David, The primary reason that the church in Ardstraw can’t help is probably because they don’t have any records for that period. Ardstraw West RC records start in 1846 and Ardstraw East in 1860. So they will have nothing on someone born in the late 1700s. No easy way around that.
Regarding the spelling of names, the idea of a single or correct spelling for a surname or a place name is very much a recent phenomenon designed to meet the needs of modern officialdom. Before that, especially in Ireland, there was no consistency. Names were spelled phonetically and each variation was down to the whim of the particular person recording the information. You will often see the spelling change as the records go back. This rarely indicates a deliberate decision to alter the name, nor even a mistake. Not everyone was literate, but even when they were, exact spelling simply wasn’t something they bothered about. In addition to varying the actual spelling, O’ or Mac prefixes were optional and were often omitted. In Irish (gaelic) the spelling and prefixes vary depending firstly on what case is used (eg genitive usually requires the insertion of an extra “i”), and secondly with a woman’s name, it changed according to her marital status. It is a further factor in explaining why no-one in Ireland worried about the “correct” spelling. There wasn’t one. I am sorry that the folk you contacted weren’t interested in assisting you with your research. It’s probably fair to say that there wouldn’t be quite the same interest in ancestry in many Irish families. In the most general terms, most know where their ancestors came from, and so it isn’t something that has the same fascination as is the case for someone in North America or elsewhere. Unless there was a genealogist in the family, most in Ireland would only be able to go back about 3 generations to the 1900s say. They wouldn’t know about relatives born in the 1700s. So even if they were a bit more willing to help, they probably couldn’t. Possibly DNA testing may be a way of matching with others who have additional information about where the family originate. Family Tree DNA reportedly has more people with Ulster roots than any other company. That obviously increases the chances of finding a match. You might want to try them or, if you have already tested, you can transfer your results to them for no fee. The North of Ireland Family History Society is running an Ulster DNA project in conjunction with Family Tree DNA and can offer testing kits at a reduced price. http://www.nifhs.org (Go to DNA project on the website). You don’t need to be a member of the NIFHS to participate in the DNA project. Good luck, Elwyn On 26/06/2019, David Prater via CoTyroneList <cotyronelist@cotyroneireland.com> wrote: > > Hello, > > I am looking for any information about John McDevitt, hisparents and > siblings. > > > Information from John’s U.S. citizenship documents showsthat he was born in > Newtownstewart, County Tyrone on 11 OCT 1796. He migrated to America from > Londonderry in 1816,arriving in New York on 12 JUN 1816 and then moving on > to Philadelphia,Pennsylvania. > > > John’s sister, Mary and her husband, Alexander Gallagher,migrated to America > in July 1820. Theyall moved on to western Pennsylvania and lived out their > lives in ButlerCounty, Pennsylvania. > > > John married Susanne/Suzanne/Susannah Sterritt inPennsylvania on 11 JAN > 1829. Suzannewas also born in Ireland around 1808. I think she was born in > County Donegal. > > > I contacted the Catholic Church in Ardstraw, requestinginformation about > John and they were unable to find anything. > > > I looked for John in ship passenger lists, hoping todetermine if he traveled > to America with other family members and failed tolocate him. > > > John was 19 years old when he migrated to America. I doubt that he would > have been able to affordhis passage without some form of assistance. I > cannot find any agreements that would have helped pay his way toAmerica. > > > I tried contacting people named McDevitt that are currentlyliving in County > Tyrone. The few that I did contact, did notwant to be bothered… > > > I do see two McDevitts listed on the 1796 Flax Growers Listin County Tyrone > (both in Urney). John was a farmer, maybeone of the two flax growers is > John’s father? > > > According to John Grenham’s website, there are 35 ways tospell McDevitt, > more than 70 ways to spell Gallagher and about 24 ways to spellSterritt. I > am probably missing manyrecords in my searches because of the spelling. > > > Does anybody have any suggestions on how I might discoverJohn and Mary’s > parents’ names or more about this family? > > Best regards, > > David Prater > _______________________________________________ CoTyroneList Mailing List Mailing List Email Address: CoTyroneList@cotyroneireland.com Change Your Preferences: http://mail.cotyroneireland.com/mailman/listinfo/cotyronelist_cotyroneireland.com Mailing List Archive: https://goo.gl/mQCKrY
