Munns Family Research with a Sligo Genealogist

In spring 2017, my husband and I visited various parts of the UK, Ireland and Germany – where we specifically chose some of our destinations to do family research for our own family trees. I did a lot of prework especially in Co. Sligo, Ireland, because my research had shown that both my maternal grandparents had ties there. I was especially interested in their background, since I had grown up very close to them.

In Co. Sligo, I met with a genealogist in person for several hours. I had sent the local office in advance what background I had on both the Munns and McGinnis families – in hopes they could find more details. In this blog, I’m writing about the Munns side of my discoveries – in relation to my grandfather, Gerald Francis Munns (1921-2012).

Munns Family Name

According to the County Sligo Heritage and Genealogy Society, the spelling of the Munns surname can come in these variations: Mac Munn, McMonn, McMunn, Munn, Munns, Mun, etc. In order to capture all of these variants, the research linked them to the most popular spelling, which in this case is Mac Munn. When Mac Munn is entered in their database, all versions appear.

Another similar sounding surname which is often confused with Munns is Monds. Variations include: Mondse, Mones, Mons, and Munds. The genealogists expected that my ancestor’s surname may have been recorded with one of these versions, so they took these into account.

The following details research and results provided by the Sligo genealogists in their written summary provided to me.

Baptismal Records

“We began by searching the surviving baptismal records for the children of Robert J. Munns and his wife Anne McVitty, in anticipation that we may pinpoint where exactly this family resided prior to emigration to America.

“The typical baptismal entry will specify the exact date of the baptism, the name of the child, and the names of the parents including very often the mother’s maiden name, the sponsors’ names and sometimes the street or townland.

• We have located 222 baptismal entries between 1800 and 1898 with the surnames Munns/Monds and the variants of these surnames in our files. Sixteen of these children had a father named Robert.
• These 16 records only listed the mother’s first name and not her maiden name; however, we believe that four of these children whose parents were recorded as Robert and Anne Munns/Monds relate to your direct ancestors.”

	Birth	Baptism	Denom	Parents	Dad’s Occupation	Parish	Townland	Source
William Munns	21 May 1861	20 June 1861	C of I	Robert Munns & Anne	Farmer	Drumcliffe	Ballinagolaugh (Ballynagalliah)	Register B2, Page 114, Entry 0909
Edward Munns	16 Sep 1862	18 Dec 1862	C of I	Robert Monds & Anne	Farmer	Drumcliffe	Ballinagolaugh (Ballynagalliah)	Register B2, Page 116, Entry 0932
Anne Jane Munns	9 Sep 1864	27 Oct 1864	C of I	Robert Munns & Anne	Farmer	Drumcliffe	Ballinagolaugh (Ballynagalliah)	Register B2, Page 129, Entry 0962
Catherine Munns	18 Jul 1866	27 Dec 1866	C of I	Robert Munns & Anne	Farmer	Drumcliffe	Ballinagolaugh (Ballynagalliah)	Register B2, Page 125, Entry 1004

As shown in the chart above, the church denomination shows this Munns/Monds family was Protestant through the Church of Ireland, which was at the hands of the British Monarchy that ruled over Ireland for about 700 years. The Drumcliffe Church of Ireland parish remains active today. I’ve included a couple of my photos below, but more on that in a future blog.

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The above findings were a surprise to me, since my line of Munns in America were Roman Catholic and had a very involved history in the church. I don’t have any evidence for what brought the change.

Marriage Records

When I submitted information to the Sligo genealogists, I noted that I thought that Robert Munns and Anne McVitty were married in Kilbarron, Donegal in 1859. Unfortunately, the Sligo genealogists don’t have access to the Co. Donegal records. However, they went online and discovered a transcript of the union of Robert Munns and Anne McVitty. According to the transcript, Robert’s father was name Edward.

To determine if this is correct, the genealogists recommend that purchase a copy of the couple’s civil marriage record, which will list the bride and groom names, ages, occupations and addresses; their fathers’ name and occupations; and may also indicate whether the fathers were alive or deceased at the time of marriage. They also recommend we try to get the corresponding church marriage record, which may hold further information on this couple.

