This site is a resource for those interested in finding their ancestors from Kilcar, Co. Donegal, Ireland. It has the following sections.
What surnames are found in Kilcar?
Where did people from Kilcar move in America?
Is anyone else working on the same surname?
How can I translate the townland names from Irish to English?
What genealogy resources are available for Kilcar?
Kilcar is a small town in southwestern County Donegal, Ireland. The village itself is surrounded by a variety of townlands, which with the village comprise the Catholic parish of Kilcar. The parish is of similar size to a township in the midwestern United States, with the village of Kilcar at its center. In rural Ireland locations not in towns are called townlands. They are somewhat like townships in the United States, only much smaller. They would generally be at most a square mile. The parish of Kilcar includes some 45 townlands, although the names and exact number have changed over time. Killybegs is to the east, Donegal Bay to the south, Carrick immediately north and Ardara a bit farther north and Glencolumbkille is to the west. The mountains make the road distances much farther than the distances as the crow flies.
John Haughey, a son of Kilcar now living in Texas, has a Kilcar home page that discusses Kilcar as it is today, including some recommendations about pubs and accommodations at http://www.kilcar.net/ .
Carrick is also on the web at http://welcome.to/CarrickOnLine
What surnames are found in Kilcar?
Boyle, Browne, Byrne, Campbell, Cannon, Carr, Cassidy, Chestnut, Cunnea, Cunningham, Curran, Doogan, Doran, Dorrian, Dougherty, Dunleavy, Erskine, Gallagher, Gildea, Gillespie, Haughey, Hegarty, Love, Lyons, Malloy, Maloney, McBrearty, McCahill, McCauley, McCloskey, McDevitt, McFadden, McGinley, McHugh, McNelis, McNulty, McShane, Meehan, O'Boyle, O'Donnell, O'Gara, Parks, Raughter, Shovelin, Ward
Although there isn't a single answer, people tended to go somewhere they knew someone. Many people ended up in coal mining towns in Pennsylvania and mining towns in the west. These places needed a lot of unskilled labor. Once one person from Kilcar went to a place, others followed. Therefore, particular towns had a lot of Kilcar people in them. The list below is not complete by any means. Please send me any additions.
Centralia, PA Meehan, Carr, McNelis, O'Gara, Lyons
Jim Thorpe (formerly Mauch Chunk), PA and the adjacent Panther Valley, the most southern of the PA anthracite coal fields. Almost all the Irish in Mauch Chunk, Summit Hill, Lansford, etc. were from Co. Donegal, especially from its SW region. Cunningham, Cannon, McFadden, Boyle, O'Donnell, McGinley, Gallagher, Haffey, McBrearty, Gillespie, McNelis, Curran, McGee, Ferry, McNulty, Harkin, Lyons, Barrons, Carr, Gildea, McLaughlin, Sheridan, Conaghan, Shovelin, Breslin, Barry, Molloy, O'Gara
Wilkes-Barre, PA Dougherty, O'Donnell, many more
Greeley, NE McNelis, Cannon, Byrne (changed to Burns) More information about these people can be found on my McNelis page.
Newcastle, NE Askin, Cunningham
Maryville, MO Doogan (Dougan in the U.S.), McNelis, Cannon. More information about these people can be found on my McNelis page.
Kansas City, MO McNellis, Byrne, Murray, O'Donnell
Omaha, NE Gillespie, Cunningham and Cassidy
Ottumwa, IA and thereabouts Cannon, Doran, Dunleavy, Gallagher, Love, Lyons
Ringgold County, IA Cassidy
Indianapolis, IN Carr, Hegarty, McNulty, Boyle
Terre Haute, IN Byrne, Gallagher
Belvidere, IL Askin, Cunningham, McNellis, Hagerty and Carr
Chicago, IL Meehan, Carr, Cassidy, Cunningham, O'Donnell and many more
Rock Island, IL Cunningham, Doherty
Cleveland, OH Byrne, Doherty and others
New York, NY, especially Brooklyn Byrne, Carr, Love, O'Donnell, and probably almost any other name from Kilcar
Leadville, CO Byrne, McNelis
Butte, MT Byrne, McNelis
Augusta, GA Gallagher, Cunningham, and McCahill
Anderson, SC O'Donnell, McNelis
Asheville, NC O'Donnell
Walnut Creek, CA Cassidy
The following people are interested in Kilcar genealogy. Most of them know something about
many names, although like me they tend to have most of their information about one or two
names. Much of the other information involves things like the name of a spouse back in 1800, with
no way of fitting that person into context. Almost without exception, the researchers listed have a
lot of information about the descendants of the Kilcar families in America. In some instances I
have e-mail addresses and in other instances I have only postal addresses.
