Cork

[Carla]

Like quite a few people i have found some Irish ancestors on my great grandfather's maternal line. I am particularly trying to find out more about Irish research and how to go about it. One of the censuses states my ancestor came from Cork but that's as far as i have got. The problem is that there are so many variations on the surname....Milan, Milin, Millin, etc, in that area. I thought his christian name of Cornelius, would narrow the search down, as it was unusual to me. Sadly that is not the case, and now i am completely lost. I know a lot of records were destroyed in Ireland but what i am asking is simply some advice on actually where to start. I found some church records but it is difficult to prove the person is my ancestor. I suppose it is time to send away for the marriage record of Cornelius to see if there is some information on that?

 

[AnneC]

Have you tried

http://www.irishgenealogy.ie/

 

[Carla]

Hiya,
I have had a look at it before but when i try to search for Cornelius Milin...Milan...Millen nothing comes up. The difficulty is that cork is a large area and i need to narrow it down. I will have a look over the weekend and see if i can spend some quality time on this. I may be some time........
Thank you for that.

 

[AnneC]

Carla, I've done quite a bit of research in Cork as my great-aunt's father was born there. I'll have a dig around and let you know which other sources I looked at.

 

[Carla]

Thanks Anne. I appreciate that.

 

[AnneC]

This was also helpful: http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/

Which census did you find your ancestor on?

 

[Carla]

My paternal line follows back to a Mary Ann Milan who married my direct ancestor Joseph Martin 16/2/1877 in Shoreditch Registry Office, London, England. Mary's father was listed as Cornelius Milan. The 1871 census has their surname as Mylon just to cause confusion. One of my elderly relatives has done much of the research and i have been going over his records. I do agree with him that the 1861 census has a Cornelius Malony and this is the same person as stated in the following census. It is there it states he is from Cork. My grandfather did tell us that his grandmother was of Irish descent and his great grandparents were actually Irish.

 

[linda]

My paternal line follows back to a Mary Ann Milan who married my direct ancestor Joseph Martin 16/2/1877 in Shoreditch Registry Office, London, England. Mary's father was listed as Cornelius Milan. The 1871 census has their surname as Mylon just to cause confusion. One of my elderly relatives has done much of the research and i have been going over his records. I do agree with him that the 1861 census has a Cornelius Malony and this is the same person as stated in the following census. It is there it states he is from Cork. My grandfather did tell us that his grandmother was of Irish descent and his great grandparents were actually Irish

I suspect that Malon(e)y, being the earlier version of your name, is the one you need to concentrate on. When you get Cornelius Malony's marriage record, you will find out his father's name and his occupation, the latter could be crucial in identifying the family. Of course Cork is a very large county, as well as having a large city of that name. Did you know that https://www.familysearch.org has quite a few Irish records, and I've just done a quick search and it certainly brings up several Cornelius Malon(e)ys.

The Irish Family History Foundation has a good website and free access to Griffiths Valuation is available.

Every now and then http://www.findmypast.ie will do a free 14 day trial, which will give you access to BMD, trade directories, census, military service, etc.

 

[Carla]

Thank you Linda. I think i will have trouble tracking down which Cornelius is my ancestor, to be honest. I did track back a possible in Liverpool in the 1841 census but it will be difficult to tell. This person also appeared in the 1861 census but although the birth dates are approximately correct in both censuses his wife in the 1861 census is not the correct match to mine! Two Cornelius Milan/Maloney/Malon born in Cork, Ireland? Don't you just love the fact there are lots of people with the same name in our research Sometimes i do understand the celebrity idea of weird or made up names......easy to know who they are if you are tracing your ancestors

 

[MarionK]

Thank you Linda. I think i will have trouble tracking down which Cornelius is my ancestor, to be honest. I did track back a possible in Liverpool in the 1841 census but it will be difficult to tell. This person also appeared in the 1861 census but although the birth dates are approximately correct in both censuses his wife in the 1861 census is not the correct match to mine! Two Cornelius Milan/Maloney/Malon born in Cork, Ireland? Don't you just love the fact there are lots of people with the same name in our research Sometimes i do understand the celebrity idea of weird or made up names......easy to know who they are if you are tracing your ancestors

Consider yourself lucky that you don't have a Mary McCarthy from County Cork!!!

 

[AnneC]

My paternal line follows back to a Mary Ann Milan who married my direct ancestor Joseph Martin 16/2/1877 in Shoreditch Registry Office, London, England. Mary's father was listed as Cornelius Milan. The 1871 census has their surname as Mylon just to cause confusion. One of my elderly relatives has done much of the research and i have been going over his records. I do agree with him that the 1861 census has a Cornelius Malony and this is the same person as stated in the following census. It is there it states he is from Cork. My grandfather did tell us that his grandmother was of Irish descent and his great grandparents were actually Irish.

Just to complicate things even further, you may consider that the surname could also change to O'Malony. I had a similar problem tracking a Mahoney, sometimes without an "e" and sometimes with O'. And to try and find a Mary Mahony who emigrated to USA, it's like the proverbial needle!

 

[linda]

If your ancestor was Anglican you might consider looking at Church of Ireland, Cork, Cloyne & Ross. They are working on:
"The Cobh Genealogical Project
This is a project which involves the computerising of all the Church of Ireland parish registers for the County of Cork. The Project also holds microfilm of all Cork County Church of Ireland Registers which are National Archives, and which escaped destruction in the Public Record Office in 1922. These contain marriage Records prior to 1845, and Baptism and Burial Records prior to 1870. Some go back to the 1650, but 1750 is more usual.
To date 200,000 Records have been processed. Approximately half the surviving records in the diocese.

