I am searching for the Ireland parish of origin for my GG grandfather John L. McMahon. He was born around 1822. I believe he was from County Clare, but I have been unable to confirm this. He emigrated sometime before 1848. I am not sure if he went directly to Canada, or went through the US, but he ended up near Toronto in Simcoe County. He married Ann(e) Quinlan on October 16, 1848. They had 15 children (Patrick b. 1850, Mary Ann b. 1851, James b. 1853, Thomas b. 1854, John A. 1856, Francis b. 1858, Ann b. 1859, Joseph b. 1861, Esther b. 1862, Michael b. 1864, Mathew b. 1865, Julius b. 1867, Abraham b. 1869, Jane b. 1871 and Veronica b. 1872) - all born in Canada. Sometime prior to 1880 he and some of his family moved to Rye, Grand Forks, North Dakota where he died in 1897. I am also interested in finding out information about where in Ireland his wife, Anne Quinlan, originally came from. She was born about 1831. Her parents may have been Michael Quinlan (b. 1785) and Mary Bray (b. 1790, Co Tipperary), but again I am not certain of this connection.
jmcmahon
Thursday 18th Oct 2018, 12:28AMMessage Board Replies
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Dear jmcmahon:
Thank you for your post to the Ireland Reaching Out message board.
I have had a look for you on the Roots Ireland website which has many church transcriptions available throughout Ireland. They are a subscription site. Unfortunately, nothing comes up for an Anne Quinlan with parents named Michael Quinlan and Mary Bray. However, I have also check the Irish Ancestors website which is run by John Grenham. This site is useful as it gives an indication of where surnames are most common and it gives the ability to look for two surnames together. In your case, I included Quinlan and Bray and you will see from the link below that both names are very common together in the parishes of Knockainey, County Limerick and Thurles, County Tipperary. As well as that, they are listed in various other parishes within those general areas. That might be a good place to look.
https://www.johngrenham.com/surnamescode/twosurnames.php?surname2=Bray&surname=Quinlan
You might also check the Irish genealogy website for any Civil deaths for Michael Quinlan and Mary Quinlan from those areas. If you have any other sibling names for either Michael Quinlan or Mary Bray, please let us know. Sometimes, searching for a sibling can give better results.
The Civil records only begin in 1864, however, it is possible that either parent may have died after this period and there would be a death registration. The website is below:
https://civilrecords.irishgenealogy.ie/churchrecords/civil-search.jsp
In addition, you might add an Ancestor Profile to the XO Chronicles feature on the site (located at the top right of the page). The Ancestor profiles are a great way to share what information you have and are widely read by our members. It is quite possible that there are others researching the same families and you may find that they can assist you with your research. The link is below for your reference:
https://www.irelandxo.com/ireland-xo/history-and-genealogy
If you have any further questions, please let me know.
Kind regards,
Jane.
Jane Halloran Ryan
Thursday 18th Oct 2018, 08:48AM