McHale of Crossmalina

[notbob47]

KTwigg,

We did get to Crossmolina in early June 2013 where we met with Robert Marsh, who lives on Erris Street in Crossmolina.  Robert had a sister Mary who is deceased.  I believe his great-grandfather was also named Robert Marsh who would have been Catherine and Margret's brother.  In an effort to help you piece this together, I do know that Catherine's father's name was John Marsh.  I hope this helps.

I'm interested in learning more about the McHale line from Amy J if she would be willing to connect on this site.  Thank you.

[KTwigg]

Hi There NotBob47

That's great! We would all be distantly related then! I sent a note to Amy. Let's see if she contacts you here... If not, I have her email address. Keep me posted, KTwigg

PS: where do you live now?

[notbob47]

KTwigg,

I think that you and my wife are second cousins, twice removed.  It's not that far a 'distance.' 

Thank you for contacting Amy. We hope to hear from her.

We live in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.  And you?

[KTwigg]

Hi NotBob47,

I live on Long Island, 60 miles east of New York City. My Twigg(s) family line spent at least 3 generations in County Mayo, Ireland, then came to the USA to join the McHale family near Scranton, PA in 1884, however they didn't like the harsh winter. They were passing through Brooklyn, NYC on their way back to Ireland, but liked it there, so they stayed. in 1955, my parents moved to Long Island, and here I am, now a grandfather here.

Amy is from the line of Peter McHale, by the way. You should hear from her soon.

I am not sure if they allow this or not, but my email address is kevtwi@aol.com  .
KTwigg
 

[Danny McHale]

Hello everyone,

I’m hoping to connect with others researching the McHale family in Cum, a townland in the parish of Addergoole, County Mayo. I’m particularly interested in a Walter McHale, born around 1800 or possibly a generation later. I’ve come across several posts here referencing a Walter McHale baptized in 1848, son of William McHale and Bridget Moran, and I’d like to learn more about that family line—and whether it connects to mine.

Here’s my situation:

My 3rd great-grandfather was Michael McHale, born 1844 in County Mayo. I know very little about his life in Ireland—no known parents or townland. He first appears in the U.S. in Brooklyn, NY, where he married in 1865 and later settled in Birmingham, Alabama, where he died in 1897.

The major clue I have is this:
Michael’s first son, born in 1867, was named Walter McHale—a name that, as many of you may know, is extremely rare in Irish Catholic families, especially in western counties like Mayo. That choice of name has always stood out to me and may point to a father, grandfather, or close relative named Walter.

I’ve also done Y-DNA testing through Family Tree DNA. My haplogroup is R-CTS3087, a downstream branch of R-Z255. Two testers in the McHale DNA Surname Project are associated with:

A Walter McHale, born ~1800 in Cum, Co. Mayo (Kit #24904)
A Michael McHale, born <1800 near Tubbernavene, Mayo (Kit #139168)

While I don’t match either directly at 37 markers (genetic distance is 9), we clearly share an older paternal line. That, combined with the naming clue and geographic overlap, has me wondering whether my Michael (b. 1844) might descend from or be related to the Walter McHale mentioned here.

If anyone:

Has information on Walter McHale or his descendants in Cum
Is connected to the William McHale + Bridget Moran family
Or has worked with the Addergoole parish records

…I would be very grateful to connect. You can reply here or email me directly at dannymchale@hotmail.com.

Thank you all for your help, and special thanks to the RootsChat community—this is where real breakthroughs happen!

Warm regards,
Danny McHale

[cwatterson]

Hi Danny,

Unfortunately if the birth year was truly 1844, it looks like the baptism record is not available, 1841 skips to 1845 in the records for Crossmolina. However, even though you may need some additional work to verify family links, it is probably worth looking up other McHale baptisms around those years for possible parents/townland for Michael.

For example on page 42 (linked here) there is a Kitty (?), parents James McHale and Mary Mulligan, from it looks like Ballina St? (in the town of Crossmolina itself?). So that might be useful to look into any other records for that family.

If you have a subscription to a site with transcriptions of the baptism records you can search that, but I find it can be useful to scour page by page if you have the parish and time frame. As there are transcription errors or also entries missed. Indeed on one family I was researching, I found the entire series of baptisms in USA transcribed from the family bible into the parish baptism record! (upon family's return to Ireland) A big help verifying (though that's an exceptional find I will absolutely admit!) All the same - definitely worth looking through the pages on nli site.

John O'Hart includes in Irish Pedigrees a genealogy for MacHale of Tubbernavine, down to one of the Archbishops of Tuam, John MacHale (wikipedia article). See PDF on wikimedia (page 232 of PDF) - though the later edition you might find elsewhere expands the footnote on the archbishop's choice of anglicised name.