Leitrim-Roscommon

hello, im new to this site and am wondering if anyone can help..family name raftery. believed to have come from roscommon, but with the boundary changes late 1800`s could have been what was mayo.g/g grandad patrick raftery married a honor/ia mccann. not sure of dates but first child believed to be born 1861(michael, married jane cuddy). my g/ grandad patrick was born ballaghadereen(?) 1867, bridget(1870 married michael mcgreal), honoria/ nora (1873 married a mr mullins) and james (1877 married a mary mcgarry from co leitrim and emigrated to s/a).
at some point my g/grandad came to england - salford and married a widow esther stockdale, who died in childbirth 1907. rumours abound what happened after. it was believed that patrick was a founder member of some irish freedom fighters/ sein fein(excuse spelling) and my g/dad was believed to have a black book with his dads name in. after esther died it was believed he probably went back home and died in the name of his cause(1907 onwards). the kids were then orphaned - eldest back to uncle michael in roscommon(including my g/dad), youngest to an orphanage in uk.
sorry about the rambling, but needed to explain. would love to find out what happened to my g/ grandad and how i could find out. also how would i go about tracing family/ ancestors of patrick and honoria. anything else relevant too. many thanks. bookworm

ed, thank you very much. 2 kids are missing off there my g/grandad patrick and james - the 2 i found on the lds web site. but i never knew there was a catherine this is quite exciting i will be letting the rest of the "clan" know .wonder what happened to her.also finding the mcgreal family on the census great stuff.
interesting the variations on the names henoria, honor, patritio. it was a family tradition girl boy nora/ patrick till not long ago (patrick still is), obviously modern variations of the old.
just another request to anyone reading if anyone can give me any advise on how i can find out more about patrick (b. 1867) and his involvement with sein fein/ fenians etc etc and when/where he died would be much appreciated. thanks again

hi i read on the archive board that someone was researching and ? publishing a book on early republican activities in roscommon/ mayo areas. anyone heard about this or any ideas were i might find more information. many thanks

'They Put The Flag a-Flyin - The Roscommon Volunteers 1916-1923' was published in November. There is a section dealing with the Volunteers in the surrounding counties - Mayo, Galway, Sligo, Leitrim, Longford and Westmeath. See the website www.generationpublishing.com for more details.

Mike Lennon

thanks for the info - i will check it out. its so frustrating all i have is family talk and because he died when his kids were quite young i dont know what to think. there are family members (some of patricks siblings descendants)alive and well in roscommon and limerick i believe. dont know much about them apart from whats on a family tree researched by a cousin in new york and i think hes at a standstill as well.

have just checked out the web site and found a couple of pat/rick rafterys in the index.
pat raftery cloonboniffe coy
patrick raftery(rafferty) cloverhill coy.
1st one sounds more likely. would love to buy the book but its a lot of money unless im sure. might treat myself to it as a post xmas pressie in the new year.
does anyone else have a copy?