As of yet, I still need to get a copy of the civil marriage record from the Irish record holder; however, I have found the record transcript also myself on Ancestry. It shows that:

• Groom: Robert Munns
• Gender: Male
• Marital status: Single
• Father: Edward Munns
• Bride: Anne McVitty
• Marriage Place: Kilbarron, Don, Ireland
• Marriage Date: 4 Aug 1849

Source: FHL Film Number 101403, Reference ID 333.

Previous Generation

Also found in the written summary from the Sligo genealogists:

“Going on the presumption that Robert’s father was indeed Edward, we searched the baptismal registers for details pertaining to Robert, believed to be born circa 1827. We have located a baptismal record in the Church of Ireland’s parish of Drumcliffe listing a Robert Munns, who was baptized April 1827. According to the baptismal entry, Robert was born March 1827 – and was the son of an Edward and Jane Munns.

“Further research indicates that Edward and Jane resided in the townland of Ballynagalliagh in the parish of Drumcliffe. (This is the same parish/townland listed on the baptismal records for Robert’s four children noted earlier.) Six more children other than Robert – were found to be born to the Edward and Jane Munns couple between 1820 and 1833.”

	Birth	Baptism	Denom	Parents	Dad’s Occupation	Parish	Townland	Source
John Munns	17 Mar 1820	19 Mar 1820	C of I	Edward Munns & Jane	Not recorded	Drumcliffe	Ballinagolaugh	Register B1, Page 047, Entry 1123
Thomas Munns	13 Jan 1822	20 Jan 1822	C of I	Edward Munns & Jane	Not recorded	Drumcliffe	Ballinagolaugh	Register B1, Page 061, Entry 1490
Catherine Munns	16 Jul 1824	25 Jul 1824	C of I	Edward Munns & Jane	Not recorded	Drumcliffe	Not recorded	Register B1, Page 079, Entry 2030
Robert Munns	24 Mar 1827	8 Apr 1827	C of I	Edward Munns & Jane	Not recorded	Drumcliffe	Not recorded	Register B1, Page 090, Entry 2368
William Monds	6 Jul 1829	2 Aug 1829	C of I	Edward Monds & Jane	Not recorded	Drumcliffe	Not recorded
Edward Monds	18 Mar 1832	Not recorded	C of I	Edward Monds & Jane	Farmer	Drumcliffe	Ballinagolaugh	Register B1, Page 104, Entry 2853
Jane Monds	13 Jan 1833	Not recorded	C of I	Edward Monds & Jane	Farmer	Drumcliffe	Ballinagolaugh	Register B1, Page 11, Entry 3275

“The surviving church marriage records were then searched for the union of Edward and Jane (maiden name unknown). There are six church records with a groom listed as Edward Munns/Monds and a bride with the first name of Jane – the first three marriages taking place in 1806, 1819 and 1833.  Further research of these three couples suggests the first couple who were married in 1806 possibly resided in the townland of Ballincar, and the third couple who were married in 1833 possibly resided in Urlar townland.

“Unfortunately, the marriage entry dated 1819 recorded very little information. The groom’s address was listed as Drumcliffe, which could mean he was from the townland of that name or he was from that parish. Either way, this record fits perfectly with the above-mentioned baptismal entries located for Robert and his siblings, leading us to believe it relates to your direct ancestor. The bride’s name on this record was Jane Stuart.”

• Groom: Edward Munns
• Bride: Jane Stewart
• Address of both: Drumcliffe
• Age, Father and Mother: Not recorded
• Denomination: Church of Ireland
• Witness 1: William McVeerty
• Witness 2: James O’West
• Parish: Drumclifee
• Date: 23 April 1819
• Register: M3, Page 75, Entry 150

At this point in my meeting with the genealogist, I was completely thrilled to have discovered another generation back in the Munns family – an area where I had been hitting a roadblock for years. While my husband was kindly hanging with me during these in-person learnings – at the moment, I was really wishing my mom would’ve been with us in the room!

In a future blog, I’ll share more details about the land the Munns families lived on – as well as a visit to their parish church.

Slainte! ~ EPJ