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Hi,

My name is Caroline Walsh and I am researching my family tree in Cavan. My great great grandparents were William Hewitt of Gartylough/Arva (born ~1838) and Jane Whyte (White) (born 1843, died 1877) and their daughter Sarah Jane (born 1875) is my great grandmother. On their marriage in 1865, Jane’s father is listed as Richard Whyte and William’s father is Richard Hewitt.

I was hoping to find out more information concerning Jane White’s father Richard, like his wife’s name, other children they had, and his parents’ names.  Also, if anyone knows anything further about William Hewitt’s Dad, Richard.  Also, it appears that William Hewitt and Jane White’s firstborn, Richard did not marry and I am not sure what happened to him.

My great great grandmother Jane White Hewitt died in 1877 after the birth of their daughter, Kate Hewitt. William Hewitt remarried in 1882 to Elizabeth “Lizzie” Wilson. This second marriage was witnessed by R.A. Nesbit, Major C.M.R and George Fyfe (who was the son of John Fyfe, who supposedly came from Scotland and worked as an Agriculturalist for the Gosford estate. I am wondering if my family too has ties to the Gosford Estate, or Scotland or elsewhere but I haven’t had much success getting back much further than William Hewitt (father - Richard and Jane White (father - Richard Whyte)

I appreciate any information concerning my ancestors from Cavan. Also, what church would possibly hold their records (Church of Ireland churches near Gartylough/Arva) and are these records available online? (I live in New Jersey.) One other item my mother mentioned many years ago was that her mother’s family (Hewitts?) are descended from Huguenots.

Thank you,

Caroline Walsh

Hi Aghadowey,

Thank you for your advice concerning Rebecca Good's marriage certificate.  I might go ahead and order a copy of it to see what Parish she was married in.  Hopefully, once I have the Parish, I can find out the name of the church she was married in.  The names of the sponsors and other clues might be provided as well.

If you would happen to know the names of the Church of Ireland churches that served the parishes of Macroom and Ahinagh during the 1850s and could let me know, that would be great!

Thanks again for all your help!

Caroline NJ

Hi Barry,

I am researching my family tree through my paternal grandfather, Thomas Herbert Moore, whose family when he was young, was from Castletown (Enniskeane) (Dunmanway, Cork), Church of Ireland.  His mother was Mary Esther "Minnie" Moore, and in turn Mary's parents were William Harold (also sp. Harrold) and Rebecca Good.  I am trying to find out more about Rebecca Good and her family tree.  The only information besides the birth of her children in Knockshanawee (Aglish, County Cork) with William  is a marriage record from 1854 which I believe pertains to her marriage in 1854 to William Harrold, showing that the event took place in Ahinagh, Cork, and that her father's name was James Good, and her spouse William's father is listed as Charles.  I also found her on the 1901 Census and her death record which puts her birth range from ~1828-1831.  Also her husband's death record and his age derived from it, birth around 1835.

I found the Macroom Parish (COI with some Catholic) register records that you referred to, mentioning the births of children of James and Ann Good, Hannah, James and Sarah but no births recorded after that point.  I do see that there seem to be problems with the Parish register, especially after the death of the Rector, Simon Davies, who was buried March 23, 1830, the quality of the records (especially apparent with the burial records which are one to two sentence descriptions but then decline to just the name of the person), gaps in the register, loose pages, etc.  This is reflected by his death, and church personnel issues -what appears to be an interim fill-in by his son or other close relative, Curate Richard Davies, and then an appointment of another Rector, J.M. Hallaran, in 1834.  This might have unfortunately caused church events, such as births (Rebecca's) marriages and burial not to all be recorded.

This is dismaying for me because I was hoping to conclusively link Rebecca to James Good by seeing a record of her baptism.  However, I am also wondering, since there seems to be no records for Ann and James Good (from Ahinagh) in the Macroom Register after the birth of their daughter Sarah in 1825, that it there a possibility that the family changed parishes, moved and changed Parishes or some other scenario?  I see in the Tithe Applotments from that time period that lands were held for both William and James Good in Mashaneglass (Well Farm) and Ummery which appear to be bordering townlands within the area of Macroom/Ahinagh.

Also, I was wondering if you could share where (location and church) James Good and Anne Bradfield were married, and the religion of each, and how you obtained those records?  Also their respective birth and death records. You seem very knowledgeable and I was hoping you could help me with my searches.

I appreciate any insight, advice or information you could provide.  Look forward to hearing from you.

Caroline NJ

Hi Sinann,

You have been very helpful to me and I appreciate it!  I had a question about the marriage bond license book of Cork and Ross where the marriage bond for James Good and Anne.  Can you explain what types of marriages are in it (Protestant, Catholic, Mixed) and was the authority that produced the book Protestant or Catholic?

Where are the possible places that the couple (James and Ann Good) would have been married?  I guess I need to find out which Ann did James Good marry, if it was Ann Bradfield? Also, where did this marriage occur? I don't see it in the Macroom register.  I would imagine that it would be in a neighboring parish.  I can't imagine that she would have come from too far away?

Thank you - Caroline NJ

Hi Sinann,

Thank you very much for the great information that you have provided to me. I did not have a copy of the Marriage License bond for James Good and Anne Bradfield from 1816 and really appreciate receiving a copy of this record from you.  Also, thank you for sending the death records for Rebecca Harold and William Harold, it is much appreciated!  I did have those records but it took me much longer to find them than you did; you're very proficient at this!

I was hoping that you could answer some questions with regard to the Marriage License Bonds for Cork and Ross.  Do you know if these marriage license bonds for Cork and Ross are for Protestant marriages only, Catholic Marriages, or both?  I don't want to assume and there is a mixture of Protestant and Catholic marriages within my family tree, including my own parents (my own father is Catholic, and my mother protestant but she converted to Catholicism).  Also would like to find out what church Ann Bradfield and James Good where married in.

Also, do you have any advice on how I could find out where Anne Bradfield is from?  I can't imagine that she would have been too far from Aghinagh/Ahinagh were she lived after marrying James Good.  (Maybe she is in the Macroom Parish Register and I missed it, I am going to double-check it). You provided me with the List of Records of COI registers but apparently there is no Parish register book for Aghinagh only a Vestry book/Miscellaneous Papers/Tithe Book.  I have a number of questions from this great advice that you provided:

1) Are Ahinagh and Aghinagh the same parish/place in county Cork, just with a variation of spelling?

2)  Can you tell me the differences in information contained in a Vestry book vs. a Parish Register?  I feel pretty sad after looking at this comprehensive, detailed list of COI Parish registers as it appears that the Aghinagh/Ahinagh, as well as Aglish Parish registers (where the Harold family lived) were destroyed in the PROI fire in 1922 and not saved.  Perhaps the information I am looking for will be found elsewhere.

3)  I found the baptism records of three children (Hannah, James & Sarah) of Ann (Bradfield) and James Good who married in 1816 in the Macroom register available online, but none recorded after that. I am trying to find the baptism record for Rebecca Good.  Rebecca would have been born sometime after the first three children, in the period 1827-1831.  Ann and James had a farm in the area and I don't think they moved so I am wondering were her baptism record would have been recorded, if not in Macroom then where?  If you have some ideas on this I would be very grateful for your advice. I am basing my belief that Rebecca is the daughter of this couple on the 1854 marriage record I found for her, stating that she was from Ahinagh and that her father was James Good.

Thank you very much for your advice and the great records you provided to me today; I really appreciate it!

Caroline NJ