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Ireland (Historical Counties) => Ireland => Topic started by: esse on Wednesday 07 June 06 17:30 BST (UK)
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I've asked something similar on the Antrim board, but thought it might be worthwhile asking a wider audience here - hope that's ok. I'm not new to ancestry research, but a complete beginner in Ireland! Any clues or advice at all to orientate myself very appreciated.
My great-grandmother Margaret Petty was born in Belfast in 1865, father Charles Petty from Yorkshire, and mother Mary O Rorke, who from her marriage reference appears to have been born around 1844, father's name known only as Robert O Rorke. As a beginner, I have two questions to try and track this down further:
1. Doing a little reading it's clear that the O'Rourke's traditional ancestral home is from Cavan and nearby, and Mary's parents may not of course have been born in Belfast. Being embarrassingly ignorant of Irish name history myself, could anyone hazard a guess for me at the mobility of such names in the early 19th century? Would the devastating famines cause floods of people into cities like Belfast around that time or earlier? Surnames of working class families from my studies in England and Wales tend to be fairly static in the mid-19th century on the whole - might the O'Rorkes have been resident in Belfast for decades before, or is it likely that they more recently migrated from the south-east into Belfast?
2. I see Mary's surname variously listed as O Rorke, ORorke, and presumed relatives listed as O'Rorke and even O,Rorke. I also seem to see many spelling difference such as O'Rourke/Roarck, and in many cases families seem to list themselves as O'Rorke and Rorke interchangeably? Are such naming differences consistent within family groups, or merely a matter of transcription by officials in the 19th century? In other words, how much should I rely on the father of an "O'Rorke" being called O'Rorke too, or is it perfectly possible for a father to be called plain Rorke? I understand O as something akin to Scottish "Mac/Mc" - grandfather or clan of - but wonder to what degree families would have felt free to vary such naming, adding the prefix O' to their father's name as late as the mid 19th century?
Any guesses, hints or anything appreciated!
Esse
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Giving this one a little bump as I read up more on Irish history. I noted with interest that the Griffith's Valuation extracts (http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~ruairc/griffith.htm) for O'Rorke families with variant names actually seem to show very significantly consistent spellings of the surname per county: the "O'Rorke" spelling of my ancestors is predominant only in Antrim and Galway in the 1860s, with very few in every other county.
I'm wondering if someone more knowledgable could tell me if families are likely to have moved en masse during the great famine, from Galway (which was devastated, with an estimated loss of 120,000 people) to Antrim (whose loss was relatively light). Clearly many emigrated, but I'm wondering how many families would have simply migrated to Antrim and stayed put through to the 1860s. In other words, I'm wondering if the O'Rorke's of Antrim of that period may well be migrants from the only other significant county with that spelling, Galway.
Guesses all, but I wonder if completely ill-educated guesses?