Thomas F Geoghegan - Mary Kelly - Oughterard (mid 1800s)

Hello,

I found the civil marriage record form Thomas Geoghegan and Mary Kelly at the free irishgenealogy.ie website. This marriage record, unlike the church marriage record you supplied as an attachment, shows the couple were married on January 28, 1866, instead of December 28, 1866. This mans the registrar who recorded the civil marriage, Robert Willis, was off on the date of the marriage by exactly one month.

The marriage record for Thomas and Mary is attached, and further shows that Thomas was a 28 year old bachelor before he married and that his residence at the time of marriage was “Russeen,” which is actually spelled, “Rusheen.” Thomas’s occupation was farmer. His father is also recorded as Thomas Geoghegan, a farmer.

The marriage record also shows that Mary was a 23 year old spinster when she married and that her residence was also “Russeen.” Her father is William Kelly, a farmer. The priest who married Thomas and Mary in the Catholic Chapel of Oughterard was John Dooly. The witnesses were Bartly Fahy and Mary Geoghegan. The witness Mary Geoghegan as well as Thomas Geoghegan and Mary Kelly signed the marriage register with an X, which is an indication they could not write. The marriage is the last record in the marriage register.

Finding the civil birth record for Thomas and Mary’s son Thomas at irishgenealogy.ie was a little more challenging, but after some time found an index of his birth that I thought could pertain to him. The index spells his last name as, “Houghegan,” rather than Geoghegan.

The index of Thomas’s birth, from irishgenealogy.ie, is below:

Name THOMAS HOUGHEGAN
Date of Birth 1866
Group Registration ID 7924902
SR District/Reg Area Oughterard
Sex N/R
Mother's Birth Surname N/R

Source: irishgenealogy.ie
____

Attached to the index is a copy of the original civil birth record for Thomas Houghegan, showing he was born in “Rushinny,” (which I believe should also be Rusheen), on 22 November 1866. His father is Thomas Houghegan, a farmer residing in Rushinny. Thomas’s mother is Mary Houghegan, formerly Kelly. The father Thomas, reported the birth to the local registrar, R. Willis, who recorded the birth on 27 November 1866. Thomas’s birth record is Number 428 in the death register, and is attached to this reply.

Your information shows that Thomas’s mother Mary died giving birth, and so I looked for her death at irishgenealogy.ie. Unlike birth and marriage records however, irishgenealogy.ie has only digitized death records from the year 1878, but they have indexed death s for all of Ireland from the year 1864.

Knowing that Mary would have died soon after Thomas was born, I also found her death index under the last name of “Houghegan.” The index gives her year of death as 1867 and her age at death as 26. The index is below:

Name MARY HOUGHEGAN
Date of Death 1867
Group Registration ID N/R
SR District/Reg Area Oughterard
Deceased Age at Death 26
Returns Year 1867
Returns Quarter 1
Returns Volume No 4
Returns Page No 335

Source: irishgenealogy.ie
____

You can order Mary’s death cert from the General Register Office (GRO). For costs and information on how to order birth, marriage, and death certs from the GRO, go to: https://www.irishgenealogy.ie/en/civil-records/help/i-want-to-get-a-cop…

Best Wishes,

Dave Boylan

Hello,

I found the civil marriage record form Thomas Geoghegan and Mary Kelly at the free irishgenealogy.ie website. This marriage record, unlike the church marriage record you supplied as an attachment, shows the couple were married on January 28, 1866, instead of December 28, 1866. This mans the registrar who recorded the civil marriage, Robert Willis, was off on the date of the marriage by exactly one month.

The marriage record for Thomas and Mary is attached, and further shows that Thomas was a 28 year old bachelor before he married and that his residence at the time of marriage was “Russeen,” which is actually spelled, “Rusheen.” Thomas’s occupation was farmer. His father is also recorded as Thomas Geoghegan, a farmer.

The marriage record also shows that Mary was a 23 year old spinster when she married and that her residence was also “Russeen.” Her father is William Kelly, a farmer. The priest who married Thomas and Mary in the Catholic Chapel of Oughterard was John Dooly. The witnesses were Bartly Fahy and Mary Geoghegan. The witness Mary Geoghegan as well as Thomas Geoghegan and Mary Kelly signed the marriage register with an X, which is an indication they could not write. The marriage is the last record in the marriage register.

