In 1847, 5000 Irish emigrants left Co Roscommon to escape the devastating grip of the Famine. This group
left on four ships bound for Canada. Not all of them made it alive. Up until this year, the destiny of the 1490 who survived was unknown.
They left Liverpool on four ships: the Virginius, Naomi, John Munn and the Erin’s Queen. Many died en route. Once the Strokestown Irish landed in Canada, many were interviewed by Canadian newspapers. A project run by the University of Maynooth has found out where a large
number of these Irish people went, and uncovered their fate.
On 11 May 2014, a memorial wall was unveiled containing the names of the 1,490 people who emigrated in 1847. An exhibition, Emigrant Faces from County Roscommon, was held at Strokestown, detailing the lives of more than 12 of the
emigrants, such as Michaell Flynn, James Higgins and Thomas Fallon who
fought in the American Civil War; Catherine O’Keefe, a Roscommon
emigrant in Melbourne, Australia; and Patrick McNamara, a labourer on
the construction of the Blue Ridge Mountain Railroad Tunnel.
Continue reading the story at Tracing the ‘missing 1490’ who fled Strokestown during the Famine
Credit: Image from The Journal showing names of a few of the immigrants
The IGRS (Irish Genealogical Research Society) now has over 66,000 marriage records online. The index of early marriages is free to search. A quote from the website states:
With so many parishes in Ireland not having any register of marriages
before the 1840s, the database is fast becoming an invaluable tool in
identifying where and when ancestors tied-the-knot. It includes
references from a myriad of different sources: books, gravestones,
family bibles, deeds, wills, letters, court records, published journals,
newspapers, census transcripts and old age pensions forms, to name just
a few.
Sources drawn upon for this particular update include marriage
licence bonds from a number of diocese covering all or parts of counties
Carlow, Kildare, Kilkenny, Laois, Longford, Offaly, Roscommon, Sligo,
Westmeath, Wexford and Wicklow; and there are further references to
marriages from the Registry of Deeds.