|
Researcher |
Surnames |
Jim Dunn 212 E. Irvin State College, PA 16801 |
McNelis, Byrne, Meehan, Doogan, Dunleavy, Campbell, Cannon, Cunningham My Kilcar families are discussed further at my Genealogy home page. In addition, if you have any interest in the name McNelis my McNelis home page discusses this family in much greater detail. Further, any Kilcar baptisms between 1848 and 1910 where one parent is named McNelis are listed at baptisms. I also have a Byrne page that lists my own Byrne family and a Cannon page that lists my Cannons. |
Sue Cunningham 34 Phelps Ave. New Brunswick, NJ 08901 |
Cunningham, Carr, and McBrearty from Killybegs and Carrick |
Kevin Doogan University of Bristol |
Doogan |
John Dougherty 136 Forest Rd Mountaintop, PA 18707 |
Dougherty, et al. |
Bryan Dunleavy 231 Swanwick Lane Lower Swanwick Southampton, UK SO31 7GT |
Dunleavy |
Matthew Erskine Ballybofey Co. Donegal |
Erskine |
Kevin Gillespie
1060 N. "L" St.
Fremont, NE 68025 |
McCauley, Gillespie, Carr, Cunningham, has information on many others. Kevin has some Gillespie information at http://www.radiks.net/~keving/ |
|
Brian Gillespie
Huntington Beach, CA |
Gillespie and Byrne from Cashel, Kilcar |
Sam McFadden 110 El Verano Way San Francisco, CA 94127 |
McFadden, Carr, Dorrian, Gallagher Doran, has information on many others |
|
Jeff McQueen
Rochester Hills, Michigan
|
Cunningham, McNelis, McBrearty, Gallagher, and O'Donnell. |
Peter Askin 2700 Ocean Drive #201 Vero Beach, FL 32963 |
Askin, Cunningham, Gillespie, McGinley |
|
Eileen Briggs |
Fisher, Campbell |
|
Mike Burke |
O'Donnell, McShane |
|
Frank Byrne
104 Overlook Circle
Wimberley, TX. 78676
|
Byrne, Gallagher |
James Byrne 2 Rehboth Place S.C.R. Dublin 8, Eire. |
Byrne, Carr |
|
Kathy Cannon
|
Cannon (Roxboro) |
Anna Carr
|
Carr, Doogan |
|
Patrick Coleman |
Malloy & Cannon |
Brendan McCahill |
Gallagher, Cunningham, and McCahill
|
|
Patrick McFadden Portland, OR USA |
McFadden ( 2 families) Cunningham, Doherty, Byrne. various spellings of the names not important.
