Learning How to Look For My Irish Ancestor's Townland

Finding my 2nd great-grandmother's townland in Ireland was never high on my list. On her marriage record in New Hampshire, Julia Harvey was Johanna Harvey, born in Ireland and the daughter of Patrick Harvy of Limerick and Joanna Hartigan of Clare. She married Joseph Albert Glynn, my second great-grandfather of Putney, Vermont 9 June 1861, only a year after she arrived in the United States.[1] Her husband's family was very unlike hers as both his mother's and father's families can be found in the United States long before the revolutionary war. 

Carrie Glynn with Julia Harvey Glynn

Putting Julia's name and parents' names into search engines never yielded pertinent information about a townland. Family says she was born in Limerick but there are 1,982 townlands in County Limerick along with many Harvey families.[2] Looking for Hartigan didn't help as Joanna was not found. 

I always assumed Julia came to the United States by herself and had no family nearby. But that was an incorrect assumption as a few years ago, DNA proved me wrong by revealing her three sisters all in Vermont. I had three more names but still did not know where or how to find the townland in Limerick.

Before I spent any more time or money, I knew that educating myself should be my first step

Understanding Irish Research

After reading articles, perusing websites, and watching videos, I knew what church and civil vital records were available to search, where to find a variety of records, strategies to use when searching online resources, and so much more.  Below are some of the valuable resources I have used to familiarize myself with Irish research.

Looking at FamilySearch Research Wikis when beginning a research project provides you
with information about geography, records available, and more. Ireland Genealogy at the FamilySearch Research Wiki yields research strategies, tools, tutorials, and resources for each county. 

The Irish Genealogy Toolkit is a fabulous resource for all aspects of Irish research. 

Anything by John Grenham is full of good information. I read How to trace your Irish family history: a step-by-step guide and watched his YouTube videos, Tracing Irish Ancestors Using Online Resources. His three long videos revealed a large number of resources. Telling how he used the search engines at a variety of online websites helped me determine which paid sites I might try.  

Details about placenames, surnames, available records, and more can be found at Irish Ancestors, John Grenham's part subscription, part free website. Watching "Irish Ancestors: Welcome to the site" before using the website is extremely helpful.

Tips for finding the origins of Irish ancestors were found at the following links. 

A Comprehensive Guide to Finding Your Immigrant Ancestor’s Hometown

Five Steps for Finding that Hard-to-Find Irish Ancestor

Finding Your Irish Immigrant Ancestors 10 Places to Start Your Search in the U.S. 

The excellent RootsTech 2021 session, Mournful Exodus: Strategies for Finding Your Irish Ancestors' Origins is a three-part webinar providing strategies for solving Irish immigrant research problems. 

Finding Julia

Equipped with more knowledge, I found what may be Julia's home in Ireland and more about her parents. 

I subscribed to RootsIreland.ie for one month and used the flexible search engine to search the baptismal records for children whose mothers had the surname Hartigan in the counties of Limerick and then Clare. My best results were three children, Mary, Bridget, and Jud whose parents were Judith Hartigan and Patrick Halvey (not Harvey) of the townland Quinnpool in the parish of Parteen, County Clare. Parteen is on the Clare and Limerick border. The Diocese for this area was the Diocese of Limerick.[3] 

The records at RootsIreland.ie are abstracts so a look at the actual documents found in the Irish Catholic Parish Registers at NLI (National Library of Ireland) was warranted. Records showed that Patrick and Judith had daughters, Mary in 1833, Bridget in 1836, and Judith (not Jud) in 1839. One daughter, Catherine was missing, but records did not start until late in 1831, most likely after her birth.[4] 

At RootsIreland.ie, I learned that Johanna, Joanna, and Judith were name variations for the name Julia. And, Judith and Johanna were often interchangeable.[5] 

There was much more about this family at RootsIreland.ie and Irish Catholic Parish Registers. Patrick Halvey married Judith Hartigan on 27 November 1830 in Quinpool, Parteen, County Clare.[6] In 1852 Judith Halvey, Julia’s mother, was living in Quinpool in Parteen.[7] She married Hugo (or Hugh) Crowe of Quinpool in 1853.[8] Judith Crowe of Parteen died at age 78 after having bronchitis for three months. She died as an occupier in a Work House in Limerick on 19 February 1892.[9] At age 78, Judith would have been born in about 1814.

