CarrowhughCeathrú Aodha

Research · In progress

Fixing the tree, person by person

Started September 24, 2026. The tree on Ancestry had 244 entries that fail a basic date check (the full list); 28 of them are on the family's own direct lines. This page works through those first, closest generations first. Every fix below cites the record that settles it.

James White of Carrowhugh (1837-1898)

What the records say. The civil marriage register for Muff parish church, March 29, 1858 (irishgenealogy.ie, group ID 3276067), entry 65: James White, bachelor, farmer, of Lower Moville, son of John White, farmer; married Mary Burnside, spinster, daughter of John Burnside, farmer; by license, Rev. Robert Chichester; witnesses John McCaveston (reading uncertain) and James Rankin. Mary signed with her mark. Record His civil death entry: James White, died 1898, Inishowen district, aged 60 (group ID 4294710). Record

Changes to make on Ancestry

  1. Detach his parents James White (1795-1856) and Bridget Hegarty. They are a Co. Clare family; the register names his father as John White. Add John White, farmer, of Carrowhugh as father (he is also in Griffith's Valuation there in 1857).
  2. That removes the wrong siblings who came with the Clare parents: Ann (Sydney), Elizabeth (born Scotland 1842), Thomas, John B. (Flint, Michigan), Mary and Eliza.
  3. Remove the second wife Dora Marsh (1855-1873) and her son Felx White (1872, New York).
  4. Remove the children who belong to another James White: George (abt 1873, Ontario), Letitia (abt 1877, Ontario).
  5. Merge duplicates: Robert White (abt 1871) into Robert White (1866); Matilda Ann (1873) and Matilda (abt 1877) into one Matilda. The 1901 census gives her age as 24, so she was born about 1876-77.
  6. Delete the facts Arrival 1850 and Residence 1910, Newburgh, New York, and detach the sources that go with other people: 1910 US census, Montana County Marriages, Washington Select Death Certificates, England Andrews Newspaper Index Cards.

Applied on Ancestry, September 25, 2026: Clare parents detached; John White added as father; Dora Marsh, Felx, George and Letitia unlinked; duplicate Robert and Matilda merged; the 1850 arrival and 1910 Newburgh residence deleted; the 1910 New York census detached. The Washington death certificate (daughter Mary Smyth) and Montana marriage (son Albert) were kept: both name James White and Mary Burnside as parents. Ancestry still offers Bridget Hegarty as a "potential mother"; do not accept it.

Mary Burnside (1837-1914)

What the records say. The 1858 register (above) names her father as John Burnside, farmer, and her residence as what reads as "Ballyboe, Muff". Record Civil death: Mary White, died 1914, Inishowen, aged 75 (group ID 5382095). Record Her mother's death: Rose Burnside, died 1891, Londonderry district (which includes Muff), aged 81 (group ID 3585931), which fits Rose Craig (1810-1891) in the tree. Record

Changes to make on Ancestry

  1. Detach John Burnside (1851-1919) as her father; he was born 14 years after her. Add John Burnside, farmer (born about 1805-1812; of Ture, Muff, in Griffith's 1857) as father, spouse of Rose Craig.
  2. Birthplace: change "Ballyhoe" to Ballyboe (as written in the 1858 register). No townland of that name exists in Muff parish; the nearest Ballyboe townlands are in the Laggan (Killea, Carrowvady, Convoy). Open question
  3. James Burnside (1841-1913) then becomes a full brother, not a half-brother.

Applied on Ancestry, September 25, 2026: father changed to John Burnside (1794-1879), already in the tree with a death on September 16, 1879 at Ture, Muff; the civil index has a John Burnside dying in 1879 in the Londonderry district aged 88, which fits. Birthplace set to Muff with the Ballyboe note; death set to Inishowen with the civil record and grave cited; George and Letitia unlinked from her too.

Robert White, the son who stayed (1866-1956)

What the records say. Civil death entry 370, Moville district, Inishowen: Robert White, died February 14, 1956 at Carrihue (Carrowhugh), single, farmer, aged 89; gangrene of the foot; informant James McKinley, nephew, of Drumley, present at the death (group ID 2327216). Record

Applied September 25, 2026. Replaced the death "October 1967, Bronx, New York" with 14 Feb 1956, Carrowhugh, Moville, Co. Donegal. The McKinley nephew means one of Robert's sisters married a McKinley; that is a new lead.

