Thank you, Jane, for the great mini-course in Irish research. It really helps to have insight from someone in Ireland. I will share the information with our local Genealogical Society's Irish Interest Study Group, if that's OK with you. Dorothy in California ________________________________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free E-mail from MSN Hotmail at http://www.hotmail.com

Dear Jane Lyons, Many thanks to you for all the information, the time and energy you give to provide that information. This dummy from Ohio, USA, has learned so much from your posts...even how to pronounce Laois! If I never find another one of my Irish kin, I am content to learn all I can about the place they were born, lived, died. And those of my ancestors who did come to Ohio, how they must have missed their homeland!. From our family stories, I know that some of them named their new homes after places at Ireland, sang together the songs, danced the dances. Today we continue to name our offspring after those that came here. As I am named after my ggrandfather Jeremiah FINN from Laois. You are truly appreciated for all your efforts. Dia Duit, Gerry (FINN) Evans Ohio

Hi Jane, What a wealth of information you have provided us with. Thank you so much for gathering it and sharing it with us. I've learned more about Ireland from this list and your messages then hundreds of others. Just want you to know you are really appreciated. Anne

thisis not good - sorry. Clare is really in Munster...

I forgot Co. Clare!!!!!!!! It's in Connaught

Some of these sites may no longer be valid. Ordnance Survey Ireland web site is found at: http://www.irlgov.ie/osi/Pages/main/main1.htm Ordnance survey maps www.netins.net/showcase/travelgenie/Ireland.htm Ordnance survey maps http://www.mapsworldwide.com. Ordnance Survey Maps: Newberry lib chicago,Illinois: $7 per copy http:///www.newberry.org/ Ordnance Survey: Searchable index http://www.kst.dit.ie/nat-arch/os.html Ordnance Survey:cites, p.4: http://www.nova.co.uk/nova/pages/map/htm OS maps from OS office ireland http://www.irlgov.ie/osi/Pages/maps/mindex.htm OS maps: £4.50 plus postage http://www.rallymap.demon.co.uk OS maps: Shows number you ned for area http://www.elstead.co.uk/d/dis011.htm

THE CHURCH OF IRELAND (1931) There were 33 Church of Ireland Dioceses in 1931. All incumbents on vacancies occurring, were appointed by the several Boards of Nominations, except I some cases of District Churches and Parochial Chapels, where Trustees were appointed previous to the Dis-establishment, and in parishes where , under the statutes of the Church, Donors by Endowment acquired the Patronage. Until Jan 1, 1871, the Church of Ireland was established by Law and was combined with the Church of England, by the Act of Union (1800). The Bishops and beneficed Clergy had a freehold in their offices, and in the emoluments and privileges belonging to these offices; the resources of the Church were practically all derived from the tithe rent charges, from the annual rents or produce of Church lands, from occasional private subscriptions, and from the income arising out of private benefactions. The lay members of the church were entitled to all the ministrations of its clergy without any liability to support it with their contributions; and they had neither authority nor responsibility in relation to the management of its temporal affairs. The Irish Church Act, 1869, provided that from January 1, 1871, the statutory union between the Churches of England and Ireland should be dissolved, and that the Church of Ireland should cease to be established by law. Subject to the vested interests of the then existing Bishops, Clergy and other Church officers, all such Church property of every kind was vested in the 'Commissioners of Church Temporalities' who were created by the Act and who carried out al the transactions that the Act required - in realising all items of property, selling Church lands to occupying tenants and others and discharging all liabilities imposed by the Act, and, from time to time, as parliament might direct, appropriating the surplus to various Irish purposes. All the Ecclesiastical Corporations that existed under former conditions having been dissolved by the Irish Church Act, the necessity arose for the creation of a new corporate body to take over from the Church Temporalities Commissioners whatever property and moneys under the e Act were to be transferred to the Authorities of the disestablished Church, and to be the trustee and agent in respect of property and funds subsequently acquired. This was met by the corporation in 1870 of the Representative Church Body. This body was constituted so as to include representatives from every part of Ireland. By recognising the vested interests of the Bishops, Clergy and other church officers who were in office when the Act came into operation and their rights to receive their respective emoluments during their lives and by making it a condition, that in return they should render the same service as before, an opportunity was afforded by the authorities to make plans for future church sustentation. It was eventually decided that instead of having a general plan for all Ireland , local effort would be stimulated to a greater degree, and other advantages secured by having a separate plan for each diocese or group of dioceses in which the resources of all the parishes under the plan would be pooled, and by which a steady voluntary effort on a uniform principle from the very beginning on the part of all the parishes would eventually secure on the disappearance of the last surviving annuitant, an accumulated capital, the interest on which, with the same regular annual subscriptions from the parishes, would fully meet the Stipends secured to the Clergy of the Diocese under each particular scheme. At a General Convention held in 1870, it was declared as a general and fundamental principle, that a General Synod consisting of the Archbishops and Bishops, and of representatives of the Clergy and Laity "shall have chief legislative power as may be necessary and consistent with its Episcopal constitution"" The General Synod consists of three orders, the Bishops, the Clergy and the Laity. These sit as two Houses, the House of Bishops consisting of all the Archbishops and Bishops and the House of Representatives, consisting of 216 Clerical and 432 Lay Representatives, distributed among the dioceses and elected every third year by the Diocesan Synods. The Registered Vestrymen are Church members who either own property or are resident in the parish, or are accustomed members of the congregation of the Church or Churches in the parish. They are the constituency that elects 9a0 one of the Churchwardens - the other being nominated by the Incumbent; (b) members of the Select Vestry which controls the Parochial Charity and Church Funds © the Lay Synodsmen who sit in the Diocesan Synod and (d) the three Parochial Nominators who with the Bishop and the three Diocesan Nominators elected by the Diocesan Synod elect the Board of Nomination with whom rests the appointment of the Incumbent of the parish.

PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH (1931) The Presbyterians who are found chiefly in Ulster, are formed into Congregations, each of which is under the ecclesiastical government of a court called a Kirk Session, consisting of the Minister and Elders of the Congregation. An indefinite number of the Ministers of these Congregations, with a Representative Elder or each constitutes a Presbytery, which has the charge of the Congregations represented in it. Delegates from each of these Presbyteries, consisting of all the Ministers, with a Representative Elder, for each, constitute the General Assembly, which is presided over by a Moderator chosen annually and regulates the ecclesiastical concerns of the Body. The first Presbytery in Ireland was formed at Carrickfergus in 1642, and gave rise t the Synod of Ulster. The Presbyterian Synod of Munster was formed about 1660. The Presbytery of Antrim separated from the Synod of Ulster in 1727, and the Remonstrant Synod in 1829. A number of Seceders formed themselves into the Secession Synod of Ireland about 1780. In 1840 the General and Secession Synods having united, assumed the name of the general Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland, comprising in 1930, 546 Congregations, arranged under 34 Presbyteries. The Ministers were supported by voluntary contributions, the rents of seats or pews, and the proceeds of the commutation of the annual Parliamentary Grant called the Regium Donum, or Royal Gift ( first granted in 1672 by Charles II), made by the Church Temporalities Commissioners under the Act of 1869. The Minutes of the General Assembly for 1930 state that in the year ending in December there were 584 Ministers,, (besides 22 licentiates and ordained ministers without charge, 546 congregations and 510 manses. THE METHODIST CHURCH The Methodist Society was founded by the Rev. John Wesley in 1739. It is constituted in Ireland under the Methodist Church in Ireland Acts Northern Ireland and the Irish Free State, 1928). The ministers are itinerant, five years being the longest period they can remain in any one circuit under ordinary circumstances. One, two or more are appointed to a circuit which comprises a number of congregations and they are assisted by lay preachers, leaders and prayer leaders. Out of these, with representatives elected By the Societies is formed the Leaders Meeting, at which ministers attend, one of them , called the Superintendent presiding, and this Board manages the affairs of the local society. The Quarterly meeting composed of the same officials together with the Trustees etc. manages the affairs of the Circuit. A number of Circuits forms a District. The Conference meets annually and is the supreme ecclesiastical court. It consists of 150 ministers and 150 Laymen, the President of the British Conference also being the President of the Irish one during its sessions. The number of Ministers in Great Britain is 2,562. The number in Ireland is 248. At the census if 1826 the number of people in Ireland who returned themselves as Methodists was 60, 217. The Primitive Wesleyan Methodist Society (English) and the Methodist new Connexion are now united with the Wesleyan Methodist Society in Ireland forming the Methodist Church of Ireland

THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH IN IRELAND ( in 1931) The Roman Catholic Church in Ireland is governed by four Archbishops, whose sees are in Armagh, Dublin, Cashel and Tuam, and twenty four Bishops ; they are all nominated by the Pope, generally out of a list of three names submitted to him by the Parish priests and Chapter of the vacant diocese, and reported on by the Archbishop and Bishops of the Province. The diocesan dignitaries are the Vicars-General of whom there are one, two or three, according to the extent of the diocese, who have special disciplinary and other powers; Vicars Forane, whose functions are more restricted; the Archdeacon, and the Parish priests and Administrators. All of these as well as the Curates are appointed by the Bishop. The whole of the clergy are supported solely by the voluntary contributions of their flocks. The Episcopal emoluments arise from the mensal parish or two, the incumbency of which is retained y the Bishop, from marriage licences and from the cathedraticum, an annual sum, varying from £1 to £10 paid by each Parish Priest, Administrator and Curate in the Diocese. The 2,428 civil parishes in Ireland are amalgamated into 1,116 ecclesiastical parishes or unions. The incomes of the Parish Priests arise from fees on marriages, baptisms and deaths, on Easter and Christmas dues and from incidental voluntary contributions, either in money or labour. The number of Priests in Ireland in 1853 was 2,291 (of whom 1,222 were educated at Maynooth College) and the number in 1873 was 3,157. The Curates of the Parish priests form more than half of the whole clerical strength; and scattered through cities and towns are 70-80 communities of Priests of various religious orders or rules, hence called Regulars who minister to their own churches, and though without Parochial jurisdiction greatly aid the secular clergy. All the places of public worship are built and maintained by subscriptions, legacies and collections. There are numerous monasteries and convents; the latter are supported partly by sums, usually from £300 to £500, paid by those who take the vows in them, and partly by fees for the education of the daughters of respectable Roman Catholics. Various communities of Monks and Nuns also devote themselves to the gratuitous education of the children of the poor. Candidates for clerical ordination, formerly under the necessity of obtaining their education in continental colleges are now chiefly educated at home. According to the 1836 Catholic Registry and Directory there were 27 Dioceses in Ireland and approximately 3000 Priests: 960-970 Parish Priests, 1500 Curates and 500 Regular Clergy.

Geography and Divisions - . Ireland is and was divided into a number of different divisions depending on the reason. When people have a name, a townland, a county they immediately focus in on that one area, forgetting all others and refusing at times to accept any information from any other area, they sometimes ignore possible relatives because of this. We have thirty two counties on the Island of Ireland There are four Provinces. Ulster, Leinster, Munster and Connaught. Each of these is divided into a number of counties. While there are nine counties in the Province of Ulster, only six of these are British, hence we say the six counties. These are: Antrim, Armagh, Down, Fermanagh, Londonderry and Tyrone. Ulster:- Antrim, Armagh, Cavan, Donegal, Down, Fermanagh, Londonderry (Derry),Monaghan and Tyrone Leinster: Carlow, Dublin, Longford, Kildare, Kilkenny, Laois (Queen's/Leix), Louth, Meath, Offaly (King's), Westmeath, Wexford, and Wicklow Munster: Cork, Kerry, Limerick, Tipperary and Waterford, Connaught: Galway, Leitrim, Mayo, Roscommon, and Sligo. Each of these provinces is further subdivided into a number of administrative areas. Ireland is divided into Baronies, Religious Dioceses, Roman Catholic and Protestant which do not follow county lines. Civil parishes, Roman Catholic Parishes, and Protestant Parishes. Protestant Parishes pretty much follow the outline of Civil parishes, Roman Catholic Parishes do not. Roman Catholic Parish boundaries may cross over the boundaries of other counties. We have four Ecclesiastical Provinces, made up of a number of Dioceses these are Armagh; Dublin; Cashel and Tuam. Dioceses of the Established Church in Ireland Armagh 1. Ardagh 2. Clogher 3. Armagh 4. Dromore 5. Down 6. Connor 7. Newry & Mourne 8. Kilmore 9. Derry 10. Raphoe Cashel 1. Ardfert & Aghadoe 2. Cashel 3. Cloyne 4. Cork 5. Emly 6. Killaloe 7. Kilfenora 8. Lismore 9. Ross 10. Waterford Dublin 1. Dublin 2. Ferns 3. Kildare 4. Leighlin 5. Ossory Tuam 1. Achonry 2. Clonfert 3. Elphin 4. Kilalla 5. Kilmacduagh 6. Tuam

