemakers and industrialisation meant that the shoemaker trade was in decline as factories mass produced. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shoemaking or https://divergentpathsstafford.wordpress.com/tag/irish-shoemakers/ 

     It sounds great that another person has found a relationship link. In regards William Slevin and Hannah Nicols, the county of Longford has done great work in transcribing the church records hence in position to view this information but some other counties do not have anything or very little which can currently be found online, most records are from the time of civil registration in 1865.

    Possibly you have already actioned but given the difficulty of finding other records and to broaden the checking process you could look at matching pool by uploading your Ancestry raw DNA data to a volunteer site called Genesis Gedmatch  www.genesis.gedmatch.com   You will get matches with people who tested with other companies and who have also uploaded their data to Genesis Gedmatch. 

     I also found Martha Slevin record death 19/11/1877 – widow of shoemaker.  The district here is Churchill which is near Letterkenny, and for 1881 (13/4/81) found a Robert Slevin listed as a widower and death in same section of Churchill (Milltown) he is listed a farmer. There was a court case as son Patrick accused of killing. On Slevin search found on findmypast newspaper extract from Londonderrysentinal 21st May 1891 & Donegal Indepndent on 22nd May 1891  For free access Londonderry Sentinal check: https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/

    Below Irish Ancestors website provides excellent pointers for searching locations, names, parishes.:

    https://www.johngrenham.com

    For finding the catholic registers, the subsection:

     https://www.johngrenham.com/places/rcmap_index.php

     Donegal genealogy is a free site which has great local based information, including parish structures, there can be omissions as transcribed by volunteers, also note that some extracts may only have been copied for a limited time frame or from a specific source.

     http://donegalgenealogy.com/

     Hopefully other information will become visible. Good luck with DNA.

     

    Whelanmg, IrelandXO Volunteer ☘︎

    Tuesday 19th Feb 2019, 02:02PM
  • Thank you for the very full reply. You have given me so many leads to follow up. This is going to keep me busy over the next few days. A gain, thank you so much. Carolyn Grimward

     

     

    Carolyn G

    Wednesday 20th Feb 2019, 06:54PM
  • There is a baptism at Ireland National Library for a Robert Slevin on Dec 5th at Letterkenny to a Martha BRADLEY not Broadley.
    I have found 6 baptisms to John and Frances McGlinchey at this library also. XCan you please set the others that you have?
    I also have a death cert at Glasgow for an Ellen SLAVIN at Cheapside Poorhouse Glasgow in 1901. The informant is a P Slavin presumably Patrick her stepson as he was born to Frances McGLINCHEY
    The parents of Ellen are named as deceased on an 1893 Slavin-Darby (John S a shoemaker) marriage in Scotland
    Her (Ellen) deceased parents are David McLaughlan and Annie McGhee.

    Thursday 18th Apr 2019, 09:05PM
  • Attached Files
    slavin 2019.pdf (92.18 KB)

    Friday 19th Apr 2019, 01:07AM
  • Friday 19th Apr 2019, 01:08AM
  • Hi Carolyn
    are you in NZ

    Sunday 21st Apr 2019, 10:21PM
  • I have lived in Brisbane,Queensland, Australia for the last 37 years but am born and bred a Kiwi. My paternal grandmother was Frances McGlinchey Slaven, the eldest child of John Slaven 1866 - 1919 and Janet Darby 1865/66 - 1951. John Slaven led an interesting life and ended up in a Hospital for the Insane at Kew, Melbourne. The rest of the family all went to NZ. While I knew of the aunties Ciss and Agnes and uncle Jack as a child I do not remember ever meeting them. Frances lived until four months before her 101st birthday and outlived them all. She had a marvellous memory and information she gave me when I was in my teens matched records when I began to research.

    Thank you for the document which lays out the family tree. There seems to be some discrepancy with William Darby's (1823 - 1880) father. His death certificate states that his father was also William Darby. The person notifying of the death was his son Thomas. Perhaps further research will solve that one.

