How a corrected spelling led from Lancashire to Carrowcrory, Ireland.

Frank from Arkansas had researched his ancestors for many years but couldn’t get past the 1870s as he lost trace at the “old census for the family.

“I have some names and dates that I can share with you, but there are some holes that need to be filled and I have exhausted my online research.”

The 150 year old mystery was solved when we found Frank’s ancestor in Oldham, Lancashire where he had lived for only a year. His census revealed that he was from Ireland and our research showed that he only lived in England for one generation. He and his relations were all traced over the Atlantic and to their precise residences in America.

A misunderstanding between an Irishman and a Lancashire Registrar?

Frank had been searching for years for his Cryan ancestors, an Irish name with many different spellings: Creen, Croidheain, Corraighin, Crehan, Crean, Creen, etc.

This birth certificate’s spelling of ‘Croy’, however, likely owed more to a misunderstanding between a Lancashire registrar and an Irishman who had just come over for work from County Sligo.

The parents’ names, their address in Oldham and the father’s occupation were all consistent with census records so the case was solved. The new baby was Michael Cryan, not Michael Croy, as recorded on civil records for years.

We found Frank’s ancestors in County Sligo Ireland and narrowed them down to Carrowcrory, known to locals as ‘Cryan Town.’