Looking for information on Michael Sullivan and Johanna Mulvhill of Listowel, Co. Kerry

Hi there,

Yes you are absolutely correct in thinking that the name Mulvihill will help narrow down the Michael Sullivans. It's certainly a good place to start your research.

You should check the 1901/1911 census records for family members. You can check this here: http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/search/

You can check for the combination of surnames in this useful tool on the Irish Times website. So, you can check for Mulivhill and Sullivan in the same county. http://www.irishtimes.com/ancestor/surname/index.cfm?fuseaction=Surname2&UserID=

You could also try checking the land records called the Tithe Applotment Books (1823-38) or the later Griffith's Valuation (1848-64). Griffith's is freely available here: www.askaboutireland.com or here: www.failteromhat.com Failte Romhat has lots of other useful links you could try looking at.

Have you tried checking the Ellis Island records (www.ellisisland.org) or the Castle Garden records (www.castlegarden.org)? Generally, more information was given at the port of arrival rather than the port of departure. If you knew which city they arrived at, this could be a good place to find more information.

Do you know if they married in Ireland? Where in Ireland?

There are Roman Catholic church records available for the diocese of Listowel. These date from 1802 for baptismal records and 1837 for marriage records. You can find these at the National Library of Ireland, Pos. 4281. If you have any difficulty, you could try writing to the parish priest for more assistance.

There is a book by Michael O'Connor you might be interested in called A Guide to Tracing your Kerry Ancestors (1994), you might be interested in.

Hopefully, someone in the local community will recognise the name and be able to help you out trying to find living relatives.

Please make sure you link anyone else in your family who is interested in their Irish heritage to our site - and indeed anyone else you know of Irish heritage.

Kind regards,

Sinead Cooney

Genealogist (Ireland XO)

I continue to struggle with finding my great-grandfather (Michael Sullivan)'s baptismal record in the online church records for Kerry.  He was born in the mid-1840s in the Listowel area. I think it should be there, but I have tried every imaginable combination, and I still have not come up with what I believe to be the correct record.  By the way, I do realize that he may have been born in a RC parish near Listowel (and not necessarily Listowel itself) ... like Moyvane, Lixnaw, etc.  I have been checking those as well.  All that passed down in the family was that he was from "Listowel" and I have been unable thusfar to narrow it down.

A big part of the problems is how common the name is.  But an additional problem is that I can't be sure of the accuracy of his death certificate info.  And I have no other reference to his mother's (or father's) name.  The death certificate reports that his father's name was also Michael Sullivan, and that his mother's name was Johanna Mulvihill.  At first I was thrilled to find another name besides Sullivan to throw into the ring, but then I learned that she had remarried after her first husband (the father of my g-grandfather) died.  Now I wonder if "Mulvihill" might be her 2nd married name (rather than her maiden name).  Which would mean that I've been completely led astray in looking for the baptismal records with Sullivan/Mulvihill combinations.  With all the mistakes I've seen on death certificates, it seems like it's a good possibility.  Or of course it may be accurate.  So far I have no documentation of any other sort to prove or dis-prove.

Also, I would like to try to find her 2nd marriage record (which would have been in the 1850s).

Does anyone who has a lot of experience with the church records know whether or not in a second marriage they are more likely to give the woman's original maiden name ... or her first married name?  I've been assuming that it would be her first married name that appears on the 2nd marriage record, but maybe that wasn't the custom.  Maybe they always reverted to their original birth name? Or maybe it wasn't consistent. I'm just hoping to pick the brains of those who have encountered this kind of issue and see what they might have learned.

Many thanks!

The good news: I found the catholic marriage record for my great-grandfather, Michael Sullivan.

The bad news:  The one surname I REALLY needed from this record is not legible.  That would be the surname of his mother, Johanna.  The rest is clear and confirms all the names we already knew:

Michael Sullivan son of Michael Sullivan and Johanna ??????? and Abby Sheehan daughter of Daniel Sheehan and Mary Long were married Dec. 27, 1864.  Witnessed by John Hayes and Catherine Long by Rev. M. Kavanagh.

We absolutely need her surname, to have any hopes of finding Michael's birthplace.  On his death record it says her maiden name was Mulvihill.  Clearly that's not what's in this record. It is something that ends with "annon."    It's possible that Mulvhill was her maiden name, and that this name was her 2nd married name (which would have been her legal surname in 1864, when Michael married).  But I think it more likely that the name on this marriage record was truly her maiden name, and that they got it wrong on the death cert (giving her 2nd married name).  Either way, I need to know what this surname is.

I greatly appreciate any and all attempts at deciphering!

I apologize for omitting the fact that the marriage record in question is at the very top of the page!
 

(Which Parish is this?)

Hannon?

https://www.johngrenham.com/c_parish/c_parish.php?county=Kerry&surname=hannon

I, too, have a Mulvihill marrying a Hannan (sometimes Hannon) then a Hannan marrying a Healy. I have also found baptisms with parents and sponsors carrying all three names. One of my Healy/Hannan's also have a daughter Joanna. The Mulvihill's and Hannon's seem to be quite closely related or they were very common names. I am still working through mine. Ballybunion, Lisstleton and Killomeroe seem, to me, the most closely related to these names. I know that is not much help but the links are intresting.

Hello, and thank you for your reply!  You might very well be right about Hannon, but I'm troubled by the "fancy" letter (or letters) in front of the "annon."   It doesn't really look like an upper case H.  The librarian who helped me find it thought maybe it was "Mcannon."   I've also wondered about McGannon.  The strangest part of that letter (or letters) in front of "annon" are the dots (that look sort of like a colon). 

The marriage record is from St. Peter and Paul Catholic church in Elmira, NY (Chemung County).

I'd love to know more detail about your Hannons and Muvihills!

Colleen

I just had another squint. If we try and not see "-annon" it may be a baddly formed "O'Connor" or similar.

I, too, looked again at the letter you have been discussing:

H = there is an uppercase H in Hayes and names in other entries which are nothing like it. 

M = the wrtier seems consistent with his letters and the M in Michael is not the same shape

Mc = there is an Mc name at 31 which again is not formed in the same way

I have gone through the alphabet and eliminated all and think it might be a G which is has been left open on the bottom this would give you Gannon - the first G in the file I attach shows a closed base but the top is formed in the same way.

Just a thought. 

B

Oh my gosh, I can't tell you how much I appreciate these replies!  The idea about O'Connor is a good one, and it's the way one needs to approach these things some times.  But I did see some Connors and one O'Connor later in the image and they don't look like this.

I do remember at some point I thought about Gannon, but I didn't go through such a thorough process.   I will for sure check records that might have Gannon as the mother's name.

Thanks again to you both!

Colleen

It's a pleasure. I know fresh eyes are the biggest help from all the assistance I have received in the past.