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Ireland (Historical Counties) => Ireland => Topic started by: jacquelineve on Friday 26 March 04 20:59 GMT (UK)
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Could someone please tell me,in which Irish counties the
surname Durkin-Durkan is more common, also surname
Illicote which was copied from a very faded bapt. reg. but
have been told this name is Ellicott.These are the names
of my g.g.grandparents,who came to England between
1849-1853, both were catholic.
I would really appreciate any help.
Jacqueline.
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I meant to post this ages ago but forgot, sorry. I had a look through the 1890 surnames of Ireland database it shows the surname Durkan being mainly in the province of Connaught - in particular counties Mayo and Sligo and Ellicot/Elliott mainly in province of Ulster - Fermanagh, Antrim and Donegal, province of Leinster - Dublin and also in Connaught - Mayo, Sligo, Roscommon and Galway
As both names are in Mayo and Sligo these maybe a good place to start.
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Donni
Sorry to be so late thanking you for your reply
Had started to give up with my Durkins -Ellicotts
Jacquelineve.
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Hi,
If you enter the surname in this website
http://scripts.ireland.com/ancestor/index.cfm
It shows the distribution during the Griffiths Valuation and possible alternate spellings. Slido and Mayo for Durkin but only 2 Ellicotts, both in Mayo.
Go west!
Kate
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Kated
Thankyou,
Jacquelineve
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Durkan is numerous in north Connacht.
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Ticker
Cheers!
Jacquelineve
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Our Durkin branch came from Co Sligo. in the earliest church records in York (1850's) the name is spelt Durcan. The church clerk will have decided this spelling, we have sort of assumed he chose the spelling based on where they came from, there are other records in the same writing which use Durkin. However by the 1870's our spelling had changed to Durkin. we think this happened through schooling. So beware of spellings the people themselves couldn't read or write and spelling was decided by others.
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Windy
Thankyou for replying
I agree re.spelling, the priests wrote Durkin on one
bapt entry and 2 yrs later Durkan, same family!
Jacquelineve
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I went through a few links on this site and ended up at eircom.net. They have church records and I spotted a Church Plaque in Curry Co Sligo with the spelling Durcan.
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Had a chat with a local catholic priest the other day and put to him the theory that the priest or clerk spelled the name Durkin/kan/can, based either on where they came from, eg, if sligo can and if mayo then kin, maybe. But he threw that right out as an idea, as in those days the catholic priest were much more likely to be English than Irish and so would'nt have had a clue re Counties and Surname spellings, so it is most likely that it was purely pot luck.
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Windy
I think I'm going to have to give up with my Durkins-Durkans
it would'nt be so bad if I knew which county they were from,
plus my g.g.grandmothers maiden has more variations than
the "D's". On two bapt.entries 1st. Ilcoat, then 2yrs.later
Illicote, it's been suggested they are variations of Ellicott or
Ellicote. I've searched numerous Irish sites looking for this
name, but so far no luck.
Just out of interest, do you have twins on your Durkin
side?
Jacquelineve.
Out of all my ancestors I've researched so far, the Durkins
had the most interesting occupation
Rag and bone gatherers.
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No we don't to my knowledge have twins in our line.
but out of maybe vague interest, there were Durkins in York in 1862 who had twins. John and Bridgets twins, michael and Patrick died aged 1 day old.
We got the information about counties from the church records initially. The catholic marriage record from 1853 gave the residence of bride and grooms parents at the time of marriage, this was Sligo for the groom and Mayo for the bride. We have only seen this info on the 51 census quite recently, but it does not appear on any later ones, they just say Ireland.
However the other pair came over already married so I don't think we will ever really know where they came from, not for sure. The most likely option is of course around Mayo, Roscommon, Sligo.
Where occupation is given for our lot its either general or agricultural labourer, or for the children - hawker!
Windy