     

    I have found the Registrations for the following children of John and Fanny:

    Daniel      7 Jan 1869

    Thomas   18 Jan 1871

    Francis    4 Dec 1874

    Henry      18 Feb 1878 (does not appaear on any Census records)

    Patrick     11 Dec 1879

    I also found the following but have not been able to access the References.

    Biddy (Bridget) 21 Aug 1865     Index C70126-3; SO Ireland ODM; GS Film No 101111

    John 1868                                REG Dist Donegal; Vol 12, p 32; GS Film No 101045 (also a possible baptism at Stranorlar)

    Michael  26 Oct 1875               Index C70160-3; SO Ireland ODM; GS Film No 255940

    There was also a possible Mary 2nd Qtr 1879.

    THere was a Bridget present a Fanny's death in 1880 and as she did not show up in any other records I looked for a death and found one in the Letterkenny Reg Dist: 4 Oct 1883 at Big Isle but her father who was present at the death was James Slevin. Maybe another famiy altogether.

    Have I just muddied the waters? I really am very grateful for all your work.

    Carolyn Grimward (Tootill)

     

     

     

     

    Carolyn G

    Monday 22nd Apr 2019, 06:50AM
  • Attached Files

    Thanks for that Carolyn. I'm b 1940 and never knew the others either except TommyTole and spouse Cecily (Ciss) Jack b 1904 seemed close to her adn I recall her coming to a family wedding in 1953 in Wellington.
    Jack I found a really likeable rogue. I will try and send a image of him at Whenuapi in about1938 with my father Jack Carpenter and his son Terry deceased.

    Monday 22nd Apr 2019, 11:47PM
  • My paternal grandmother was Margaret Mary Slevin from Goladoo !ouch Eske. I have found spelling variants of the name Slevin/Slaven.

    I also match with descendants of Charles Slaven who was born in Barnesmore c 1861 and lived in N Zealand. 

    My Gedmatch Number is DM9221030

    Barnesmore

    Tuesday 23rd Apr 2019, 06:18AM
  • I'm really confused now. Am i answering one person or two?

    To the person who asked if I was in NZ I think I have wworked out that Terry Slaven was your cousin and Jack Carpenter was the brother of Anne, Jack Slaven's wife. In the phot Jack Slaven had to be the one in the leather jacket. I see the resemblance to two of my uncles, Roger and Jim Tootill and my dad, Tommy.If you would like to communicate with me away from this site my email address is: cgrimwar@bigpond.net.au (note no"d" in the email address.) There is a whole novel in the story of their leaving Scotland and eventually ending up in NZ.

     

    Dear Barnesmore (?),

    I think you are a separate person.I have looked back and cannot find a Charles Slaven.With help I have been able to track the Slevins back to William Slevin 1777 possibly from Westmeath, married in Longford.

    John (Jack) Slaven would be the only one from our line  to have descendants in NZ as the older brother, William, was killed in a mining accident.

    Do you know who Charles' father was? We have a John in three succeeding generations. Robert, the father of the furthest back born in 1839 had two brothers, Matthew 1819 and William 1820 - all three baptised in Longford.  

    I will check my DNA against your number later this evening. Life is now calling me away fro genealogy.

    Carolyn Grimward (Tootill)

    Carolyn G

    Tuesday 23rd Apr 2019, 06:43AM
  • I tried the Gedmatch No: DM9221030 and it was not recognised. Mine is A979841 if you want to try.

    Carolyn

    Carolyn G

    Tuesday 23rd Apr 2019, 10:29PM
  • Hello Carolyn,

    My Gedmatch Number was a Genesis Number. I checked ours and is only a match when setting s lowered to 300 and 3. Chromosomes 8 and 20 came up,is this a matching place for you. I have a tree on Ancestry if you want to view. My email is mmgreen1@hotmail.co.uk

    Regards,

    Margaret Green nee Stewart.

    Barnesmore

    Wednesday 24th Apr 2019, 06:22AM

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