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Ireland (Historical Counties) => Ireland => Westmeath => Topic started by: atticus on Friday 27 February 09 20:52 GMT (UK)
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Hi
I have been trying to trace a Richard Dowd. All I know about Richard is he married in Liverpool on the 20th January 1851, a Mary Mason, stating he was a Mariner and his father was called John, who was a Provision dealer. I cannot find Mary or Richard on the 1851 census(England), I pick Mary up again in 1861, saying she was a widow BUT in the 1871 census she has a 3 year old boy Joseph Thomas Dowd, who appears in the Mormon Family History site, saying he was baptized on 20 Jan 1868, parents Richard and Mary Dowd!(cannot trace Joseph's certificate)
So, Richard is a mystery, Did he come from Ireland?, Did he die? Any help please. I live in hope that my father is really a Dowd and this Mary didn't just cover up Joseph's birth, as Mary married again in 1872 a Nathaniel Morris and Joseph became a Morris, but went back to Dowd for his own marriage.
Thank you atticus
I have also put this on the England General
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I don't know if this will help.
Have you come across the Surname Beakley in the family.
There is a Cem: in Co,Clare.
This says it was erected by the Dowd Family.
For our Grandparents.
Patrick Beakley died Jan: 1st 1944 85yrs
His wife Mary Died June 25th 1945 83yrs
Their Son Thomas Died 1st Jan: 1943 42yrs.
Erected by their Grandchildren The Dowd Family. Fanore More Co,Clare.
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Hi
Thank you for that. Have have not come across the name Beakley yet, I will keep it on file just in case.
At this moment in time the only clue where in Ireland my family are from is on a English census John Dowd puts County West Main Ireland as his birth place!
Thank you atticus
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Only Irish County with West in it is Westmeath- could that be what's written on English census record?
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Hi
Checking back on Ancestry it clearly says County Main West Ireland on the 1861 census, the others he just puts Ireland, so I am not sure what he meant by it!
atticus
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Hi
I am trying to trace a Richard Dowd born 25th January 1814, on one of his seaman's tickets he puts his birth as in Mullingar, on another High Park Westmeath.
I am trying to see if this Richard Dowd is my Gt Great Grandfather. On his seaman's tickets, it states he was residing in Liverpool,which my ancestor was. The only information I have about my gt gt grandfather is that his father was called John, I have no birth date or death date. He did marry in 1851 in Liverpool and he was a mariner.
So I am trying to find this Richard Dowds baptism record and really do not know where to start my research in Ireland, as I live in England.
Any help on where to look or any information on this chap would be a great help.
Atticus
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No need to start a new topic- duplicates only cause needless confusion for those trying to help- so I've merged your new post with the thread you already had for Richard Dowd.
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Do you know what religion Richard was ?
Shane
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Hi
No sorry I have no idea except I believe he was married in a church of England Church.
THanks Atticus
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If the Richard's family were Church of Ireland and he was born in Mullingar town or parish then it does not look promising for parish records as the only historic records listed that I see reference to are for marriages only, and for much later years (1840s) ...
I'll see if I can find where High Park is located in relation to Mullingar, in case that's a different parish.
RC records for the parish of Mullingar go back much further and partial transcriptions of these are available on the pay-website of the Irish Family history Foundation at www.irish-roots.ie
Shane
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There's a townland named Highpark about 12km east of Mullingar that may fit the location described. see google map : Mullingar to Highpark (http://maps.google.com/maps?f=d&source=s_d&saddr=Mullingar,+Co.+West+Meath,+Ireland&daddr=highpark,+co.+westmeath&geocode=FR65MAMddgiQ_ykh1xvKEcBdSDGAlDGXqccACg%3BFQZPMQMdRqqN_ymZ1wAM6sZdSDHyT7e6p8cAJg&hl=en&mra=ls&sll=53.542552,-7.401009&sspn=0.084053,0.30899&ie=UTF8&ll=53.529493,-7.401009&spn=0.084079,0.30899&z=12)
It's in a different Church of Ireland parish - Killucan, and early records do seem to survive for this parish : Baptisms from 1696, Marriages from 1787, and Burials from 1700
These are available to view in the Representative Church body Library in Dublin. Unfortunately they dont seem to be included on on the IFHF website.
just looking at this a bit more -I'm not sure that parish is the correct one as it seems to be in a different part of the county and to the east of Mullingar, rather than the west where Highpark is... I will investigate this further...
Shane
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Thank you Shane for your time and help, it really is appreciated.
Atticus
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The area indicated on modern google maps as Highpark does not seem to appear on the 1st edition OSI maps (1820s,1840s) but is near to a distinctive kink in the nearby canal - see :
modern google map showing Highpark (http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=highpark,+co.+westmeath&sll=53.555912,-7.454224&sspn=0.042013,0.154495&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=Highpark,+County+West+Meath,+Ireland&z=14)
1st edition map showing Highpark (http://ims0.osiemaps.ie/website/publicviewer/main.aspx#V1,633794,757122,5) (click historic or historic bw to see the old maps)
There seems to be two possible townlands that could fit the location, if the the modern location is the same ...
Balroe, in the civil parish Kilbixy
Kildallan North, civil parish Templeoran
There's no sign of any surviving CofI records for the parish of parish Templeoran, but records do seem to have survived for Kilbixy, but only from 1815 for baptisms, 1815 for marriage, and appear to be kept in local custody. The RCB Library just have marriages from 1848. Unfortunately these do not seem to be available online at the moment.
Shane
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Thank you again. It was so interesting seeing how close the two places Highpark and Mullingar are to each other, which tallies with the seaman's ticket locations. Looking at Kilbixy there seem to be a lot of Dowds there, I am not sure how poplar the name Dowd is in Ireland. You say the records look like they are kept in local custody, does that mean at a record office ?
Atticus
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In this case local custody means the parish church... I'll see if the location of parish church of Kilbixy is mentioned in any listings etc
Dowd is quite common - probably more frequent in counties Galway and Kerry
variants and equivalents include O'Dowd and Doody
Shane
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there's some details of the parish of Kilbixy included in the 1837 Topographical Dictionary of Ireland by Samuel Lewis. see : http://www.libraryireland.com/topog/k.php
The town at the center of the parish appears to be Ballinacargy ..which is spelt as Ballynacargy on modern maps and just 4km north west of the location labeled Highpark. see Highpark to Ballynacargy (http://maps.google.com/maps?f=d&source=s_d&saddr=Ballynacargy&daddr=Highpark,+County+West+Meath,+Ireland&hl=en&geocode=&mra=ls&sll=53.574773,-7.525806&sspn=0.039038,0.154495&ie=UTF8&ll=53.573448,-7.51585&spn=0.03904,0.154495&z=13)
There's an entry for the town on Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ballynacargy - I dont see any mentioned of a CofI church in that article, but it might be worth following that up..
Shane
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I have just found a Dowd in my family tree I still need to find his first name(poss richard) but he married my Grandfather's Sister Mary Melia from Mullinghar, West Meath.