Irish Geography People tend to pen their ancestors in, they have a townland name, a parish name, a county name and no matter what is said to them they will focus on that one place name. It wasn't until I began to look at maps for other countries that I understood this. If I take a map of America and look at that, the states, they all have nice straight boundaries. Then, within states, the roads are straight, organised, hardly a space which looks unoccupied to my Irish mind. If I look at a map of Ireland and our counties, they're all over the place, no such thing as a straight line, they blend together, meander into one another. Not only can one county look like there are bits of it in another county, but part of a county can lie between two counties. There is no fixed definite shape or pattern to Irish counties. As if this wasn't bad enough, counties are further subdivided, we have Baronies, Religious Dioceses which spread over a few counties, Catholic and Protestant Boundaries for somewhere of the same name not being in the same place, the Religious Dioceses are subdivided into Religious Parishes, we have civil parishes, we have towns and townlands. We also have names for houses or farms. There are Poor Law Unions, legal divisions. The numbers of religious parishes may have changed over the years, increasing or decreasing depending on how many parishioners there were in an area, depending on whether or not there were religious in the area to serve that parish. One thing I have noticed over the years, is that people don't realise the size of the area they are dealing with. Take for example a map of Ireland, compare it to a map of the States. As an Irish person, regardless of the key telling me what distance is equal to a mile, I still tend to relate the two maps in one way or another. I once told someone that a place was only a little bit away from where they were, relatively speaking. It turned out that the friend laughed at the good of it, told me he would buy me a map and that the two places were 600 miles apart. I think Irish, the searchers from outside Ireland will generally tend to think in a manner which will suit their country. I think small, they generally think big. There will be a few who manage to get over that mental hurdle, and who will comprehend the size differences, but not many. The first thing searchers have to do is think 'small', think Irish, and always remember that here in this country for any small town or village there will be a core number of people who are descended from those who left. Twenty or thirty years ago, when someone moved in to any town or village, they were 'blow-in's'. They still are today, but not as noticeable this isn 't, because we move around more often, work brings us from place to place. Today, fewer will leave their home town permanently, they will travel home at the weekends, they will commute to wherever they work. The towns and villages are not dying as they did in the past, their populations are not necessarily shrinking like they did in the past, and so it is harder to find that original 'core' group of families. To go back through the genealogical information on any core group of families in any town or village it will be found that each of these families is related to the other in some way, somehow. You need to become familiar with our geography. For any county that you have a townland name for, you need to check out the various division names associated with that place. This you can do by visiting one of the townland sites available on the net. e.g. www.SeanRuad.com These really show you nothing, tell you little other than to give you more place names to be concerned with. However, then you can also visit various sites available which 'sell' Ordnance Survey maps for Ireland. Each county is broken up into a number of divisions. Each county has a number of OS maps associated with it. These do not necessarily cover only the one county, there may be information or bits of three or four counties on a map. The maps themselves are not indexed so it is necessary for you to go through them square by square looking for the townland/placename in which you have an interest. While the maps are not indexed, there are indices available at some of the sites and using these you can find out which map you actually need. These maps are relatively cheap. People ask about copies of original OS maps which can be bought from the Irish OS office, containing great detail and dating from the mid 1800's, showing the layout of the land, houses on it etc. These are expensive, but nice to have and look at. However, I don't recommend that you go out and buy any of these until you have positively identified the area in which you are interested using the cheaper, smaller OS maps. One of the problems encountered with townland names is that any county may have had three or four townlands of the same name. This makes it hard to decide exactly where you should be interested in for definite. With the aid of these maps, you can judge the size of townlands, the closest local market town, the locations of churches and graveyards in the area. You still have to find and work your way through any records which would be available for that area, but you can make the journey smaller by concentrating initially on the biggest townland. Some of our townlands are no more than the size of a field. If you have a place name and there is only one of that name occurring in a county, then you treat this as the centre point on a dart board. The Bulls Eye so to speak. Remember our geography, the way counties sit together, mix in with one another. You work your way round that area, making the circle bigger and bigger as your search goes on, as time passes, taking into account any places in those rings which are found in other counties. Remember this, they were not penned in, just because someone said they came from this place or that place, doesn't mean that the closest church for their religion was actually found in that parish. You could live in one parish and the closest church could be in another parish, another county, but sit in the field next door. How many of us would walk miles and miles to our Parish church if we had another church 5 minute's walk down the road? Think small, simple, easy, shortest route.

