Ballinameen Roscommon

Looking for any info on Farrell's and Connor's, related to Gray's and Shannon's - originally from Ballinameen Roscommon 
  

Hi Elizabeth

In the first instance it might be a good idea to contact Roscommon Heritage & Genealogy Company at Church Street, Strokestown, Co. Roscommon.
Email: info@roscommonroots.com 

I started there several years ago , obtained information on both grandparents, ( Gray,Shannon) and their siblings, their births and some of their deaths (4) as well as names of great grandparents (Farrell,Connor) The records available to them end at 1900 . I have been searching for information on the siblings (6) that were still living as of 1900 forward which would be mostly from Gray family as my grandmother was the oldest of 11. The names of Farrell and Connor appear on several Gray children records as witnesses . Also prevalent as witnesses is the name Beirne.  I tried local parish priest as well but he was not helpful at all. 

Hello Elizabeth,

Looking for your ancestors can be frustrating sometimes, as you mentioned depending on the county or time records are being kept by different bodies or worse may have been lost.

I understand that you have been in contact with a parish and Roscommon Heritage & Genealogy Company.
Here we have a great thread from Saoirse that compile some other useful links and information that may help you.

Let us know if this helps. We have many members who are a great help when it comes to finding the right place to go, like Brian for example.

Hello Elizabeth,

I came across your posting while searching for "Ballinameen, Roscommon" as this is a town which is mentioned in my ancestry. I had started the search, as I couldn't find Ballinameen in the 1911 Census on the Irish National Archives (http://census.nationalarchives.ie/) whilst searching for my great grandfather John O'Connor from Ballinameen; hence the search for close-by cities.

Whilst there are uncountable numbers of O'Connors in Ireland (and elsewhere), when I saw a map version of Ballinameen of the period 1888-1913 and saw what a small number of houses there are, I thought it is time I registered with this site in order to contact you. Even though I don't recognise the other names (Farrell's, Gray's and Shannon's), I do have a few more infos on O'Connors.
If you please be so kind as to reply and bea little more specific regarding what period you are searching in, maybe we can exchange what we have got sofar.
Cheers
Dermot

Hi Dee and thanks for joining the discussion,

It looks like Elizabeth has not posted on here in a while so you may not get a reply from her. However, I would love to see what I can do to help you find what you are looking for.

With that said, what have you discovered to date and what would you like a little help with?

I am more than happy to take a look at O'Connors from any period, as I find it all fascinating.

I look forward to hearing from you.
G.

Hi Dee

It would appear from an examination of John Grenham's maps at http://www.johngrenham.com  that Ballinameen, County Roscommon is not the name of a town but  of a district that includes townlands within RC parish of Ballinameen (also historically known as Kilmanagh and Estersnow, which are the names of the civil parishes that this RC parish serves) in north Roscommon on border with County Sligo. John Grenham's map of RC parishes for Roscommon identifies the location of Ballinameen parish.

Furthermore, if you check John Grenham's map of Poor Law Unions you will see that part of Boyle Poor Law Union consists of a grouping of townlands within registrar's district of Ballinameen. By selecting Ballinmaneen it will provide you with a list, in alphabetical order, of all townlands within this district. It is these townlands that may be the location you seek for John O'Connor in 1911 census

For example, an examination of Roscommon Heritage and Genealogy's database at http://www.roscommon.rootsireland.ie reveals 6 baptismal entries of a John O'Connor n Ballinameen RC parish between 1863 and 1869. You can narrow down your search in RootsIreland database by selecting a parish of interest from drop-down list of 'Parish/district' names, in this case by selecting 'BALLINAMEEN (Roman Catholic)'.

If seeking civil birth, marriage and death records in Ballinameen district at http://www.irishgenealogy.ie you can conduct relevant searches to the area by inserting Boyle (i.e. the name of the poor law union that Ballinameen is located) in 'Civil Regsitration District/Office' search box.

I have been searching Ballinameen for information on my great grandparents Gray , Connor ,  JOHN GRAY MARRIED HONORIA CONNOR (19) BALLINAMEEN CHURCH  FEB 1 1875 (son of John Gray)         ( daughter of James Connor ,deceased )

Hi Elizabeth, 

I'd love to see what I can do to point you in the right direction! 

Before 1864 records were kept in the form of church and parish records; while some of these have regrettably been lost over the years, all the surviving records have been sorted into county-based genealogical centres. In 1864 civil registration was introduced in Ireland, which is when we started seeing the formal registration of births, marriages, adoptions and deaths. These records have been kept at the General Register Office of Ireland (GRO), to this day. Have you been in touch with these organisations yet by any chance? 

You can also look through the available church and civil records online here.

Hello Elizabeth,
I may have found something:
The Name is Hanoria(!) Gray, aged 55 at the 1911 census (which is a match to age 19 in 1875) and she is a widow. If your grandmother was/is Margeret I'd say you've found it.
Click the link below which will take you to exactly that family (shout if not). Then scroll down and below "View Census Images" click on the "Household return form" to see all residents (further 2 sons).
While the census web-page shows "Knockglass (Kilcolagh, Roscommon)" as the address, the "Enumerator's Abstract" ("Form N" of the "Census Images") states "Consabulary District: Boyle" and Sub-District "Ballinameen" !

(And Kilcolagh to Balinameen is 7km)

http://census.nationalarchives.ie/pages/1911/Roscommon/Kilcolagh/Knockglass/777960/
Hope I could be of some help!