George Morrison (1854-1915)

The live tree now has one death date (February 2, 1915, Clark County, South Dakota Death Index), so the old 1913 date is already gone. Remaining fix: his daughters Rebecca Ena (1892-1895) and Rebecca Eva (1892-1896) look like the same child entered twice. Merge them once the South Dakota birth record shows which name and death year is right. Open question

Thomas Bell Dooley (1827-1904): the wrong mother

What the records say. Tennessee State Marriages: Littleton J. Dooley married Mary E. Bell, October 3, 1826, Davidson County, Tennessee. Record Thomas Bell Dooley was born August 25, 1827, ten months later. Texas Marriage Index: Littleton J. Dooley married Susan J. Warren, March 14, 1841, Nacogdoches, Texas. Record In the 1850 census at Rusk, Texas, Littleton is 49 (born about 1801, not 1807), Susan 35, Thomas 23. Record Susan was 12 years older than Thomas; she was his stepmother.

Changes to make on Ancestry

  1. Add Mary E. Bell (married 1826, died between about 1838 and 1841) as Littleton's first wife and the mother of Thomas Bell Dooley. The "Bell" middle names of Thomas, Samuel Bell and John Bell Dooley come from her.
  2. Move the children born before 1841 (Thomas 1827, Samuel Bell 1829, Margaret Ann Eliza Jane 1832, Mary Elizabeth 1834, Matilda Catherine 1836, George Lytle Washington 1838, John Bell 1840) to Mary E. Bell; keep the later ones with Susan J. Warren.
  3. Littleton's birth: about 1801, from the census.
  4. Merge the duplicate brothers and sisters: two Matilda Catherines (1836), James Littleton and James Brown (1842), Mary Christiana and Christina (1845). Among Thomas's own children: two Mary Janes (1862) and two Rufus Boyds (1877 and 1878).

Applied on Ancestry, September 25, 2026: the two Mary Elizabeth Bell (1807-1840) entries were merged into one, Littleton's first wife. Her own parents in the tree are Samuel Bell and Margaret Edmondson of Davidson County, Tennessee, which is where "Samuel Bell Dooley" got his name. Thomas, Samuel Bell, Margaret Ann Eliza Jane, Mary Elizabeth, Matilda Catherine, George Lytle Washington and John Bell were moved from Susan J. Warren to Mary E. Bell. Duplicates merged: Matilda Catherine (kept the sourced 15 Dec 1836 birth), Christina into Mary Christiana (kept the sourced 5 Jan 1845 Rusk birth and 10 Sep 1908 death), Mary Jane (1862, identical entries), Annie into Anne Nettie (27 Dec 1875). Elijah James Dooley (born 1840 Alabama, died 1870 Connecticut) was detached from Littleton and Susan: he is not in the 1850 household and has no record linking him to the family.

Not changed, and why. Littleton's birth stays at January 11, 1807; the 1850 census age (49) points to about 1801, but a single census age is weaker than an exact date, so the conflict is logged, not "fixed". James Littleton (1842-1875) and James Brown (1842-1908) are left as two entries: the 1850 census has one James, 6, but nothing yet says which death belongs to him. Thomas's sons Rufus Boyd (1877-1902), Rufus Boyd (1878-1962) and Pete (1878-1895) are left alone: the 1880 census household has only "Pete, 2" and no Rufus, so at least two of the three are wrong or the same child. Open question The 1880 household, for reference: T. B. Dooley 52, C. J. 45, S. L. 20, M. J. 17, J. F. 12, R. L. 10, Geo. A. 8, Minnie 6, Annie 4, Pete 2, Coly (Albert Coley, the family's direct ancestor) 5 months.

James Carr Harmon (1837-1895): two men named James Harmon

What the records say. In 1870 and 1880, James C. Harmon, born in Indiana about 1837, farmed in Spring Creek, Black Hawk County, Iowa, with his wife Martha and her father Jonathan Miller (1870). The 1880 household: James 42, Martha, Richard 17, Dora 12, Lillie 9, Carletta 6, Dee 3 (John Dee Harmon, the family's direct ancestor) and Angus, 8 months. Record The 1900 census entry now attached to him is a different man: James R. Harmon, born January 1840 in Illinois, a Civil War veteran, of Spring Valley, Cherokee County, Kansas, whose wife Martha M. he also married in 1860, with children Charles J. (24), Lora S. (19) and Eva L. (15). Record

Changes to make on Ancestry

  1. Detach from James Carr Harmon and Martha Adeline Miller: Charles J. Harmon (1875), Lora S. Harmon (1880), Eva Lee Harmon (1884), and delete the 1900 Residence in Spring Valley, Kansas. They belong to James R. Harmon of Kansas.
  2. Merge the four entries for one daughter born March 1870: Maria L., Nana Lillian, Lillie (1871) and Sallie (abt 1871). The 1870 census has "Maud L.", 2 months old; the 1880 census has "Lillie", 9.
  3. John Dee Harmon's parents (James Carr Harmon and Martha Adeline Miller) are right. His birthplace "Missouri" needs a record; the family was in Iowa before and after. Open question