The areas worked on are:

• Cork Harbour Parishes and Cork city
• Bandon
• Rosscarbery
• The Beara Peninsular on the North side of Bantry Bay
• Clonakilty and Timoleague
• Fermoy Union
• Youghal Union

Work in hand includes Moviddy Union and St. Mary’s Collegiate Church, Youghal."

For a fee of £20 or €25 they will do research (a lot cheaper than actually going there yourself), and if not successful will keep your details on hand until they finish digitising all available records.

 

[LesleyA]

We're 7+ years on since this thread, but I've only just stumbled across it. Like Carla, I've been unable to trace my ancestors from Cork - probably Glanworth, Fermoy. My ggrandmother married there.

Her father's name is given as James Stack on her marriage cert on 22 Dec 1863. She ​

had children in Mulingar and then lived in Malta for a while until she settled in Nottingham, England where my gggrandfather was born. Her birth year is given as 1841 in the 1881 and the 1891 English census, but 1845 in the 1901 census. 1846 on her death cert.

I have a number of possible parents for her, but, of course, it doesn't follow that she was born in Fermoy or even in Cork.

I'd be most grateful for any tips on how to track her parents/ siblings more accurately.

(Incidentally, I also have a ggggrandmother, Catharine McCulloch, in another branch of my family who appears in the 1841 English census with dob 1796 born in Ireland. The family are not included in Ancestry's 1851 records, but her husband is included on Find My Past! Her death is recorded in 1852, but no age is given. Someone on Ancestry has given her father's name as John McCulloch, but has no substantive evidence for this.

 

[Bob Spiers]

All the advice previously given still applies and although my own Irish ancestors came from County Galway, the same problems were encountered... from precisely where in the county? The break through for me came after joining Ireland XO , entering known details and then discovering specialist Galway information and data.

I found volunteers to help me and suggest this and that tactic (a slow process believe me), but eventually I was able to pinpoint (and sometimes eliminate false) leads. I encountered strange sounding (often Gaelic) place names, parishes and townlands mostly gleaned from census extracts for 1841 & 1851 (which luckily covered the period of my research). Eventually this led to specialised information gleaned from parish (civil and church records -both RC and COI) and Griffiths Valuations. The research took ages and had to be done piece meal as it was too wearisome to do it all in one go. In the end I became reasonably sure (never more than 'reasonably' because of the patchiness of surviving data (and destroyed Censuses) I found what I sought.

All I can say is I am glad I knew my ancestors came from Galway because without this information the task would have been daunting and likely impossible.

 

[LesleyA]

Well done. It sounds as if perseverance has paid off for you. I've joined numerous Irish sites over the years, but because the records were destroyed am only left with speculation and hunches. It's surprising how many Mary Stacks had fathers called James. There's a James Stack born in Mallow (from memory - not sure this is correct) which on a map is close to Fermoy and his dob is in the right sort of time frame. Couldn't find any children for him though....

 

[Bob Spiers]

but because the records were destroyed

Although many (yourself included) are aware of the destroyed Irish Censuses:

The Censuses of 1821, 1831, 1841 and 1851 were burned in the Public Records Office fire of June 1922.
(which happened during the Irish Civil War and caused by bombardment and an explosion which ravaged
the ‘Four Courts building, some of which was used for PRO storage). The Census returns for 1861 & 1871 were (officially) destroyed after they were taken. Whilst those for 1881 & 1891 were pulped during the First World War because of a paper shortage.

You can imagine the joy felt when I discovered that Census extracts existed for both 1841 & 1851 which contained information on both my Great x 2 Irish Grandparents (James & Bridget Flynn), their children and where they lived at the time in Galway.

Such records existed because of the practice of British Bureaucracy to require proof of existence and age when those 70 and over applied for a State Pension - introduced after 1908/9.

Remember Ireland from 1801 to 1922 (1921 for Northern Ireland) was part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland at that time and the Censuses for 1841 & 1851 still existed.

Whilst a Census was not the only source for such proof it often became the 'norm' for the Dublin Administration to provide a census extract to the appropriate London Pension authority taken from the 1841 Census in particular, and later of course the 1851 Census when people in those Census years became eligible for pension. These extracts of course remained in British Archives and can be found when researching.

So if either Census year applies in your own research (and that of others) you may also strike lucky in finding a Census extract is available to help in your research, as it did mine.

 

[Margery]

you may also strike lucky in finding a Census extract

Yes Bob, I was able to find my husband's grandfather's family in Killashandra, Co Cavan, which was of great help. Also the 1901 census was helpful in identifying his grandmother's family - not an easy task when the father's name was John Smith!

 

[LesleyA]

Thank you, Bob. I've joined Ireland XO now and contacted The Cobh Genealogical Project.

 

[Bob Spiers]

Thank you, Bob. I've joined Ireland XO now and contacted The Cobh Genealogical Project.

Well done, progress may be slow but if anything like my own experience you will gradually see the light at the end of the tunnel -you just need a little Irish luck.

 

[LesleyA]

Yes. Ha ha. But I've been on the trail of Mary for 8 unproductive years and paid for a search that found no thread by someone from Roots Ireland. Never give up eh?