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County Mayo literally translates as ‘plain of the yew’and dates back as far as 1585 when the county boundaries were formed. Here’s some interesting facts about your Mayo ancestors:

1. The Great Famine of 1847-1852 brought particular devastation to County Mayo resulting in a severe drop in population through death and emigration. In 1841 there were over 380,000 people living there. This had dropped by over 100,000 ten years later.

2. Surnames commonly associated with the county include Walsh, Gallagher, Kelly, Moran and Malley.

3. When tracing your Mayo ancestors’ vital records, you’ll need to know the civil registration districts that lie within the county borders. There are ten – Ballina, Ballinrobe, Belmullet, Castlebar, Castlereagh, Claremorris, Killala, Newport, Swineford and Westport.

4. In the 1880s tensions between landlords and tenants reached a peak in Mayo and the tenant's ostracism of an unfair landlord, Captain Boycott, ushered a new word into the English language 'boycotting'.

5. There are over 3.8 million family history records related to County Mayo on Findmypast so delve into them today and see what you can unearth about your ancestors.

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