My maternal roots are deep in County Mayo, Ireland.  My maternal grandmother, Mary Browne Kearney (b: 1897  d: 1977 in St. Louis, Mo.) was born in Caherduff, Cong, on a small leased farm.  She was one of eight children, four boys and four girls, parented by John Browne and Mary Nally Browne. 

 

So far I've identified the following sisters of John Browne:  Catherine "Kate" Browne and Bridget Browne Crowley.  Both sister emigrated to the United States and ultimately settled in St. Louis, MO.  I thought it strange that an Irish family from the west would have had only three children, and recently I've made a connection with another researcher that leads me to believe there was another sister named Mary.  However, I haven't found the kind of evidence that allows me to state this as a face.  Mary married Michael Manley.  They entered the United States through New Orleans, but ultimately settled in St. Claire County, Illinois. 

All were the children of Patrick Browne and Bridget Nally Browne

 

My great great grandmother Mary Nally Browne (d: 1944 in Caherduff), daughter of James Nally and Anne Feerick Nally, was born in Muckrussaun, Killalla, County Mayo.  The following are the siblings of whom I know:  Catherine "Katie"Nally, who emigrated to America in order to joing the Sisters of Charity of Leavenworth, KA; Michael, who emigrated in 1849 and settled in Pittsburgh; Bridget "Delia" who married Arthur Lavery and settled in Philadelphia; and Patrick, who remained on the family farm in Muckrussaun.

Hi, Alberto ....I have searched both the 1901 and 1911 census documents.  They're wonderful ....love the fact that you can see who the neighbors were.  I found many of those names appearing as baptismal sponsors and wedding witnesses.  Fortunately, my Irish gram lived with us as I was growing up and though she didn't share information going back several generations, she told me enough that I can piece things together ....but it's challenging.  Spent many euros on the pay site ...it's like playing the slots in Vegas.  Don't know about you, but every month or so I have to take a break.  The searching gets a little frustrating.  AND ...yes, that is my family that you found!!!

http://http://www.irelandgenweb.com/~irlmay/records.htm

 

Good site.

Hello!

 

I am new to the group and am making my first post.  I was always told by my Grandfather that our family is from Ireland, but have yet been able to prove it.  The furthest I've made it back in mhy family is my GGGGrandfather, Franklin S. Hughes, born 1813 in North Carolina, USA and settled in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, USA.  On the 1880 US Federal Census it states that his father was born in Tennessee, so that is potentially putting me back to the early 1700's when our family immigrated.

 

While on a vacation in Riviera Maya, Mexico I met two separate couples from Ireland and they both told me I should search County Mayo and County Gallway.  I've done a little bit of searching, but am having a hard time finding any records dating that far back.  I am hoping to find the parents of Franklin S. Hughes (I think his middle name was Solomon) soon, and when I do I would like to be prepared.

 

Anybody have any suggestions on good resources dating that far back?

Thanks,
Lisa A Hughes

Lisa ...I certainly don't want to discourage you, but the further you go back in Irish family history, the more of a challenge it becomes.  Most of the records from the period you indicate were destroyed during the Easter Rising.  I would suggest finding everything you can on this side of the pond.  Find Franklin Hughes' father in the census and then starting moving back from there.  Hopefully you can move from census records to immigration documents. 

 

The only records that I'm aware of that go back further than the 1800s might be church records, but you need to be able to narrow down your family to a particular townland in the county. 

Yes, I thought that might be what I will need to do.  I am making a trip out to Tuscaloosa this coming weekend and am hoping to find something that will help place his father.  I have yet to even find what county in North Carolina his father was from, and I find it odd that his father would've been born in Tennessee in that era when Tennessee wasn't even a state yet, but who knows.  Hopefully I'll have some luck this weekend on my trip.

Thank you for the information.  I appreciate it.

Alberto ...you crack me up.  When I first started researching the Brownes about four years ago, I initially went through a spasm of excitement when I actually found records aplenty on John Browne of the Neale (another area linked to my family).  Suffice it to say, he was not my John Browne .....he was the Lord Sheriff and lived in a grand house and had descendants with very English first names.  We're a little more like the Beverly Hillbillies.

 

I did DNA for my maternal line ....useless.  My grandfather was an Orphan Train rider, so I'm really not sure of his heritage.  His birth name was Dernier.  The DNA I submitted for his line has not yielded anything yet.