Finding the civil birth record for Thomas and Mary’s son Thomas at irishgenealogy.ie was a little more challenging, but after some time found an index of his birth that I thought could pertain to him. The index spells his last name as, “Houghegan,” rather than Geoghegan.

The index of Thomas’s birth, from irishgenealogy.ie, is below:

Name THOMAS HOUGHEGAN
Date of Birth 1866
Group Registration ID 7924902
SR District/Reg Area Oughterard
Sex N/R
Mother's Birth Surname N/R

Source: irishgenealogy.ie
____

Attached to the index is a copy of the original civil birth record for Thomas Houghegan, showing he was born in “Rushinny,” (which I believe should also be Rusheen), on 22 November 1866. His father is Thomas Houghegan, a farmer residing in Rushinny. Thomas’s mother is Mary Houghegan, formerly Kelly. The father Thomas, reported the birth to the local registrar, R. Willis, who recorded the birth on 27 November 1866. Thomas’s birth record is Number 428 in the death register, and is attached to this reply.

Your information shows that Thomas’s mother Mary died giving birth, and so I looked for her death at irishgenealogy.ie. Unlike birth and marriage records however, irishgenealogy.ie has only digitized death records from the year 1878, but they have indexed death s for all of Ireland from the year 1864.

Knowing that Mary would have died soon after Thomas was born, I also found her death index under the last name of “Houghegan.” The index gives her year of death as 1867 and her age at death as 26. The index is below:

Name MARY HOUGHEGAN
Date of Death 1867
Group Registration ID N/R
SR District/Reg Area Oughterard
Deceased Age at Death 26
Returns Year 1867
Returns Quarter 1
Returns Volume No 4
Returns Page No 335

Source: irishgenealogy.ie
____

You can order Mary’s death cert from the General Register Office (GRO). For costs and information on how to order birth, marriage, and death certs from the GRO, go to: https://www.irishgenealogy.ie/en/civil-records/help/i-want-to-get-a-cop…

Best Wishes,

Dave Boylan

Hello again,

I have a correction to make about the location of the Geoghegan family as noted in the previous reply.

The Geoghegan family, as you know lived near Oughterard, Galway. According to the IreAtlas, the town of Oughterard was located in the civil parish of Kilcummin. See: https://is.gd/khSoSx

The IreAtlas shows there are only two townlands within the civil parish of Kilcummin that begin with Rush. These are Rusheeny and Rushveala. See: https://is.gd/Agg6Re

Thomas’s birth record gives his location of birth as, “Rushinny,” while the marriage record for his parents, Thomas Geoghegan and Mary Kelly, show they were living in “Russeene.” The correction this reply is pointing out is that the Geoghegan family had lived in Rusheeny, civil parish of Kilcummin, rather than the townland of Rusheen.

As the next IreAtlas link show, there is only one townland in Galway in the Kilcummin civil parish, Oughterard PLU (Poor Law Union) that begins with Rush. This is Rusheeny. See: https://is.gd/aBotlF

In the previous reply you also saw the 1866 civil registration birth index from irishgenealogy.ie, shows that Thomas’s last name is spelled, Houghegan, rather than Geoghegan. The civil registration death index for his mother Mary, also spells her last name as Houghegan. According to the FamilySearch website, “The surname HOUGHAGAN / HOUGHEGAN shares the same roots as the surname GEOGHEGAN.” See: https://is.gd/N0dZfg

You can see an example of the variation of the surname Geoghegan/Houghagan in an Irish property tax record known as Griffiths Valuation for the townland of Rusheeny, civil parish of Kilcummin, County Galway.

Griffiths Valuation shows that a Patrick Geoghegan, as well as two Occupiers named James and John Houghegan, had leased property in Rusheen.

Below are transcriptions of the Grififths Valuation entries for Patrick Geoghegan, James Houghegan, and John Houghegan. These transcriptions come from the AskAboutIreland website.

