Conaghans from Londonderry

[RitchieC]

Hi there, my name is Richard Conaghan and I have info that my ancestors were from Londonderry. Are there any Conaghans out there that can help me trace my Irish roots.
Many thanks Richard.

[aghadowey]

If you could give us some names, dates, places we might be able to get you more information or suggest where you could search.

[DoireM]

Hello Richard and welcome to Rootschat.

I am sure if you give as much information as you can on your Conaghan family we on this Board will help as much as we can.

Good luck,
DoireM

[RitchieC]

Hi There, many thanks for your quick reply, my 4 x Great Grandfather was William Conaghan and he was married to Helen Docherty. I dont have any info at all on them but got there names from Death Certificates here in Scotland. My 3x Great Grandfather was John Conaghan(c1793-1866) and he had a brother Hugh(1804-1876) and a sister Helen(1807-1867) who married a Daniel Hill. I have 3 wives for John...Margaret Gallagher and Susan Gallagher who both died quite young and Margaret Ford who outlived him by 12 years. He had at least 17 children that we know of...that is if he started a family at the age of 35..which I doubt.
On one of his sons birth certificate from 1855 it states that he was from Co Derry and on his brother Hughs Poor relief records that Hugh was from Londonderry. Hope this helps

[aghadowey]

'Londonderry' can refer to either the county or the city  but to trace the family in Ireland you'll need a more exact location. Docherty/Doherty, etc. is probably the most common surname in Co. Derry but Conaghan (if they stuck to that spelling and all the records here also used that spelling) might be easier to search but generally for pre-registration (1864) information you need to check church records (if they exist).
IGI (www.familysearch.org) lists some Conaghans in Co. Londonderry (mostly after 1864) and even more in Co. Donegal.

[RitchieC]

We have quite a few spellings for my surname..Conaghan, Connachan, Conahan, Connaghan and just about every other combination that you can think of...but they mostly settled for Conaghan..I was over in Londonderry last July to try to find somewhere to start, but everywher was closed cos it had been the walk at the weekend, so I was no further forward. If I dont have a rough area to start in what could my options be?
Cheers Ritchie

[aghadowey]

You really can't start doing much research in Ireland without a townland or at least parish to search for church records, etc. so you need to go through all possible Scottish records (civil registration, census, etc.) for any clues. Is there a possibility that William and wife Helen also moved to Scotland?

[RitchieC]

Searched high and low, and all the info seems to suggest that they weren`t here..there are 3 William Conaghans in the 1841 Scotland Census and they are related but are far too young to be Old William and there are 2 Helens aged 7 years and 1 year so no sign of her either. The only William Conaghan that I can find any trace of in Ireland is in the Flax Growers list and it states that he is from Donegal, but all of our info points to Derry/Londonderry.

[aghadowey]

Ellen is used far more often in Ireland than Helen so you might want to try that one as well.