Bette LoPresti <[email protected]> wrote....... My cousin and I are traveling to Ireland in June and are planning to go back to Carrickmacross. We stopped there when we went to Ireland two years ago. At that time we were able to find someone to open the gate to a very old cemetery in town to look for headstones but couldn't find any Wards or Byrne(s). .............. .............. I did check the St. Joseph's Church register on the LDS film #926055 and found a few Wards, Byrne, and Short(t) (our 2nd great grandfather's surname). The towns listed by these names were Ardragh and Carrigamore. Is there anyone on this list familiar with either of these places? Would there be a cemetery in either place that we could visit? .............. Any suggestions of what else we could do or where we could look when we go in June would be very much appreciate. Bette ------------------ Bette, there is a WARD headstone in the cemetery of The Old Donaghmoyne church about 2-1/2 miles north of Carrickmacross. I took a photo of it in 1987 but can't find it now. There were 10 Wards listed as sponsors of a Donaghmoyne history book locally published about 1986, so there are many Wards still in that area today. Don't believe there was a parish named Carrick. I think the parish which includes the town of Carrickmacross is Magheracloone. Here is parts of a message in Rootsweb from a Sally M dated 2002 that might be helpful. Carrick seems to be an abbreviated name for Carrickmacross. It states below that Ardragh is in Magherross parish; The records for Magheracloone Catholic parish, which also has the same boundaries as its civil parish, are on microfilm, but it is only available at the National Library of Ireland in Dublin, and at PRONI, in Belfast. They are *not* available elsewhere, except for the heritage centre for this area which will do research in them for a fee. Remember that in years past one had to attend the Catholic church in one's geographical church parish, rather than any parish one choses, as is possible today. Also, a marriage usually took place in the parish church of the bride. As the young people often met either at church or during market day in Carrick, in this area seeking records in both church parishes oten is needed. .............. There is more than one Catholic church structure in each of these two church parishes, but the records usually are kept in one parish location/record. In Magheracloone are Sts. Peter and Paul Church in Knocknacran East townland, and St. Patrick Church in Carrickashedoge townland. In Magheross are St. Joseph in Carrick, and two outlying church structures in Corduff townland (not to be confused with Corduff Kelly) and Corcreghagh townland. There also are several C of I churches in the area, St. Molua (if I have spelled it correctly) in, as I recall, Camaghy townland, Magheracloone, a small structure seating no more than around 50 or 60; the C of I church in Carrick town, much larger, and one in Ardragh townland, Magheross. That's all of the Protestant churches in the two civil parishes today, although there is the ruin of a Presbyerian church (and existing graveyard) in Carrickmaclim, Magheross. The Protestant church-goers attended the one of choice, even if in an adjacent civil parish if it were closer than one in the civil parish of residence, or if it were more compatible to one's belief system. Almost all of the Catholic families of long ago were dirt poor, and few were able to afford tombstones even in the graveyard surrounding the local Catholic church, so you won't find any. The earliest standing church in Magheracloone today, Sts. Peter and Parul, dates from 1823. Many in my Carrick-area families were buried in what today are plots about 8x12 feet, containing who knows how many remains, and only a fairly recent tombstone or two, if any. St. Patrick, also called the Rockchapel, dates from about 1837.