Smith - Lawless

Patricia:

Welcome to Ireland Reaching Out!

We have a parish liaison in Moynalty parish. I will send her an e-mail alerting her to your message.

Roger McDonnell

Thank you Roger.  Our records indicate they were all of Moynalty parish.

Patricia

Hi Patricia,

There is no Mary Lawless baptism to Christopher Lawless and Bridget Shoffery (Shaffery is the correct spelling) on Moynalty church baptisms. Moynalty church records only commence in 1830. Maybe Mary was born before 1830. The record might be  hard to read and was not transcribed onto the index database on www.rootsireland.ie . Here is the link to the unindex Moynalty church baptisms http://registers.nli.ie/parishes/0953 if you want to try reading 1832 entries. There are no baptism entires to Christopher Lawless and Bridget Shaffery in Moynalty. There are other Lawless baptisms from 1832-1851 and 1 in 1879.

Peter Smith birth predates Moynalty church records. Drumcor is not in Moynalty parish . http://www.swilson.info/db/townlanddbs.php . There are 3 Drumcor townlands in Co Cavan and Smith is the most common names in Co Cavan.

Shaffery, Lawless and Brennan are family names in Moynalty parish in 1830s. Smith and Daly are very common names in Moynalty parish, making them difficult to trace the correct generatrions on church records.

Where did Mary Lawless and Peter Smith marry - Ireland or USA?

Are you the family with the headstone in the midwest with Lawless Dyrala inscription? Dyrala is spelt on google maps as Diralagh and it is approx 16 km north of Kells. It can also be spelth Dyralagh.  If you are the same family my neighbours describs as visiting years ago, the Lawless name was found on the old landlord books. I understood there was no map, but I'll ring my neighbour for clarification. I or maybe my neighbour will be happy to show you Diralagh, which is about 1 mile square. We do not know the actual location of the farm itself.

Irish property folio maps only commence with Griffith Valuations. This survey was carried out in Ireland 1847-1864. Moynalty was reported on in 1854. There was no Lawless in Moynalty parish on it.

I made contact with my own cousins in Michigan whos ancestor emigrated there in 1866. They had 4 families from an older generation who emigrated in 1849 to Michigan. I had no knowledge of these on irish records. maybe its just co-incidence my family emigrated the same year as yours. The northern part of moynalty was badly affected by the Irish famine.

See the post and attachments I posted against the Lawless Fleming request on Moynalty parish also a few weeks back and make contact with that person to compair family histories. Lawless is not common, so your probably all related. maybe consider doing an atDNA test with familytree, 23andme or ancestry. Note DNA matching is only reliable to 4th cousin level.

I would advise you do as much research on digitised records prior to visiting Ireland. The only major set of undigitised Moynalty records are the valuation office books which commence approx 1854 for Moynalty. 

Prior to 1864 you will have to rely on catholic church records for your research or Tithe applotments if you are tracing tenant farmers leasing more than 3 acres. Indexed catholic church records are available on subscription sites ancestry, findmypast or www.rootsireland.ie(which I found the best) .  Unindex catholic church are on http://registers.nli.ie/ .  Tithe applotments for Moynalty, Co Meath are on http://www.nationalarchives.ie/digital-resources/introduction/ . Have you found them on any passenger list to the States or Canada?

Petty session (local court) and prison records are on findmypast. Attached is an entry for Christopher Lawless, born 1813 from Newcastle townland, Moynalty sent to prison for one month in Oct 1847 for damaging patotoes. 1847 was the worst year of the Irish famine. Newcastle and Diralagh are neighbouring townlands. 

Sorry not to have better news for you.

Regards

Catherine McCormack

Moynalty parish Liaison

e-mail: Moynalty@irelandxo.com

Thank you Catherine for all of this information.

My information shows that Peter and Mary were married in Iowa, 1849 (midwest).  Yes, they were burried in Iowa, and the headstone (in photo) is as you describe.  The distant cousin from my family that visited Meath had information placing the family just about where you describe.  Somewhere I had noted with more precise information of the location, put away for when I was to visit, but of course I can't find it now :(  

This Christopher Lawless seems a bit younger than my ancestor, but perhaps one birthdate or the other is incorrect, 

I haven't taken the time to examine everything here, but I do appreciate it and will enjoy checking throough all of this!

Patricia

Patricia,

Your Christopher Lawless is probably an older cousin or maybe uncle of the Christopher born 1813. You have identified the correct townland anyway for your Christopher.

I took a look at Shaffreys this time. On the tithe applotments there is a Thomas Shaffrey in Diralagh this time spelt Deerralagh. http://titheapplotmentbooks.nationalarchives.ie/search/tab/results.jsp?county=Meath&parish=Moynalty&townland=Deerralagh&search=Search at line number 8 on the original document. I'd say from the way they are listed on the report, he is probably in the end of Diralagh townland thats borders Feagh, Quigelagh and Druminiskin. Pollack at line 9 are the Diralagh landlords and hold the bog. The bog is still there and is on the border of Druminiskin and Diralagh, but you'd have to cross fields to get to it.

On Griffiths there 4 Shaffrys in Moynalty parish. http://www.askaboutireland.ie/griffith-valuation/index.xml?action=doNameSearch&familyname=shaffry&wildcard=on&firstname=First+Name&baronyname=&countyname=MEATH&unionname=&parishname=MOYNALTY&Submit.x=35&Submit.y=19

Judith Saffry is leasing a house on folio 11 which is in the same area as my the location of Tithe applotments lands. There are Griffith maps to match report. I'll be able to pin point this location when I look later. But, its a rather long single lane track over a mile long and  possible grown in . Its not suitable for a car. I nearly took the sump of my car in 2011. Mary Shaffry leases a house in Newcastle townland. See if Annesbook mill, in the townland of Skearke is marked on Google maps. This Shaffry house will be at the back of the mill accross the river. It will be possible to drive down another lane to get near this location if you wish. These 2 Shaffry house are only about mile apart as the crow flies. The other two Shaffry houses on the report are Shancarnan. I'll look later for their locations, but probably about 2 miles from Diralagh house. These families are probably all related to your Bridget. There are no Shaffery in Diralagh or Newcastle today. There is a John Shaffrey in Shancarnan on the 1911 census http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/pages/1911/Meath/Moynalty/Shancarnan/720602/ . I'll have to ask of there are any still there today. I do not know Shancarnan families and its a big townland.

Going back to Judith Shaffry on the Griffith valuations, the neighbouring tenant is Owen O Brien in Diralagh. His stepsons, Mulvanys (my cousins) born circa 1835-1843 emigrated to Eldon, Iowa. Thomas and James Mulvany settled and are buried in Eldon. I think Thomas descendants are still in Iowa, maybe Des Moines. 2 other brothers passed through Eldon. I am in contact with the Mulvany family historian in the States. Mulvany correspondance from one of the brothers held by their historian, named a few neighbours from Ireland. Shaffreys was mentioned.  If your people are anywhere near Eldon, maybe there is an Moynalty community of people in the same area. Push pull emigration factors may have resulted in them heading the same area/direction.

Regards

Catherine

This is amazing information, I am so happy!  I did notice on one of the Griffiths pages, there is a Patrick Smith listed for Cornaville South, Peter Smith's father's name was Patrick, but I am sure that was a very common name in the area. 

I have to go to work, but can't wait to delve into these links more this weekend.

My family was in Temple HIll Iowa, as far as I know.  Not too close, About 150 miles away from each other. But close in the sense of the US.

Thank you Catherine, I will be back here once I get to look over this more.  I can't wait to visit!