Genealogy Saturday: The story of Mark Radcliffe

From before his marriage in 1825, my fourth great-grandfather, Peter Radcliffe, lived in Malahide, Co. Dublin, where he plied his trade as a painter-cum-plasterer.  I suspect his parents were Thomas Ratty and Mary Cullen from the nearby parish of Baldoyle.

Thomas and Mary had a son Peter born in November 1798, around the same time as our Peter, so, to help ‘prove’ their son and my ancestor was one and the same man, I’m investigating their other children.  And this week, I’m on the trail of Mark Radcliffe (nickname Ratty), my would-be fourth great-granduncle, born in Baldoyle in January 1797.

No further record of Mark was found in Baldoyle, apart from in 1838, when he sponsored the baptism of his niece, Mary Harford.  

But he turned up in St Michan's parish in Dublin city in February 1825, when he married Anne Broderick. The names of their children followed a similar naming pattern to those chosen in our Radcliffe family, though in Mark's branch, Thomas and Christopher both died as infants. They also had a son John, born in 1835, the same name as my third great-grandfather. 

Mark's first wife Anne died, at the age of thirty-six years, in 1837. It was many years before he remarried, but in May 1850, he married Mary Anne Callaghan. Mary Anne was seemingly of the Protestant faith, for the couple married in St Thomas, Church of Ireland parish. This turned out to be a truly lucky break for us!

Church of St Thomas, Marlborough Street, Dublin, c. 1890

From 1845 onward, non-Catholic marriages were required to be registered in Ireland. So, additional details, not normally kept for Catholic marriages, are now available – i.e. the names and occupations of the couple's fathers.

Mark's father was confirmed as being Thomas Radcliffe. Thomas was said to have been a painter by trade – just like our Peter Radcliffe. Trades were often passed down from father to son, so this is certainly yet another point in favour of the proposition that Thomas was Peter's father. 

Mark and his new wife moved to 9 Little Strand Street, a tenement home on the north shores of the River Liffey, and there they began their family. Their son Mark was born in 1853, and daughters Catherine, Elizabeth and Margaret followed in 1856, 1858 and 1860. The children were baptised in the Roman Catholic faith, at St Mary's Pro-Cathedral.

In 1862, Mark, suffering from bronchitis, was admitted to the infirmary in the North Dublin Union Workhouse. His appearance at the time was described as being ‘tolerably good and clean’. He spent six months in the infirmary before being deemed fit for release.

Sadly, this was not Mark's sole stay at the workhouse. On his second visit, his appearance had deteriorated somewhat and he was said to have had ‘scanty and bad clothes’. This time, Mark was not released from the workhouse. Nearly five months later, on 12 November 1865, Mark died. 

Mark's story, while not overlapping with our Peter Radcliffe's, does not rule out his relationship to our family. On balance, it tends to increase the probability Thomas Ratty, the painter, was my fifth great-grandfather.

Sources: Church Records, IrishGenelaogy.ie; North Dublin Union Workhouse, Dublin Workhouses Admission & Discharge Registers 1840-1919, Findmypast.ie (subscription required).

Image Credit: St Thomas Church, Dublin, Wikimedia Commons.  

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© 2015 Black Raven Genealogy  

Seeking my Ancestors in the Irish Catholic Parish Registers

No doubt, you’ve all heard our National Library recently published the historic ‘Catholic Parish Registers’ online, for all the world to view. Well, like other genealogists, I too have been enjoying the fruits of their labour.

Granted, transcriptions of most of these registers have long been available on the RootsIreland.ie web-site. And, as I live near Dublin, it has always been reasonably easy to validate these transcripts against copies of the registers held at the Library. Now though, not only can I do this from home, but I'm finding records seemingly missed or completely mis-transcribed, by RootsIreland.ie.

And, one such record was the long-sought marriage of my fourth great-grandparents, Peter Radcliffe and Anne Sarsfield, from Malahide, Co. Dublin. We already know quite a lot about Peter. He was a plasterer-cum-painter, who worked for Lord Talbot at Malahide Castle, and lived to the ripe-old age of about ninety years. But, until the copy registers became available, the earliest record relating to this family was dated May 1826, when their son Peter was baptised.