Lisa ...are you searching on Ancestry.com???  I'm finding lots of Hughes in Alabama ....found some property records and possibly a Civil War record.  Another possibility might be to search for Franklin S. Hughes Civil War records ....like his pension application file.  Those records are often filled with family information.  Need to go to the NARA website.  If you'll tell me what to be looking for, I'd be glad to help.  You can send me a message on my page.

Lisa ..do you think your Franklin had a sister named LoisBeatrice?   I found her in the North Caroliina birth records 1800 - 1900.  Her father was Franklin Hughes.  She was born in Conrad Hill, Davidson Cty, North Carolina.

Honestly, I have no clue.  That name is not found anywhere in the family, but that doesn't mean much.  I know he married Sarah Barnett (we think in Georgia) and their children's names are Martha Ann, Marion F (probably Franklin), Amanda, Mimi, Lucinda, Jane Keziah, Elizabeth, Rhoda, Solomon Barnett, and Sarah R.  It seems quite possible to me that they following the traditional naming conventions since Solomon (who I descended from) has his mother's maiden name as his middle name.  I do know that the names Mimi, Sarah, and Keziah are family names from Franklin's wife, Sarah, so maybe he other names were from Franklin's side?

I get so desperate sometimes that I grab at straws to find a potential lead.  I've searched for Hughes' that married a Franklin, I've looked for Solomon Hughes or Marion Hughes born around that time frame, etc. with no luck. 

Can I ask where you found that birth record?  Does it list a mother's name?

Lisa ...I found the birth record for Lois Beatrice Hughes on Ancestry.com ...I went to North Carolina immediately to narrow the search ....then start going through the earliest birth records.  I'll go back and check for parents' names.  It's fun sometimes to work on someone else's problems. 

Is there anybody out there descended from Patrick and Bridget (Joyce) McDonough of County Mayo?  They had two daughters, Bridget (McDonough) Noonan and Ellen (McDonough) Doris who went to New York City, and four children Patrick, Thomas, John, and Annie (McDonough) Ducy who went to  Framingham, Mass.  Would love to find out where they are all from in County Mayo, but I've not had any experience in researching in Ireland so I don't know where to start.

Katie - I completely understand what you mean about working on someone else's 'problems'.  Occassionally, I will receive an Ancestry message asking if I know [insert name] from [insert city, state] with the similar information as what I have on my tree.  Most of the time, I will do a little snooping around to see what I can find.  I find genealogy to be a useful hobby so I don't mind one bit taking a break from my tree to help someone else out.  Also, when I get sick of that brick wall on my family, I start searching for my fiance's family.

Back in late February/early March, I purchased a DNA test for my brother and we should have the results at any time now (I'm getting excited).  I am really hoping it connects us to another Hughes line that can answer some of these questions that I cannot seem to find.  I know Franklin Hughes had to have had at least one brother... he's out there somewhere and I hope to find them all.  Although, after reading Alberto's post about the DNA testing, it kinda makes me nervous that I'll be sifting through 500 potential leads.  Yikes!

Lisa ...I know why those Irish tourists suggested that you start with Mayo and Galway.  Was running some searches on an Irish site last night.  There must be a bajillion Hughes in those counties.  All the more reason to see if we can find a township of origin.

I figured they must be onto something since I met each couple on separate days and they both said the same thing.  I have reviewed list of births from 1850 that show how many of each surname was born in each county; County Mayo and Galway definitely rate one of the highest for the Hughes name.  If only I had some clue as to where and when..... Until I do, I will just keep educating myself on resources so I know where to go when that time comes.

 

Alberto - thanks so much for all the look-ups!  I used the link for mayoancestors.com that was listed at the top of this page and guess what?  BINGO!  I found Patrick and Bridget's marriage and 3 of the children's births/baptisms.  They are from Cong in the south of Mayo.  Really excited to finally know where in Mayo they are from.  Thanks for your help!  I just heard about genealogywise at a conference a couple days ago and already it has paid off big-time!

Kirsten ....my grandmother and her siblings grew up  in the Cong area also ....just would add that Cong is considered a parish and is itself not a townland.  I'm so gla you found some great information.

Thanks everybody for the comments.  I did not realize Cong was also a parish.  In Patrick and Bridget's son John's birth record it gives their address as "Carturia, Cong."  I just assumed it was the actual town of Cong.  Or is Carturia a village?

http://http://www.mayolibrary.ie/en/Genealogy/

 

Another good multipurpose site with links to the National Archives and other research locations.

http://http://www.from-ireland.net/irish-civil-registrations/Civil-...

Just stumbled upon this great site  ....it's free.