Kilbride and McAndrew Clues From Ireland

I'm still riding high from a two-week trip to Ireland the Hubs and I just took! We took one morning off from our drive along the Wild Atlantic Way to conduct what the Hubs calls the "Nancy's dead relatives" portion of the trip. We visited County Mayo, the reputed place of origin for many of my Irish ancestors who made their way to the United States after the Famine and settled in Pennsylvania.

We had a wonderful guide there, got some valuable clues, and set eyes on places that my ancestors probably saw in their time. 

 

The family background

My immigrant Kilbride (the name became Gilbride over time) ancestors were my 4th great-grandparents James Kilbride and Mary Hart. James and many of the couple's children immigrated to America in April 1850. They followed their two eldest sons, Martin, who immigrated in 1846 and Michael, who arrived in 1847.¹

Another of my Irish immigrant couples were my great-great-grandparents Patrick McAndrew and Ann Kelly, who arrived in the U.S. sometime before 1865.² Ann's death certificate stated she was from County Mayo; Patrick's origins are to date unknown.³ 

The only record I have found that indicates where Patrick and Ann may have come from in Ireland was a marriage record that I found on Ancestry. The record placed a couple by those names in Bofeenaun, in County Mayo, and marrying in nearby Addergoole.⁴ I had no corroborating evidence that these are my ancestors. In fact, they could be another couple with the same names. But a clue is a clue and worth pursuing.

Eventually, both the Kilbride and McAndrew families settled in Scranton, Pennsylvania, known to be home to many Irish who hailed from Counties Mayo and Sligo. The families connected when Patrick and Ann's daughter, Margaret McAndrew, married James and Mary's great-grandson, John Joseph Gilbride in 1896 in Scranton.⁵

 

Enter the experts

Several years ago, I became acquainted with a Scranton-area researcher, Barbara Spellman Shuta, who has been an invaluable resource for locating records, providing local history, and being a great sounding board and friend. When she heard I was traveling to Ireland, she suggested that I contact her cousin, Willie Donohoe, who lives in County Mayo. He is a local expert on the Addergoole area, following in the footsteps of his father, Tony Donohoe, who authored the book, Addergoole: It's Land and People in 2000. I contacted Willie and we arranged to meet during my visit. 

Addergoole: It's Land and People by Tony Donohoe, Willie's father.

Before our visit, Willie scanned his father's Addergoole book for Kilbride and Hart, and McAndrew and Kelly families. The area was what he called, "thick" with these surnames in adjoining or nearby Mayo townlands. He found evidence of Kilbride families in Derryfadda, the adjoining townland to the south of Bofeenaun. In addition, he found that, "Kelly's seem to have come from Culmullagh beside Derryfadda. McAndrews came from other side of Lahardane, from Lecarrow or Cum (koom). There were several families of Hartes in the area."⁶

Willie made an inter-generational association between the Kilbride and Hart and the McAndrew and Kelly families, where I had missed connecting families that may have been separated by decades. When researching Patrick McAndrew and Ann Kelly, for example, I looked for them individually or as a couple in records. I never suspected that they could have a connection to the Kilbrides well before their descendants wed. Failure of imagination at work.

Is it just coincidence that families with Kilbride, Hart, McAndrew, and Kelly surnames are found in these adjoining or closely situated townlands in Ireland? It could be. Is it also coincidence that these same families made their way to the Scranton area, and eventually lived in the small community known as Providence (now North Scranton), as well? Again, it could be.

 

What is a townland?

For those not familiar, a townland is the smallest civic land division in Ireland, dating from the Medieval times.⁷ From what I had read, I knew that they were small. For example, the townland of Bofeenaun, the residence of Patrick and Anne of the marriage record, is only 1.03 square miles and 659.2 acres. Derryfadda is just .91 miles in area, comprised of 579.65 acres of land. We might compare townlands to neighborhoods or very small subdivisions in the U.S. 

What I wasn't prepared for was just how small a footprint a townland has, something that Willie helped me see in greater detail.

 

Meeting Willie

Jim and I met up with Willie at Leonard's Pub and Grocery in Lahardane, a short distance from Bofeenaun. Over a cup of coffee, Willie gave us a great background of the area, answered questions, then drove us to the various sites that could be connected with my families. 

My local guide Willie Donohoe and me, in front of Leonard's Pub and Grocery.

 

One surprise was that these townlands are in the shadow of Mount Nephin, something I had never imagined in my mind's eye when thinking about where my families may have lived. 

Land once owned by Patrick Kilbride in Derryfadda, now owned by the Quinn family, with Mount Nephin in the background. My relationship to Patrick, if any, is undetermined at present.

A remodeled home once belonging to a McAndrew family in Cuilmullagh.

Willie also drove us up to an overlook called the Windy Gap, a winding mountain pass between Castlebar and Wild Nephin National Park, where we could view these townlands as a whole. It became easier to see how connected they were, and also how isolated in this narrow mountain valley. One can see how marriages could be made between families in two closely located towns as a matter of practicality, making alliances with families who lived close by.