|
|
Mary McGonigle
|
McCloskey |
|
Margaret Morley
|
Carr, Doherty |
|
Hope Carnicle |
Cannon, Byrne, Malloy |
|
John Curran |
Curran Derryveagh/Glenveagh,
Wilkes-Barre and |
Susan Cohea 6041 E. Osborn Rd. Phoenix, AZ 85018 |
Meehan, Carr, Dunleavy |
Valerie N. Colvin Policy Sciences Center Florida State University Tallahasee |
Anderson |
Steve Gallioto 58 Birch Rd. Southville, Bristol BS3 1PF U.K. |
Carr, Parks, Cunningham |
Wendall J. Burns 5735 Garnett Shawnee, KS 66203 |
Byrne |
Timothy A. Carr Milwaukee, Wisconsin |
Carr |
Bob Clements 1020 Prospect Ridge Blvd Haddon Heights, NJ 08035 (609) 546-8509 |
McBrearty |
|
Paul Doherty 154 Briarwood Dr. Schererville, IN 46375 |
Doherty, Cunningham |
|
Cecilia Ann Donegan James Gulczynski W225 S9595 Big Bend Drive Big Bend, WI 53103-9574 United States (262) 662-3248
|
Michael Donegan/Hannah Haughey (Haffey in US) Came to USA about 1887/1888 Teelin originally St. Columba's Church in Carrick
|
Daniel P. Dougherty 4862 S.E. Devenwood Way Stuart, FL 34997-2163 |
Dougherty and McShane, esp. in Teelin |
James B. Gillespie 12 Hawthorne Ct. Maple Shade, NJ 08052 |
GILLESPIE, CARR |
Molly Harmoney 2139 S. Nugent Rd. Lummi Island, WA 98262 |
Cannon, Cunningham, Kennedy. Molly's Cannons are found, in part, at Cannon. |
John Haughey 1522 Yorkshire Dr. Richardson, TX 75082 |
Haughey, Deane |
Susan Innocenzo |
McBrearty, Byrne |
|
Carole Jenkins |
Barron, Byrne |
Joyce (McBreairty) Landean 12 Northwood Drive Downingtown, PA 19335 |
McBreairty and Gallagher |
|
Georgette Love |
Chestnut, Love |
|
Sandra McDevitt |
McDevitt, O'Donnell, Cunnea |
Trevor McBrearty |
McBrearty, Erskine, Gillespie, and O'Donnell
|
|
Kate McNeal |
Carr, McNelis, Haggerty (Hegarty?) Kate has a web page at http://www.networksplus.net/kate |
Tom McNulty Indianapolis, IN |
McNulty, McNelis, Ryan, Gillespie,
Doherty, Dorian, McGinley, Fawcett.
Further details about Tom's family are my McNelis page |
James M. Moore 1924 Fairmount St Wausau, WI 54403 715-848-3812 |
Doogan, Cannon. Jim's Cannons and Doogans are partly shown at Cannon. |
Michael Moore 52618 Woodmill Drive Macomb, MI 48042-5664 |
Boyle, McLoone, McNelis and Moore |
Norman Parkes |
Chesnutt |
|
Patrick Parkes |
Cassidy, Carr, Cunningham, Parks |
Bill Parks Fairfax, VA |
McNellis, Parks |
Jack Riley |
Erskine, Askin, Byrne, Cannon |
|
Nick Shelley |
Doogan, Boyle |
Brian Southwood (link not working) |
Cunningham, O'Donnell |
Barbara Byrne Varanese
|
Byrnes, McShanes,Dohertys, Cunninghams, Wards, O'Donnells, Currans and many more |
Barney Barry St. Louis University |
Byrne, McNelis, Murray |
Liz Breadon
|
Maxwell, Chesnut and Walker families from the Glencolumbkille / Carrick and Kilcar |
Mike Carr 49- 70th Street Brooklyn, New York 11209-1113 |
Carr, Doogan, Byrne, McNelis, Gillespie, and more |
|
Nina Joan Cobb
7704 Arboretum Dr., #101
Charlotte, NC 28270
704/752-7678
|
McShane and O'Donnell |
Joe Doran |
Doran, Cannon |
Kathleen Gallagher Ewen |
Gallagher, Conaghan, Breslin, Melly, McGlinchey, and O'Donnell Ardara/Iniskeel/ Lettermacaward |
John P Garrah 300 17th St. Honesdale, PA 18431- 2024 |
O'Gara (Garrah), Lyons |
Jay Hartman |
Cannon, Malloy |
Earl Gillespie
Starkville, MS
|
Gillespie, McGee |
Cheri Greenlaw 9 Delphi Place Coogee 6166 West Australia |
Dunleavy and Greenlaw (Killybegs) |
|
Laurel Harvey |
Gallagher and McNelis (Rockwell, IA) |
Jim Hegarty 13 Southwatch Lane
Mechanicsburg, PA 17055
|
Hegarty, Gara, Gillespie, Carr, and McNulty |
|
John Hegarty |
Hegarty |
Patrick Hegarty |
Hegarty, Browne, Byrne, Campbell |
|
Peter Hegarty |
Hegarty, McGill (Carrick), and Doherty (Ballard, Glencolumcille) |
