Kilkerrin Old Church, Co. Galway & CONNEELY family

[Rosemarie]

For many years I've been searching for the place in Ireland where my great grandparents, Patrick Connolly and Mary Donlan, were born in about 1850, and I discovered rquite recently that they both appear to have been born in Kilkerrin, Co Galway.

The nearest I am to confirming their birthplace is the registration of the birth of their first child, Mary, in Gorteen, Mountbellew in 1873. Their other children, including my grandfather were all born in England.

Mary's name on the certificate is Maria and her parents are named as Patrick Conneely and Mary Donelan. Patrick's mother, also named Mary, was living with them in England at the time of the 1881 census where their surname was then shown as Connolly.The registrar's office in Galway has been unable to trace a marriage, which I think would have been about 1873, for Patrick and Mary and there is no trace of a marriage for them in the UK records.

I was in Co Galway in May and I wonder if there are any Rootschatters who can help me progress a little further with my family's history. The present RC church on the R364 in Kilkerrin seems to date from about 1900 but along the same road I came across a derelict church, almost hidden from the road. It stands behind what seems to have been a petrol station/car repair business. I have a link to a picture of the building fromGoogle maps:

link to google maps

Do you know anything about this old church and/or do you have any tips about tracing my family in Kilkerrin or Mountbellew. They moved to Widnes, Lancashire between November 1873 and June  1877 when my grandfather was born there.

Thank you for reading this.

Marie.

[shanew147]

You can check dates available for the various RC parishes on the Irish Times website - see East Galway RC Parishes / West Galway Parishes

If you click on the parishes on the map you can see details of the records available in the NLI and other sources. To see lists of the civil parishes and townlands included in each RC parish click on the link below the details.


Shane

[shanew147]

Unfortunately it doesn't look like records for the parish go back very far - baptism are included from 1892, and marriages from 1884 - see : RC Parish of Kilkerrin


Shane

[shanew147]

It looks like location shown on your google map was the Church of Ireland Church in the townland of Glebe - see : link  (Select the 25" map for c1890s)   On the OSI maps Church of Ireland Churches are marked as 'Church', Catholic churches are usually marked as 'R.C. Chapel'

The RC parish church was further north and in the town - see link   (select either 6" 1820s/40s or 25" for c1890s)

The current RC church at the same location on Google maps/street view


Shane

[wmeier]

Hello, I am researching my wife's family who are Conneely.  According to her father the Conneely family was from Kilkerrin.  My wife's Gr. Grand Parents were Michael Conneely son of John Conneely a farmer and Mary Donlon dau of William Donlon a shepard.  I have found a marriage record for them in 1875 which listed him from Killeen and his wife from Newcastle.  According to the family Michael moved to his uncle farm in Killeen with his bride. Newcastle is very close to Kilkerrin.  According to my wife's father there were cousins in England who went by the name Connolly. I would be interested in any Conneely info for Kilkerrin that you may find.

[ammeneedia]

While Church marriage records for Kilkerrin are only available from 1884...Civil registration started in 1864 and record may be available there.

[Rosemarie]

Apologies for not replying sooner to several posts but I was overtaken by events and have only now been able to get back to my family history 'obsession'!

First of all, my thanks once again to Shane who has been extremely helpful with information and advice on several occasions. I thought the old church at Kilkerrin was too good to be true!

And to Wmeir, it's quite encouraging to have a fellow-sleuth researching the same names and area although I haven't discovered anything more about my family's origins than is contained in my posts. I did grow up in England with the surname Connolly and there were numerous unrelated Connolly families in the area. My aunt even married one of them whose family hailed from Kings County rather than Kilkerrin and his family was one of the few Irish ones whose 'place of birth' was listed as more than just 'Ireland'. I think the only item I have which may be of interest (and you may have it anyway) is a couple of excerpt from the Griffiths Valuation which I wil forward via a personal Rootschat message.

And finally, thank you Ammenedia for your suggestion but I'm afraid I've exhausted all avenues for Kilkerrin marriage/birth registrations without success. I've heard numerous comments regarding the absence of records and the conclusion I've had to accept is that there are none.

Many thanks to all.

Marie.