Thread: The Elusive Maria Drury - Cavan??

Hello, i'm trying to find a relative who came from Ireland to Dundee. She was born around 1840 in Ireland. Her parents were John Drury and Bridget O'byrne (not sure of the spelling of her mothers surname). Does anyone have any information on the elusive Ms Drury and her and her parents???? I'm pulling my hair out as we cannot find her anywhere.

Hi Pumpkin. My gr/grandparents came from Cavan. About the same age as your Maria. In Ireland their family name was SORAGHAN On arrival in Scotland in 1856 the name was altered to SORDEN. It took me a long time to find the original name with help from Cavan List. Look for possible changes in spelling. Imagine 2 gaelic men talking, Irish & Scot. One doesn't quite understand the others dialect. I imagine that is how my ancestors had their name changed.



Good luck .... Jimbo

Well i've had no luck at all with finding my Maria Drury. It seems i'll have to give up for the moment and focus on 'the other side' of my family for a while!

Statutory records of birth, death & marriage records started in Ireland in 1864 (1845 for Protestant and Non-Conformist marriages). Prior to that you are heavily dependant on church records, where they exist. Ideally, to trace an ancestor in Ireland through church records you need to know their religion, townland and parish.

The surname Drury is fairly common in Co. Cavan – there are 35 in the 1901 census. O’Byrne is not common – there are none in the 1901 census and only 1 in the 1911. Byrne is a more common alternative, with 106 in the 1901.

Going by the 1901 census, most Drury entries were Church of Ireland but there were some RC and some Presbyterian entries too. All the Byrne/O’Byrne entries were RC. So it may well have been a mixed marriage. It was generally the tradition to marry in the wife’s church, and so your focus would be on RC records for Cavan. I have attached a link to a website which tells you what RC records exist in Cavan. (Maria’s birth might also be in the records if she was brought up as a Catholic, which seems likely).

County Cavan Ireland Genealogy Records

However without an idea of which parish, it’s an almost impossible task.

The records themselves are not on line and you need to search them in person. For the Republic of Ireland the records are held by the National Library National Library of Ireland - Homepage

You’ll realize from the dates on the link, that many parishes didn’t keep records at the time you are researching, and you may therefore never find any record of the marriage or Maria’s birth.

Elwyn