Phonetics It never ceases to amaze me how many times people will ask about a surname which they spell a particular way and who will insist on always and ever seeking out that spelling and that spelling only. If I look through the records in the general Registrar's Office I can see a name being spelled one way in one part of the country over a period of time and I can also see that same surname 'disappear' from an area to be replaced by another name - which I may take to be the same surname but the searcher will not. Most people who do not live in this country will not be able to distinguish the various accents in the country from one another - whereas those of us who live here can tell in many instances where any of us come from when we begin to speak. Personally - I can't tell the difference (much) between an American from the East coast or the West coast..I do recognise that some accents are stonger than others - but to be able to state that any person come from this state or that would be impossible for me. If I look at many states - they're probably as big as Ireland and if I then tell myself how different our accents are from one end of this little country to the other - surely the same differences will be found in other parts of the world in places of the same size as Ireland? Most searchers have a sound of an Irish brogue in their heads, added to by various films on Ireland they have seen with perhaps Maureen O'Hara or other Irish in them. However, we do not speak with those brogues today. I speak Galway Irish, I find Donegal Irish very difficult to understand - primarily because of the accent and the same for Kerry Irish. All that is today. Think back, think to when people may or may not have spoken much English, regardless of what most think, the common misconception is that most the Irish spoke only Irish, that your ancestors so long as they were Catholic, spoke no English. This is wrong and the statistics which remain from the various censuses tell a different story. English was spoken to some degree or another in each county, the people may not have been able to read or write, but they knew how to speak the language, maybe only to understand what was said to them, but they did have English. Think then of these people arriving at various ports in other countries, the person who received them into that country, wrote the information down. They could not speak Irish, they spoke their own form of English. All they could do was write the name down as they heard it, the phonetical sound of it. Look at any ships passenger list and you will see the same names turning up, spelled differently. Go through the official Irish Birth, Marriage and Death records and you will see surnames being written in one form or another, and you can actually see the various spelling being associated with districts. If we could say that the same person was responsible over all those years for taking the information from the informant and writing it down, then we could say that this was just the way that person spelled that name. We can't we don't know for certain, but, what we can assume is that the way this name was spelled back then is associated with the accent of the area, the way the people pronounced it. The same can be said of Parish records in those other countries. The name will have been written phonetically. There are those which are very common and which would not have changed, and the fact that there would have been so many Irish passing through any one place it is possible that these recorders soon became familiar with the names and learned how to script them with one general spelling. Take a Priest from Ireland, he will have been familiar with many names, he would always write the name as he knew how to spell it from home, even this may have been a phonetic error on the original. Never, ever discount anyone with a similar sounding surname from any record you find. Take the information, just add it to your notes and some day you just might find information which ties that person in somewhere in your line. There are 18 letters in the Irish alphabet: a, b, c, d, e, f, g, h, I, l, m, n, o, p, r, s, t, u. We also 'borrow' the letters j, q, v, w, x, and z in what are known as loan words. We have the basic vowels: a, e, i, o, and u. These may either be short or long, and the difference in the length of a vowel, when one type is exchanged for the other in a word can change the meaning of that word. The following gives some indication of how the vowels are pronounced. Remember that your accent differs again to ours and what you have when you say these words are an approximation, the sound may be somewhat different when spoken by an Irish person. Vowel: English word which contains this vowel as sounded a cat á with fada law e che (rry) é with fada may i shin í with fada mean o done/lot ó with fada more u bus ú with fada cool The vowels combine with each other in a number of ways, for example i and u combining with ia and ua, which sound like eea and ooa. In the middle of words the combinations a(id)h, o(id)h, eidh and eigh also consist of two vowel sounds pronounced like the english eye or my. Also, (e)amh is pronounced like 'ow' in the english cow and how; for some dialects (e)abh, obh, omh, odh, ogh are also pronounced in this way as 'ow'; while in others they are pronounced like a long o sound as in the English more. The combinations umh and ubh are pronounced like a long oo sound as in the English word cool. The combination ao does not represent two sounds. In Ulster and Connaught Irish it is usually pronounced ee; in Munster Irish it sounds like the vowel in the English may; aoi is usually pronounced ee