Mount Nephin in the background, and the townlands of Cuilmullagh is in the foreground and Derryfadda to the right, seen from the Windy Gap.

Map of area we saw, with townlands of interest highlighted.

Lastly, he took us to St. Mary's Church in Bofeenaun. While this building was erected in 1881, it's possible that if these families are mine, they worshiped in the earlier iteration of this church.

Jim and Willie enter St. Mary's Catholic Church, Bofeenaun.

St. Mary's Church interior.

Willie is one of those fellows who knows everyone in their small communities. He knew of a John McAndrew who still lived in the area, and took us to meet him, though we are not really sure if or how we are related! Could be a distant cousin, right? You never know!

Everything I learned from Willie are clues, ones I would not have found without that specific local knowledge that Willie provided. To paraphrase the real estate saying: "Locality, locality, locality."

 

More work ahead

While fascinating, exciting, and interesting, I have to remind myself that at this moment none of this definitively proves that my Kilbrides were from Derryfadda or my McAndrews and Kellys were from Bofeenaun or Cuilmullagh, etc., no matter how much I want it to be true. I have work to do. I need to dig into the Addergoole book for more context, and research these areas for more records that confirm—or refute—these ancestors' origins in the area. But I can't help be encouraged by the fact that these families seemed to be closely connected in adjoining townlands in County Mayo and also were closely connected in the Scranton area. 

I am grateful to my buddy Barbara for introducing us to Willie and to Willie for doing the advance research, for the benefit of his local knowledge, and for opening my eyes up to this possibility that these families all knew each other. And Jim and I are grateful to Willie for taking the time to show us around. There is just no substitute for a knowledgeable local! 

 

More to come

Jim and I had several other great experiences in Ireland that I'll be sharing about in future posts, including stepping on board a replica of the Dunbrody, a ship which transported Famine immigrants to the U.S. and Canada, and more. Stay tuned!

Until next time...

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 © Nancy Gilbride Casey, 2026. All rights reserved. 

 

IMAGES

All photos by author, except photo of Willie and Nancy, taken by Jim Casey.

 

NOTES

¹ John Eldrige, ship master, Liverpool, passenger manifest, Jas. Kilbride, Mary Kilbride, Jas. Kilbride, Owen Kilbride, Frank Kilbride, Rose Kilbride, arriving New York, New York, 3 April 1850; imaged database, "New York Passenger Lists, 1820-1891," FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:939V-559C-54?i=606 : accessed 21 May 2024. Also, Capt. Geo Barstow, Ship Manifest, Espindola, arriving 1 June 1846, New York, New York, Martin Kilbride, age 22; images, "New York Passenger Lists, 1829-1891," FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:939V-R99W-NK : accessed 20 July 2024); citing National Archives and Records Administration, microfilm publication M237, roll 62, image 101, Washington, D.C. Also, Capt. Rich'd Haus, Ship Manifest, Spartan, arriving 22 June 1847, New York, New York, Mich'l Kilbride; images, "New York Passenger Lists, 1829-1891," FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:939V-R39P-CP : accessed 29 July 2024); citing National Archives and Records Administration, microfilm publication M237, roll 67, image 794, Washington, D.C.

² Internal Revenue Assessment Lists for Pennsylvania, 1862-1866, microfilm publication M787, annual lists, 1865, roll 58, district 7, collection district 12, p. 49 (penned), Patrick McAndrews, Providence, miner; imaged, Ancestry (https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/1264/records/7534096 : accessed 7 June 2025; citing National Archives and Records Administration, Record Group 58, Records of the Internal Revenue Service, 1791-2006, Washington, D.C. This is the first record found to date where Patrick is recorded.

³ State of Ohio, Department of Health, Division of Vital Certificates, Certificate of Death #68240, Ann McAndrew, 16 Dec 1925; citing Probate Court, Cleveland.

⁴ Addergoole, County Mayo, Ireland, A Registry of Marriages by the Rev. P. McHale, P.P. of Addergoole 1860, 156, #741, Pat McAndrew & Ann Kelly, 18 Feb. 1863; imaged, “Ireland, Select Catholic Marriage Registers, 1775-1912,” Ancestry (https://www.ancestry.com/imageviewer/collections/9054/images/41885_b154557-00156 : accessed 12 June 2025); citing Celtic Catholic Registers-Celtic, Limited, Dublin.

⁵ Lackawanna County, Pennsylvania, Marriage License Docket, p. 264, #15064, marriage of John Gilbride to Margaret McAndrew, 7 Oct 1896; image, "Marriages 1885-Present," Lackawanna Public Inquiries (http://www.ic-access.com:8300/pgms/rvimain.pgm? : accessed 19 April 2019).

⁶ Willie Donohoe, Castlehill, Mayo, Ireland, [(e-address for private use),] to Nancy Casey, e-mail, 2 May 2026, "Visit to Mayo"; Gilbride Research label, Gmail account; privately held by Casey, [(e-address and street address for private use,] Tioga, Texas, 2026.

⁷ Roots Ireland (https://www.rootsireland.ie/townlands-in-ireland/ : accessed 19 May 2026), "Townlands in Ireland."