|
Liz Houk |
Cannon, Doran, Lyons |
|
Philip Jordan |
Conaghan, Meenan of Malinbeg/Carrick/ Glencolumbkille |
|
Sue Kuhn
Blue Ridge Summit, PA |
Patrick Murray / Mary Patten family from Derrylaghen and the John Murray / Catherine Sweeney family |
|
Thomas Mulgrew |
McCauley, Gallagher |
Kathy O'Leary 422 S. Peck LaGrange, IL 60453 |
Heeney and Haughey (spelled Haffey in U.S.)Teelin. |
Stephen J Serfozo |
Cannon, Gaffaghan |
Joe Turner 17828 Mill Creek Drive Derwood, MD 20855 (301) 963-5789 |
Carr, McGettigan |
Glenn Brash 488 Grand Trunk Ave Kingston Ontario |
Cunningham, McNelis |
|
Pat Youngberg 1609 Lakeview Drive West Plains, Mo. 65775 |
McFadden, Byrne, Meehan, McNelis, O'Donnell |
Caroline Wilkins Bee's Cottage Lot 1, 120 Grand Boulevard Montmorency, VIC 3094 Australia |
Breslin, Cunningham, Carr, and Gillespie |
The parish records from St. Cartha's in Kilcar list the townlands in Irish script. The microfilm of the records are available at your nearest Mormon Family History Center. Between the difficulty translating the names, the difficulty recognizing the letters in the script, and the quality of the penmanship of the writer, deciphering these names is a real challenge. Below is a list of the names in English and in Irish using the regular alphabet. Thanks to Lillis O'Leary and Sam McFadden, I have a sheet that shows the script counterpart to these names. The pdf file here shows the script - townland pdf
| Townland Name in Irish | Townland Name in English |
| An t-Earagal | Arrigle |
| Babhdhun | Bavin |
| Baile n Droichid | Kilcar |
| Baile'Ac Phaidin | Ballymacfadden |
| Baile na Mona | Ballymoon |
| Baile an Teampaill | Churchtown (called the townland of Kilcar in Griffiths) |
| Bogach | Bogagh |
| An Caiseal | Cashel |
| Caiseal an Carn | Cashelcarn |
| Na Caislini | Cashlings |
| Caonachan | Keenaghan |
| An Charrig | Carrick - this is a neighboring town but it appears occasionally |
| Cill | Kille |
| Cill Beag | Kilbeg |
| Cill Chartha | Kilcar |
| Cill Chathasaigh | Kilcasey |
| Cladach na gCaorach | Cladnageerach |
| Coguis | Coguish |
| Cnoc Chartha | Cruckcarra, a place with a name in Towney |
| Crannceo | Crannceo |
| Croibh | Crove, a hamlet on the north side of the parish |
| Croib Bawn | Crowbane |
| Croib Dub | Crowdoo |
| Criob Eighter | Croweighter |
| Criob Lair | Crowlar |
| Cro na Rudda | Cronroad or Croanrudda |
| Cro na Saileog | Crownasillagh |
| Cruach Beag | Croachbeg |
| Cruach Chaorach | Crowkerragh |
| Cuiscreach | Cuskry |
| Na Currai | Curris |
| Dachtan | Largydachtan |
| Doire Leathan | Derrylahan |
| Droim na Fionngaile | Drimnafinagle |
| Droim Riabhach | Drimreagh |
| An Duinin | Doonin |
| Gort tSaile | Gortalia |
| Gortna gCoilleach | |
| Glencolumbcille | Glencolumbkille - once again a neighboring town |
| An Leargan Mor | Largymore |
| Leiter | Leiter |
| Min a'Chanann | Meenacannon |
| An Min Bhui | Meenboy |
| Minte Caorachan | Meentakeeraghan |
| Mucros | Muckross |
| Port Eachrann | Roxborough |
| Rua Loch | Rolach |
| Sealbhai | Shalwy |
| Seanath | Shannagh |
| Srath Braonach | Strabrinna |
| Srath Laoi Fheoil | Straleel |
| Srath na Circe | Strankirka |
| Stranadierge | |
| Tamhnaigh | Towney |
| Teilann | Teelin - a place across Teelin Bay |
| Umascan | Umiskin |
There are several sources of family information about Kilcar. Most are available through the Mormon microfilm collection and may be rented for a nominal fee at your nearest Family History Center. The microfilm numbers are in parentheses. Others are only available in Ireland or Northern Ireland. I don't know them all but here is a start.
