James McLaughlin, born 1825 in Meenalooban (Moneylooban), Donegal, to Denis McLaughlin, was the brother of my gggrandmother, Bridget Devine, nee McLaughlin. A distant relative has sent me some more details of the probate of James's Will, and the newspaper article about his funeral. I already knew that he had gone to America in 1850 where he spent six months in Pennsylvania. He then returned to Ireland, where he lived for six years in Lisfort before returning to the USA, where he settled in Skaneateles, NY, after spending a couple of years in Iowa. He was a farmer (the farm was called Mandana) and never married. He died in 1910, reputed to be the wealthiest farmer around Skaneateles. What interests me is that the newspaper report refers to him as a poet and famous writer of folk songs,, and says that 'many of his folk songs are being sung in many of the inland districts of Ireland today(1910).' Does anyone on the List know of a collection of Irish folk songs or any kind of centre for Irish culture in Donegal where I might make further enquiries? It would be interesting to find out more about James, who sounded like quite a character. Apparently, among other eccentricities, he refused to buy clothing made in US and wore suits he brought from Ireland, or had clothes made up to the same pattern. I know looking for a specific McLaughlin in Donegal is like looking for a needle in a haystack, but this one may have left his mark if any of his songs/poems have survived. Carolyn

Hi everyone has anyone on the list any connection with these areas just outside Letterkenny? Magheraboy and Lurgybrack. Also with the Sweeney/McSwyne or Langan families from these areas? I recieved this information from Ben Sweeney, a lovely man from donegal who has been a great help in getting info on my elusive Great-Grandfather James Langan "James Langan born 9/1/1876 -baptised 11/1/1876 priest Fr E, Gibbons,parents Mary Sweeney @ Patrick Langan, sponsor Grace Sweeney. The address was Magherabouy which is in the parish of Leck and if you check the 1857 griffith valuation you will find an Ann Mc Swyne which was the name given to the Sweeney, she could be Marys mother and they had no land and paid 5 shillings per year to the landlord Mr Armour and one of this generation still lives there.I think I know where Patrick Langan lived in a large 2 story hse at Lurgybrack which is still there in Leck parish." can you recommend a good map series to buy so I can get a better sense of how these areas work together. Any information or ideas greatly appreciated. Ireland is HARD! marilyn anne love calgary alberta canada

Marilyn, Regarding maps, I am looking at the Discovery Series #2 by Ordnance Survey and gives good detail for the area in Donegal. I used the Interlink Book shop in Victoria BC, the link is below. In Edmonton there is a map shop downtown that sells them but have forgot the name, would think they have shops in Calgary that sell OS maps Interlink Books on line now called Genealogy Unlimited http://www.interlinkbookshop.com/iremap.htm GV data sites: with maps http://griffiths.askaboutireland.ie/gv4/gv_start.php On line map sites: http://gis.donegal.ie/librarymaps/gisSearch.htm http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~bhilchey/DonegalMain.html Bob Cdn ===================================== marilyn anne love wrote:<SNIP>...has anyone on the list any connection with these areas just outside Letterkenny? Magheraboy and Lurgybrack. Also with the Sweeney/McSwyne or Langan families from these areas? ========================================

Hi Marilyn, Apologies if any of this is out of date. The Ask about Ireland website now has the maps of the GV which show exactly where Mary McSwyne (no space) lived (Magheraboy, Plot 1b): http://griffiths.askaboutireland.ie/gv4/gv_family_search_form.php The parish of Leck also shows a Patrick Longan (most folks were illiterate then so Longan is Langan), probably grandfather or your James as it is a very unusal name in Leck parish, living on Plot 7 in the townland of Creeve (Smith), and again, there is a map. He has a wee farm of 9 acres so would have been considered well off in those days whereas the McSwynes only had a tiny cottage. Sometimes it can be difficult to locate the plots on the AaI GV maps so you should use Bob Hilchey's map to locate the position of your townland first: http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~bhilchey/MLeck.html Unfortunately, the AaI map seems to be the wrong one for Creeve (Smith) - it does not go far enough west so you will need to be a bit clever to find it. Let me know if you need help. I think Liam has told you about the modern Discovery series OS maps which are really the only way of locating places on the ground. Regards, Boyd -----Original Message----- From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of marilyn anne love Sent: 28 November 2008 00:01 To: [email protected] Subject: [DONEGALEIRE] Sweeney/McSwyne/Langan: Magheraboy and Lurgybrack Hi everyone has anyone on the list any connection with these areas just outside Letterkenny? Magheraboy and Lurgybrack. Also with the Sweeney/McSwyne or Langan families from these areas? I recieved this information from Ben Sweeney, a lovely man from donegal who has been a great help in getting info on my elusive Great-Grandfather James Langan "James Langan born 9/1/1876 -baptised 11/1/1876 priest Fr E, Gibbons,parents Mary Sweeney @ Patrick Langan, sponsor Grace Sweeney. The address was Magherabouy which is in the parish of Leck and if you check the 1857 griffith valuation you will find an Ann Mc Swyne which was the name given to the Sweeney, she could be Marys mother and they had no land and paid 5 shillings per year to the landlord Mr Armour and one of this generation still lives there.I think I know where Patrick Langan lived in a large 2 story hse at Lurgybrack which is still there in Leck parish." can you recommend a good map series to buy so I can get a better sense of how these areas work together. Any information or ideas greatly appreciated. Ireland is HARD! marilyn anne love calgary alberta canada When replying to a digest post, quote only the specific text to which you are replying, removing the rest of the digest from your reply. Also, remember to change the subject of your reply so that it coincides with the message subject to which you are replying. TO VIEW PREVIOUS EMAILS BY SUBJECT, GO TO THE THREADED ARCHIVES AT http://archiver.rootsweb.com/th/index/DONEGALEIRE/ TO VIEW PREVIOUS EMAILS BY DATES AND SUBJECT GO TO THE SEARCHABLE ARCHIVES AT http://archiver.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/search?path=DONEGALEIRE SOME HELPFUL WEBSITES: Donegal Genealogy Resource (Lindel's Site) http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~donegal/ Donegaleire Genealogy Links & Data http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~donegaleire/ Bob's Donegal Ireland Genealogy http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~hiflyte/ ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message