Cassidy Family in Dunkineely (Killaghtee Parish), Donegal

Tom:

Welcome to Ireland Reaching Out!

You won't find any earlier records for Killaghtee RC parish. The RC parishes in Donegal did not retain the baptismal and marriage records prior to 1840 and in some parishes much later. 

Here is a link to the 1834 Tithe records for the parish and there were 19 Cassidy records although some could be duplicates.

http://titheapplotmentbooks.nationalarchives.ie/search/tab/results.jsp?…

There were also a like number of Cassidy records in the 1857 Griffiths Valuation head of household listing for the parish. http://www.failteromhat.com/griffiths/donegal/killaghtee.htm

Also, there were 14 Cassidy families in the parish in the 1901 census so the surname continued on.

There is an excellent Donegal genealogy site and I have the link for Killaghtee parish resources http://donegalgenealogy.com/killaghteeproj.htm

There is a sublink which has quite a few Cassidy headstones and one of the contributors is a Terrence Cassidy and maybe you want to contact him. 

http://donegalgenealogy.com/oldkillaghteeGY.htm

You may want to add your ancestors story to our XO Chronicles site https://www.irelandxo.com/ireland-xo/history-and-genealogy/ancestor-dat…

Also, you may want to consider autosomal DNA testing.

Roger McDonnell

According to 1911 census Moses Given and his sister Margaret Foster and Margaret’s daughter Eliza were resident at house 15 in Calhame (Dunkineely)

Hi Tom,

This is Hugh Cassidy from Cleveland. Found this thread online. Hope to see you soon!

Hugh

Hello Tom,  Like yourself my Cassidy Family comes from the Dunkineely area. I am descended from Two Branches of Cassidys in the neighborhood of Dunkineely.  My GG Grandfather MICHAEL (possibly Andrew Michael) CASSIDY was born about 1796 and died in May 1882. That Family lived in RAHAN near Dunkineely on St John's Point.  My other GG Grandfather was PATRICK CASSIDY born @ 1809 and died in 1895. That Family was from Rahanlacky/Tievedooly which is north of Dunkineely town. I have a Family Tree on Ancestry.

So I suspect they would have Known your Cassidy ancestors. Roger McDonnell has posted Excellent information and Links to explore. I have found my GG Grandparents in the Baptism Records from Killaghtee RC Parish of their children and as Sponsors.

But just to add a mention that the Church Records from both Church of Ireland and Methodist date back earlier than 1840's. And several Cassidys belonged to those Communions.

As mentioned in an earlier post, you may find DNA testing helpful in your research. I hope to hear from you, Tom, and wish you All the Best -- Dan