Then, I found, on 3 July 1825, exactly when and where expected, Peter Ratty (a common nickname for Radcliffe) married Anne Sarsfield, in Swords Roman Catholic church. Their witnesses were Thomas Tully and Catherine Ratty.

Swords, Co. Dublin, 1825, Marriage of Peter Ratty & Anne Sarsfield

Unfortunately however, as was customary in the parish at that time, their parents’ names were not recorded. 

So, we’ll probably never find anything to directly link this Peter to the baptism of Peter Ratty in the neighbouring parish of Baldoyle, in November 1798.  Hence, there is likely no surviving document to confirm his parents were Thomas Ratty and Mary Cullen.  

Yet, I strongly suspect these were his parents, and not only because the surname was fairly uncommon in Dublin, or because of their proximity to Malahide, but also because our Peter named his third son Thomas and his only daughter Mary. But, that's not quite 'proof'.

Thomas and Mary’s marriage was likewise discovered in the newly released registers. They married in Baldoyle, on 29 June 1790, making this the very earliest record ever found for one of my ancestors (if indeed, Thomas and Mary were Peter’s parents). The witnesses to the marriage were Barney Cullen, Barney Barrett and Rose Doyle.

Baldoyle, Co. Dublin, 1790, Marriage of Thomas Ratty & Mary Cullen

The Baldoyle parish registers also reveal the names of Thomas and Mary’s children - John, born in 1791, Thomas in 1792, another John in 1794, Mark in 1797, Peter in 1798, Ellen in 1806 and finally, Margaret, who was born in 1809. A gap in the records between December 1800 and August 1806 probably conceals the names of some more, one of whom might have been Catherine, the witness to Peter and Anne’s marriage.

Nearly everything I know about Thomas and Mary, my would-be fifth great-grandparents, is here, in the baptisms of their children. So, this is where I’ll concentrate the search to ‘prove’ our relationship.

And, it was their daughter Ellen who I found first. Named as Ellenor Radcliffe, she married Michael Harford in Baldoyle, in June 1835. This was ten years after Peter had established himself, five miles up the coast, at Malahide. Michael and Ellen had five children baptised in Baldoyle before 1844, and then their names ceased to appear in the church registers.

Sadly, nothing was found to link Ellen’s family back to our Peter and Anne. The only known family connection I recognised was Mark Radcliffe, Ellen’s elder brother. He sponsored the baptism of Mary, their second child, thus, confirming he survived childhood, and opening up another avenue for research.

Sources: Parishes of Swords and Baldoyle, Catholic Parish Registers, National Library or Ireland; Church records, RootsIreland.ie. 

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© 2015 Black Raven Genealogy

Genealogy Saturday: Yet another dreaded ‘Brick Wall’

Unluckily for me, both my paternal great-grandfathers have me stumped. They show up, at the time of their marriage to my great-grandmothers, leaving no clue as to where they came from. Or, more to the point, any clues they left behind lead nowhere.

This week the spotlight is on Charles O’Neill, again. He was my granny Lena's father, a law clerk by occupation. He died in April 1895 when Lena was only three months old. Given everything uncovered during my recent foray into Lena's maternal line, I'm hoping to spot something new specific to the O’Neill genealogy. So, I started with a review of everything already discovered about Charles.

And, the earliest record of Charles O’Neill found previously was dated 1874 - his marriage to Lena's mother, Agnes Donovan. He was then living in Lower Dominick Street, Dublin and working as a clerk. Their marriage was witnessed by George Turley of Cullenswood, which is near Rathmines in Dublin, and Mary Newport of Cole’s Lane.

By now I'm familiar with the Newports, who were recently confirmed as being friends on the Donovan side, so there's a chance George Turley was connected to Charles. Plus, in August 1876, when daughter Catherine O’Neill was born at 26 Denzille Street, Dublin, Thomas Turley acted as her Godfather. Maybe this was a family connection worth pursuing.

There were few people named Turley living in Dublin at this time, so the family were easily found in the church records available online. On 6 February 1870, in Westland Row, George Turley married Katherine Kavanagh, the daughter of Patrick and Mary Kavanagh. But, this was not a match made in heaven. Their daughter Edith was born the following day, so perhaps the marriage was forced upon the couple. In any event, four years later, George published a notice in the newspapers, disclaiming all responsibility for his wife's debts.