Laois is most pronounced as in a dog's 'leash' When you see the name of the county written as Leix then it is Leeix and you'd hear an old Laois person Laysh..... It al depends on our accents <g> Jane ----- Original Message ----- From: "Irene Lee" <Irene_Lee@ngchak.org> To: <IRL-LAOIS-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: 21 April 2000 22:41 Subject: Pronunciation of Laois > What is the correct pronunciation of Laois. Is it L-e-e or is it L-a-o-s > (like the country)? > > > Thanks, > Irene > > > Researching the following names in Aghaboe Parish (town of Middlemount): > MacKey > Bolger > Family connections (Godparents) with Gorman and Phelan families. > > 1840-Present > > > ==== IRL-LAOIS Mailing List ==== > This list is sponsored by the Laois, IrelandGenWeb website - http://www.rootsweb.com/~irllex/ > > >

What is the correct pronunciation of Laois. Is it L-e-e or is it L-a-o-s (like the country)? Thanks, Irene Researching the following names in Aghaboe Parish (town of Middlemount): MacKey Bolger Family connections (Godparents) with Gorman and Phelan families. 1840-Present

The La Crosse, Wisconsin, city library has an online search for the following: 1. Locating records of obituaries written mainly for the city paper for certain years. There is a process available for obtaining copies of the obituaries. There is a cost for copies. 2. Cemeteries in La Crosse County. Volunteers walked the cemeteries and provided the information. (Some information there is not up to date. Catholic cemeteries are not included. There may of course be errors or omissions.) 3. Births, marriages, and divorces going back only as far as 1987. Local genealogy volunteers provided work that made the information available. The library staff in the research room are very helpful. I have found much local information there for my family genealogy work. I live in Chicago about 280 miles from La Crosse, so I am not readily available to get information or copies for requests anyone might have. Search here: http://lplcat.lacrosse.lib.wi.us/genealogy/ Joyce

This is a multi-part message in MIME format. --------------7BC2637D534D Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Anne. Sorry for the resend, i had the wrong address the first time. Barry Molloy. --------------7BC2637D534D Content-Type: message/rfc822 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Content-Disposition: inline Message-ID: <38F7A89F.7E59@xtra.co.nz> Date: Sat, 15 Apr 2000 11:24:15 +1200 From: barry <xtr212942@xtra.co.nz> Reply-To: xtr212942@xtra.co.nz X-Mailer: Mozilla 3.01C-XTRA (Win95; I) MIME-Version: 1.0 To: irl-laois-l@rootswem.com Subject: Re hugh Molloy Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Anne I was just reading your message, because i have similar problems. My ggrand father Martin Molloy, on his army record stated he was born in Hallencourt King County. His wife Bridget Grimes from Queen County. I have never found any record of Hallencourt yet. Martin came to New Zealand, with the army in 1861, and stayed here after his time in the army had finished. He was in the 57th reg at foot. Whether a long time ago we were related who knows?. Best of luck in your research Anne. Barry Molloy Huntly N.Z. --------------7BC2637D534D--

