brick wall.

glaswegian

hi all.i have traced my fathers side of the family back as far as 1879. my dads grandfather,james docherty married margaret gallagher in sacred heart church in bridgeton in the east end of glasgow. i have copies of birth death and marriage certs for james and margaret and their family,i also have copies of census returns for the docherty's from 1881 until 1911 but the only reference to where they came from is in the place of birth section which states Ireland. i know docherty and it's various spellings is a hard name to research,but i am at a loss as to know which road to go down,any advice would be welcome.

regards.

shanew

I'm not sure if I'm reading your post correctly - you said you had 'birth death and marriage certs for james and margaret' - but later place of birth just 'Ireland' .. am I misreading something ?

If James was born in Ireland then it would have been born before the start of civil records, so you would usually require a detailed location to search for church records - e.g. the town or parish.

Scottish marriage & death cert usually include names of parents ... maybe in the absence of a location this would be a useful clue. If the parents names are reasonably distinctive you might be able to use them to search the pay and free websites for possible matches..



Shane

glaswegian

hi shane,sorry for the confusion.i have copies of marriage,census,and death certs for james and margaret,i also have some birth certs for their children. james parents are named on marriage and death cert as,john docherty and agnes odonnell formerly docherty maiden name docherty.(i take from that james mother remarried after john docherty died.) margarets parents are listed as daniel gallagher and ellen gallagher,maiden name connor.so as you can see theres nothing unusual about parents names to narrow things down any. there is no indication as which county james came from but donegal sticks in my mind,but theres no way to be sure.

shanew

unfortunately 'possibly Donegal' only makes things more difficult... that's where the majority of Dohertys, Gallaghers and O'Donnells (and variations) came from, although these names also appear in various other counties.

You usually require a more detailed location (e.g. town or parish), and the denomination of this family so you can check if records are even available for the dates you need.

What's the estimated year of birth for James ?

Without a definite location the only option is to search by parents on the various subscription and free websites, but I'd be very careful about spending too much on searches with such limited details, as it's doesn't seem certain that your James was even born in Co. Donegal..



Shane

glaswegian

hi shane.i'm well aware of the danger of pay per view sites(spent enough on scotlands people chasing the three other branches of my family) james age on his marriage cert is 19 giving a birth date of c.1860.i know donegal is a long shot when doherty's and gallaghers can be found in most counties.i was kinda clutching at straws when i posted first to see if anyone else had been in a similar situation and found a way round it.

regards.