More to Learn and More to Find

I could stop with what I have, but I don't believe I have enough documentation to say this is definitely Julia's family. There were four sisters in this family. All lived in Vermont for a time and all married men who worked for the railroad. Continued learning will help me find more in both Ireland and the United States. 

If you want to know more about the families I research, click here to like my Facebook page where you will see each post and other genealogical finds. 

.

Diana

© 2022 

Sources

    1. "New Hampshire Marriage Records, 1637-1947," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:FL6Z-GGH : 22 February 2021), Albert Glynn and Johanna Harvey, 09 Jun 1861; citing Walpole, Cheshire, New Hampshire, Bureau of Vital Records and Health Statistics, Concord; FHL microfilm 1,001,262.

    2. Irish Townlands, Townlands.ie (https://www.townlands.ie/: accessed 6 March 2022).

    3. Baptismal/Birth Records for Ireland, RootsIreland.ie (http://ifhf.rootsireland.ie/quis.php?type=birth&new=1: accessed 6 March 2022).

    4. "Catholic Parish Registers at the NLI", digital images, National Library of Ireland (https://registers.nli.ie/registers/vtls000634992#page/46/mode/1up :  accessed 16 March 2022), Parteen Parish (County Clare), Diocese of Limerick, "Bapt  Sept 26 1831–Feb 14, 1877," page 46; digitized from NLI microfilm 02410 / 03. Also, "Catholic Parish Registers at the NLI", digital images, National Library of Ireland (https://registers.nli.ie/registers/vtls000634992#page/28/mode/1up :  accessed 16 March 2022), Parteen Parish (County Clare), Diocese of Limerick, "Bapt  Sept 26 1831–Feb 14, 1877," page 28; digitized from NLI microfilm 02410 / 03. Also, "Catholic Parish Registers at the NLI", digital images, National Library of Ireland (https://registers.nli.ie/registers/vtls000634992#page/12/mode/1up :  accessed 16 March 2022), Parteen Parish (County Clare), Diocese of Limerick, "Bapt  Sept 26 1831–Feb 14, 1877," page 12; digitized from NLI microfilm 02410 / 03. Also, Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/16921531/catharine-m-daley : accessed 17 March 2022), memorial page for Catharine M Daley (1831–1914), Find a Grave Memorial ID 16921531, citing Holy Cross Cemetery, Saint Albans, Franklin County, Vermont, USA ; Maintained by Barb Destromp (contributor 46785064).

    5. First Names, RootsIreland.ie (http://www.rootsireland.ie/help/first-names/: accessed 6 March 2022).

    6. "Catholic Parish Registers at the NLI", digital images, National Library of Ireland (https://registers.nli.ie/registers/vtls000634991#page/30/mode/1up :  accessed 16 March 2022), Parteen Parish (County Clare), Diocese of Limerick, "Marr July 1814-Nov 9 1819 Feb 4 1821 - Jan 10 1836," page 30; digitized from Microfilm 02410 / 02.

    7. Griffith's Valuation 1852: St. Patrick's Parish, Clare County Council Libraries (https://www.clarelibrary.ie/eolas/coclare/genealogy/griffiths_parish/st_patricks.htm: accessed 6 March 2022).

    8. "Catholic Parish Registers at the NLI", digital images, National Library of Ireland (https://registers.nli.ie/registers/vtls000634993#page/8/mode/1up :  accessed 16 March 2022), Parteen Parish (County Clare), Diocese of Limerick, "Feb 9 1847 - Jan 22 1877," page 8; digitized from Microfilm 02410 / 01.

    9. Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media, "Civil Records," database with images, IrishGenealogy.ie (https://civilrecords.irishgenealogy.ie/churchrecords/images/deaths_returns/deaths_1892/06041/4720769.pdf : accessed 6 March 2022); digital image, Judith Crowe, death, 19 February 1892; citing Group Registration ID 04720769; filed 25 February 1892, in the District of Limerick in the County of Limerick, stamped no. 04720769 and 363, entry no. 174.

Photographs

    Ireland Photos, photographs, 2016; scanned image, originals and scan from the privately held photo collection of Diana Quinn, Virginia Beach, VA, 2022.

    Carrie Glynn and Julia Harvey Glynn, photograph, ca. 1885; scanned image, held photo collection of Diana Quinn, Virginia Beach, VA, 2022. Location of the original photo is unknown.