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Looking for info on my ancestor, : I found info on Mayo Townland on townlandsie,  was this a general area or a villiage at one time?

Mary McAndrew McLellen was born on May 19, 1819, in Mayo, Leitrim, Ireland, the daughter of Frances and Patrick. She had four sons and six daughters with William McLellen between 1837 and 1852. She died on August 17, 1887, in San Francisco, California, at the age of 68. She was in Bangor Maine USA from around 1837 - 1860.

Any info will be appreciated. - thank you.

Patricia Smith

Monday 25th Nov 2019, 03:42PM

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  • There is a townland named Mayo in County Leitrim, and you can find more info about it at this site: 

    https://www.townlands.ie/leitrim/carrigallen/oughteragh/ballinamore/may…

    A townland is a smaller area within a parish, and the townland of Mayo is in the parish of Oughteragh.  The parish records for Oughteragh only go back to 1869, unfortunately, and can be found at this site:

    https://registers.nli.ie/parishes/0816

    It's interesting that your ancestor ended up in a townland named Mayo (in irish, Maigh Eo, meaning "yew plain").  In Irish, the surname McAndrew is Mac Aindriu.  It was adopted by a branch of the Barrett family in County Mayo, which is separated from County Leitrim by County Sligo and County Roscommon.  The Barrett’s were an Anglo-Norman family which became fully Hibernicized (the name was sometimes re-Anglicized as FitzAndrew).  They became like a native Irish sept (or "sub-tribe"), having a well-defined territory on the eastern side of Lough Conn in northeastern Mayo (in the area of the current parishes of Backs and Attymass), and they intermarried with the other families in the area for centuries (I have a McAndrew great-grandmother from Mayo myself).  In Griffiths Valuation, in the early mid-1800's, there were 232 McAndrew tenants or landholders listed in all of Ireland, of whom 186 were in County Mayo, and 19 in adjoining parts of County Sligo, with a few also in Roscommon.  Perhaps a few also migrated to Leitrim (which is not all that far away), but all all 16 of the McAndrew births registered in 1890 in Ireland were in Mayo, so your Mary McAndrew may have been born in one of those neiighboring counties.

     

     

     

    kevin45sfl

    Monday 25th Nov 2019, 06:07PM
  • Adding to what I already said above, here is what MacLysaght says in his Sunames of Ireland about the name McLellen (which also has other anglicized forms, such as MacLellan, MacClelland, and MacLeland):  "Most families of these names in Ireland are of Scottish origin.  The old Uí Fiachrach sept [i.e., a sub-tribe] of Mac Giolla Fhaoláin in County Sligo appears to be almost, if not quite, extinct though possibly it survives as Gilfillan in Leitrim."  Your Leitrim McLellen's may have been given that form of the name as an anglicization of Mac Giolla Fhaoláin [meaning "son of the devotee of Faolán" -- that "devotee" form of name is very common, and is behind most surnames beginning with Kil- or Gil-), and perhaps they emigrated before Gilfillan started to be used as a variant anglicization (many families ended up with variant forms of their name due to the name being anglicized differently in different parishes, or even in the same parish over time). 

    kevin45sfl

    Monday 25th Nov 2019, 06:47PM
  • Patricia:

    Welcome to Ireland Reaching Out!

    As Kevin has indicated, the surname McAndrew is a very strong Co. Mayo surname and rarely found in Co. Leitrim. What source document do you have that indicated Mayo, Leitrim. In either case, there are no baptismal records back to 1819 for a Mary McAndrew with parents Patrick and Frances in either county. Finding parish records back to 1819 in both counties is difficult.

    Roger McDonnell

    Castlemore Roscommon, IrelandXO Volunteer ☘

    Monday 25th Nov 2019, 07:30PM
  • Thank you.  I have very little information, I originally thought she (McAndrew) was born in County Mayo, until I read it closer.  I do not know where the McClellen's came from in Ireland; they may have met in the states, as some of my other ancestors did.  I appreciate you taking a look for me.

    Patricia Smith

    Monday 25th Nov 2019, 10:29PM

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