No. and Letters of Reference to Map: 1b
Civil Parish: Kilcummin
Townland: Rusheny
Occupier: Patrick Geoghegan
Immediate Lessor: George Cottingham and others
Description of Tenement: House, offices, & land
Area of Land: 1054 Acres, 1 Rood, 31 Perches (shared with the 16 other Occupiers in Rusheeny)
Rateable Annual Valuation of Land: 2 Pounds, 10 Shillings
Rateable Annual Valuation of Buildings: 5 Shillings
Total Annual Valuation of Rateable Property: 2 Pounds, 15 Shillings
____

No. and Letters of Reference to Map: 1g
Civil Parish: Kilcummin
Townland: Rusheeny
Occupier: James Houghegan
Immediate Lessor: George Cottingham and others
Description of Tenement: House and land
Area of Land: 1054 Acres, 1 Rood, 31 Perches (shared with the 16 other Occupiers in Rusheeny)
Rateable Annual Valuation of Land: 2 Pounds, 10 Shillings
Rateable Annual Valuation of Buildings: 5 Shillings
Total Annual Valuation of Rateable Property: 1 Pound, 10 Shillings
____

No. and Letters of Reference to Map: 1h
Civil Parish: Kilcummin
Townland: Rusheeny
Occupier: John Houghegan
Immediate Lessor: George Cottingham and others
Description of Tenement: House and land
Area of Land: 1054 Acres, 1 Rood, 31 Perches (shared with the 16 other Occupiers in Rusheeny)
Rateable Annual Valuation of Land: 2 Pounds, 10 Shillings
Rateable Annual Valuation of Buildings: 5 Shillings
Total Annual Valuation of Rateable Property: 1 Pound, 10 Shillings
____

A Google Map shows that Rusheeny is located 3.2 miles southwest of Oughterard. See the map at: https://is.gd/xpiWq1

The next link will bring you to a Google Street View of Rusheeny: https://is.gd/y2E3WV

Regards,

Dave

Hi Dave-

Thanks so much!- I really appreciate the time you took to look at this and the research you provided through the additional cited sources.  This is extremely helpful!  I am going to spend some time looking at this  to see what I can piece together based on the information I have.

Again, this is greatly appreciated

Dan (Boston/USA)

You're welcome Dan. I also replied in response to your very kind message posted at the Ancestry Message Center.

Best Wishes,

Dave

In relation to William Kelly, Rusheeny, a Thomas Kelly of Killigile (Killaguile) took out a loan of £5.00 from the Outerard Loan Fund on October 25th 1844. One of the two Guarantors was a William Kelly of Rusheene. The other a John Mulvoy of Killaguile. It appears that this loan was not repaid in full and the local police were ordered to try and locate Thomas Kelly. The form used is dated January 15th 1847. The report by the police would appear to have been made in the 1850's, as they reported as follows: "No such man lived on the above townland, but a man of that name was in the habit of frequenting Thomas Kelly's.He was labourer and a reference to the fact that he may have died in 1850."

The entry for Thomas Kelly: Resided there (Killaguile) in 1847. Is now living at Laghtgannon. Poor. A weaver by trade.

John Mulvoy had moved to Galway in 1848 and had died there in 1850.

A  Peter Fahy moved to Rusheeny in the 1840's. He had a son named Bartholomew who died in Lemonfield in 1895.

Source: www.findmypast.ie

Thank you for the added information McCoy!

  Further to previous report, Kilcummin Catholic parish register has a marriage for a William Kelly on April 30th 1841 to Ellen Mulloney. No address.  

Witnesses: Thomas Kelly and Judith Gill. There is a baptism record for a "Mary Kelly" whose parents are recorded as William and Nelly. (Ellen)

Baptismal Sponsors: Thomas and Judy Kelly

In 1853 the townland of Clooshgerreen, which adjoins Rusheeny was sold by Christipher St. George to a William Kelly. Following a post in the 

Oughterard Heritage Site in January 2014 a person named "Norah" posted that William Kelly was her Great Great Grandfather and that he had

sold the townland in 1864 due to financial difficultiies. She stated that she lived in Canada had information on the Kelly family. She was hoping to make

contact with any member of the "Kelly" family in Oughterard. To-date there has been no reply. Geoghegan and Fahy are inter-married, so this may account

for the DNA result.

The Manager at www.oughterardheritage.org may be in a position to contact her.

Regards