Library Forum

I am seeking information regarding the James P. McGiff family. He is my Great Great Grandfather. He was born somewhere around 1861 in Tipperary and was a member of the Royal Constabulary. In the 1901, census he is listed as living in Clare, Scariff Village, Poor Law Union: Scariff, DED: Scariff, Barony: Tulla Upper, Parish: Tomgraney, Constabulary District: Killaloe.
His wife was Norah (Hanoria) A. Murphy and she was from county Cork born about 1866. They have 7 children listed: James P. (10), Annie E. (8), John J. (my grandfather - 6), Alexander D. (5), Cornelius M. (2), Margaret M. (1), and Kathleen E. (seven months). I would love to know if there are any churches in the area of Scariff (Roman Catholic) that I might write and see if any are listed as deceased.
Thanks for any assist.
Rick McGiff

Rick, I am going to venture an opinion here, which might be unsuitable in view of local circumstances. You may be hoping that a local custom is involved so that parish records are more inclusive than usual. The usual practice, however, is to not to make a record of last rites given. My understanding is that RC burials in Ireland were likewise not recorded in a preserved form, without regard to what entity owned the cemetery land. As to burial books retained by a parish with direct authority over the burial ground, I draw on my experience with my family's upstate New York burials in a church cemetery. I not only wrote the involved parish, but, with no reply at all, I also called and learned that the parish secretary had no extra time to devote to such inquiries. I was fortunate in that the secretary happened to be my cousin and gave me two hours of her time when I visited in person and we both poured over some very dusty old cemetery books. I have to generalize from this and say that writing the parish will not result in any information.

However, there are excellent other sources of information for your purpose (which I presume is filling out a family chart and knowing events/lifestyles in your family history). Civil registrations of births and deaths should provide details from 1864 forward in time. RIC records can be located, for which there are excellent guidebooks available in many major libraries. As to any particular decade and area, there are widely-available guidebooks in several editions by authors such as John Grenham (whose work also appears on the IrishTimes.com ancestry section online), James G. Ryan, and Kyle Betit. The reference librarian in your locality can assist you with gaining access to those. Cyndi's List online can also serve that purpose with every useful genealogical link possible, professionally arranged by the librarian who set up that site.

I'll stop at this point, as I don't know where you are located, so I can't suggest record repositories or libraries within your reach. I hope this serves as an encouragement, rather than being discouraging because your specific stated direction is not feasible.

Sharon Carberry

The death of 2 of the children was registered in Ennis, Co.Clare, James Patrick 1891-1911 and Kathleen Ellen 1901-1911. See the link
https://www.familysearch.org/search/rec ... id=1408347

The family were living at The Courthouse and Gort Road Ennis in the 1911 Census http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/p ... d_/353133/ . One of the children was baptised in Ennis on 2nd Oct 1892, Ann E http://www.ennisparish.com/genealogy/

Some civil registration records https://www.familysearch.org/search/rec ... id=1408347

Write to the Garda museum in Dublin castle they had records for my gt gt grandfather who lived in the same time frame. While they said what they had was sparse they had his name height age and where he was from

Hi Rick - just to add to info supplied by P.J. - I decided to check when Cornelius got married - - and found that he married in Cork in 1926 - so this gave a lead to Cork - as per familysearch.org - I found the following: James Patrick McGiff - - 1861 to 1932; - poss. his wife - Nora - 1873 - 1940; some other McGiff deaths which you can check out. I see John - poss. your Grandfather - 1895 - 1918. I also see that the following born in Cork has mother's maiden name of McGiff - James J White born 1939 ; James P Byrne born 1954; Albert Bartlet also born 1954 and Eileen McCarthy born 1958. You would need to get a copy of birth certs. to give you an address - download forms from http://www.gro.ie - this is the General Office in Ireland. Miriam.

hello,
My name is James Byrne.(born Cork City 1954).My mother was Constance McGiff.Her Father was Alexander Dennis McGiff.His Father was James Patrick married to Honoria Murphy.All From Scarrif in Co Clare.I have begun researching the family recently and came across your post.My Email is byrnzi@gmail.com if youwish to contact me.
Best Regards
James Byrne.

tracer wrote:My Email is byrnzi@gmail.com if youwish to contact me.
Best Regards
James Byrne.

James,

Firstly, thank you for your contribution.

Off-forum email exchanges may be appropriate from case to case but, in general, as this forum facilitated the contact, whenever possible or appropriate please do continue the discussion and posting of information about this family on the forum so that others can benefit. Of course, we understand that if confidential information is being exchanged then off-forum email may be appropriate. Your call.

Clare Past Moderator

Hello James - you could get in touch with your cousin, Rich McGiff, by sending him a private message on this site. Miriam.

Thanks Miriam.much appreciated.

Best Regards
James.

To MG Galery, PJ Culligan, Miriam Scahill, SMCarberry and the Clare Past Moderator,
Just want to say thanks for all the information you posted in reply to my e-mail. I have hooked up with a couple distant relatives (3rd cousins) based on the information you left me and learned some other interesting facts concerning the McGiff family tree. If anyone would like to e-mail me directly, I use MsoIrish@gmail.com for all my family correspondence. Again, thanks a lot for the help.
Richard McGiff