Church records of St. Cartha's Catholic Church. (1279236) Begin in 1848. Only baptisms for most of the period. Mormon records go until about 1910. Those in Dublin go to about 1875. Burial records are available for Kilcar from about 1906 to 1950s and marriage records from 1901-1921. The microfilm # which can be ordered at any Family History Center is the same for all 3 lists (1279236). All of the Morman library index material is now available on line at http://familysearch.org.
Church records of Kilcar Church of Ireland. Begin in 1819.
Griffith's Valuation. (0844980 basic list, 0832525 and 0832527 updates) This is a list of heads of households, originally done in about 1857 and updated regularly until the early 1900s. It is useful for knowing when people died or emigrated, assuming you can figure which Francis Carr is your ancestor. It also identifies particular properties, which can be matched to the ordinance survey map of that period so that you can figure out which house was your ancestor. This worked great for me. The maps are held at the valuation office at Irish Life, Centre Abbey Street, Dublin 1. Telephone No. +353-1-8171000 but the copies of the maps are not being made until they work out the best method of preserving the originals and making the copies. www.valoff.ie and information can be sought from info@valoff.ie . The maps are now scanned and held in TIFF format on the office server and copies are available to the public for a fee.
Tithe Applotment. (0256624) A similar list of heads of households from about 1836. It arranges the households in some other manner than Griffith. It also has other inconsistencies. However, both can be used to figure out what townland your ancestor lived in, or at least what the possibilities are. It also may be used to figure who was on the property 20 years before Griffith (assuming you can identify the same plot). You don't know how Manly McNelis in 1836 is related to Edward McNelis in 1857, but you can develop a hypothesis anyway.
Murry-Stewart rent rolls. The Murry-Stewart family owned most of the area and so most families were their tenants. The rent records for part of the 1842-59 period are in Belfast (I believe). I haven't seen these but I would like to.
County records. Births, deaths and marriages were supposed to be recorded after 1864. They weren't always, but those that were are in Stranorlar. They are indexed after a fashion, although I have never seen this index. The Mormons have it, or you can write to Stranorlar. John Dougherty and Susan Cohea have found things from these records. Since the parish records only have baptisms for 1848-1900, this is the only source for marriage and death records.
Donegal Genealogical Committee. This branch of the national genealogy project is indexing parish records for all of Donegal. I have no idea how far they have gotten on this project, but if they are far enough, this would be a wonderful source. They are located in Letterkenny.
Spinning Wheel Census. (1419442) This 1796 list shows people with spinning wheels. It doesn't include a lot of names in Kilcar, but you could get lucky.
Townland Maps. (6342441) There are several places where you can get a map showing the townlands. This is one. Griffith's Valuation identifies particular houses and tracks them over time. With the appropriate map, you can identify the exact location of your ancestor's property. This is not that map.
Pat Conaghan has written two books that are relevant to those interested in the history of Kilcar and southwest Donegal. His first book Bygones: New Horizons on the History of Killybegs discusses a variety of issues relating to the town of Killybegs, most of which have a counterpart in Kilcar, which is the next town to the west. His recent book The Great Famine in South-West Donegal 1845-1850 tells of the potato famine, which began the waves of immigrants from Kilcar to the United States and elsewhere, and for most Irish Americans is one of the defining moments of Irish history. One chapter deals explicitly with Kilcar, but the entire book tells of these terrible times that our Kilcar ancestors experienced. Both of these interesting books are available from Pat. His postal address is Aghageevoge, Killybegs, County Donegal, Ireland
In "Glencolumbkille: 300 B.C. - 1885 A.D.," Aidan Manning discusses the area and its history.
Kevin Gillespie has created a complementary page to this which lists many books that could help you get started on your family history as well as history books, biographies, and other references for someone interested in southwest Donegal.
Another page that has a variety of useful information is at Donegal
What you see is the result of help from a lot of people. Many of the people listed under other researchers with a Kilcar interest have helped me a lot. This group includes, but is not limited to, Susan Cohea, Susan Cunningham, John Dougherty, Kevin Gillespie, Pat Gillespie, and Sam McFadden. These wonderful people are part of what makes genealogy so much fun. Thank you so much.
Unfortunately spammers have been using this page for illicit purposes. In addition, I no longer have time to maintain the page. Therefore, it will remain on line to provide such insights as you may get from it, but I am unlikely to make further revisions.
or if you prefer the postal service, at
212 E. Irvin Ave. State College, PA 16801 USA