Hi everybody do these names ring a bell with anyone? I am researching the family of Hugh Molloy a Farmer born 1834c at NEWTON (not sure what this means, town village?) in Queens County who married a Margaret Haven from (same prob again with the name Rowen? Rohan?) Kings Co. Apparently this mans father was a James Molloy who wife was Catherine Bracken. I have no details for the last two. Any help on this would be great as the family in NZ are trying to find them as I am coming to Ireland next year. Hope to hear from you all soon. Regards Anne Molloy

Good morning from Ohio, Searching for the FINN family of County Laois, Rathdowney: Thomas FINN born 1790 Thomas Jeremiah FINN c1807, married Mary RAY Sarah "Sallie" FINN c1809, married John FAHEY/FAY John FINN c1810 Margaret FINN c1813, married James PURTELL Patrick FINN c1820, married Anna DELANEY Daniel FINN c1835, married Mary Catherine PRENDERGAST William FINN c1837 Jeremiah FINN 1848 Anna FINN 1860 John Daniel FINN 1861 Patrick FINN 1865 Thank you, Gerry (FINN) Evans Ohio

Greetings! My ancestors came from Co Laois to Livingston Co, Michigan in 1830. Because of relative early births and their early emigration from Ireland, I'm having difficulties linking them to a town or parish in Co Laois. Cornelius BERGIN (b abt 1788) and Elizabeth STRINGER (b abt 1792) were the parents of : Patrick BERGIN, b 11 Mar 1814 in Co Laois Daniel BERGIN, b 1 Jun 1816 in Co Laois Michael BERGIN, b 24 May 1819 in Co Laois Cornelius BERGIN, b abt 1825 in Co Laois (on US censuses, Cornelius is listed as insane) If anyone has any insights to this family, I'd appreciate hearing from you. Thanks, Daniel Powers Albuquerque NM

Judy - there are five Dioceses in Laois and something likek 52/53 parishes. The parishes you generally see referred to are civil parishes.....religious parishes are different then. COI parishes usually have the same outline as the Civil parish - but some civil parishes did not have enough inhabiutants to warrant a COI parish - in those instances you would find a few Civil Parishes being united together in one COI parish. For all of ireland the Catholic parishes are in general different to the Civil parishes.....and again, how many - their spread dependsed on the Priests in the area and the population of an area. The surname you are more than likely looking for is Welsh or Walsh. I've seen you mention Shragh and Purcell as well on the Ireland list..... There is no townland called 'Shragh' in Laois, you've also mentioned Johnstown..... There is a Johnstown Glebe near a town called Rathdowney in Laois.....also Rathdowney is a parish. Walsh is a name to be found in that area as is Purcell - another name which you mention. Rathdowney RC registers go back to somewhere in the mid to late 1700's.....and are in tact held in the local parish church. There are also copies in the National Library in Dublin While there is no Shragh in the area....there is a townland which has Shragh as the first part of it's name - Shraghhane..... this is to be found close to a palce called Camross in Laois.....which isn't too far from Rathdowney.... You may have to check records for Borris in Ossory or Mountrath....they are the two other parishes which woulkd be close to the area. Jane ----- Original Message ----- From: "Richard Hassall" <rhassall@axion.net> To: <IRL-LAOIS-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: 08 April 2000 18:51 Subject: parishes in Laois > Greetings from Canada > > I have found the following parishes in Diocese Ossory, County Laois. > Abbeyleix Parish > Aghavoe Parish > Durrow Parish > Killermogh Parish > Does anyone know are these the only parishes in Laois, are they Catholic or > Protestant, is there a map on the web that shows them with Diocese Ossory? > Thank you for reading this. > > Sincerely > Judy Hassall > > > ==== IRL-LAOIS Mailing List ==== > This list is sponsored by the Laois, IrelandGenWeb website - http://www.rootsweb.com/~irllex/ > >