I am trying to find where my ancestor Margaret Ann Gilkison came from. She was one of the Irish famine orphans who came to Melbourne Australia on the Pemberton in 1849, age 16. She is listed as being Roman Catholic and from Monaghan, with no details on her parents but a search of Monaghan records do not show Gilkison as a surname there.
Mandy R
Monday 3rd Feb 2014, 08:01AMMessage Board Replies
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Hi Mandy,
I can confirm that the above surname does exist, Margaret married in Australia 1852, she then moved to New Zealand with her family and died there early 1900's
The Monaghan workhouse records are held in Clones Library, they include admission records from 1833.
Workhouse records are very good and sometimes give details of parents, siblings, townland etc.
http://www.monaghan.ie/en/services/library/historygenealogy/
You could contact them by email, the archivest may carry out a search of the records, alternatively ask them to recomend a local researcher to search the records. It is a very distinctive surname.
Brendan
BrendanJoseph
Monday 3rd Feb 2014, 02:38PM