George Turley, Cullenswood, Dublin, 1874

Divorce - Irish style!

The search for the second Turley, Thomas, found him marrying Elizabeth, daughter of George Brandon and Elizabeth Fleming, in September 1877. At the time of their marriage, Elizabeth lived at 28 Denzille Street, just two doors up from where Catherine O’Neill was born the year previously. Maybe Thomas met his future bride at the Catherine’s baptism celebration.

Further back, George and Thomas were baptised in Rathmines Roman Catholic parish – George in 1841 and Thomas in 1845. Their parents, John Turley and Margaret Bourke married in St Peter's Church of Ireland parish, in 1833, presumably a mixed marriage with the children brought up as Catholic.

There's no sign of any familial relationship between Charles and the Turley brothers here, although, given we do not yet know Charles' mother’s maiden name, it's hard to say for sure.

Like Charles, who died at the young age of forty-nine years, George was only forty-seven when he died in 1887. An entry in the ‘Calendar of Wills’ that year contains the first real clue as to the probable connection between the Turley lads and my great-grandfather and it seems less likely they were blood-related. All three were law clerks by profession, so chances are they were just friends through work.

As law clerks working for a firm of solicitors, they probably performed the same work as a qualified solicitor, but for a lesser salary. Nevertheless, they were likely far better off than the average worker in Dublin, at the time.

Charles died before the 1901 census was enumerated, but Thomas Turley was still living at the time. Thomas, his wife and two children, plus his son-in-law and granddaughter, were all together in Belmont Avenue, near Donnybrook, in what was then determined as being a first class house. The house had nine rooms, far more than the rest of my ancestors enjoyed in Dublin at that time.

At the very least, this gives us a glimpse into the standard of living possibly enjoyed by our O’Neill family, prior to my great-grandfather's untimely demise.

Sources: Church records on IrishGenealogy.ie; Freeman's Journal,2 March 1874, p.1, Calendars of Wills and Administrations 1858-1920, National Archives of Ireland; 1901 Census, Ireland, Same.

Flood – Adding a new Surname to our Family Tree

It's always exciting to discover a new ancestral surname! In my genealogy quest to learn more about John and Maryanne Donovan, Dad's maternal great-grandparents, I may have had just such a breakthrough.

As I worked my way backwards through the names of the fourteen other people interred with Maryanne, in the Donovan family grave at Glasnevin Cemetery, I came to a John Flood of Upper Liffey Street. John was from the parish of St Mary's Pro-Cathedral in Dublin city, same as John and Maryanne. He died in April 1854, aged 64 years.  

First off, I searched the digitised church registers of Dublin city for any records containing both surnames, Flood and Donovan. The search yielded sixteen records.[1] But, it was the marriage of Thomas Donovan and Cathe Flood in November 1821 that initially caught my attention. They also married in the Pro-Cathedral.

This was not the first time I'd noticed the couple. A Catherine Donovan, who died aged 86 in 1873, was also buried with Maryanne – and I suspected she might have been her mother-in-law. Catherine's husband, a carpenter, had survived her passing and the search for a Donovan male, of such longevity, who died after Catherine, on the north side of Dublin city, led me to Thomas Donovan.

Thomas was a sawyer, said to have been 86 years when he died in 1875.  I already knew that a Thomas Donovan was present when Catherine died – he registered her death. So, it's easy to speculate Thomas and Catherine Donovan were John's parents, my third great-grandparents, or else they were close relatives.[2]

There were a few other couples named Thomas and Catherine Donovan in Dublin city around this time – and there may have been more who did not feature in these online church records. But, even before the newly found Flood connection in a family grave, this Donovan-Flood couple had stood out. They were the only couple who seemingly lived in St Mary's parish, in the 1820s. Plus, at one point, they may have lived in Great Strand Street.

And, the prison admission registers indicated John Donovan was born in ‘Strand Street, Dublin’, between about 1822 and 1826.  Although no record of John's baptism has been found, a Thomas Donovan of Great Strand Street was baptised in the Pro-Cathedral in 1828. This child might have been my second great-granduncle. His parents were Thomas and Cath Donovan, though unfortunately, the baptism register did not mention Cath's maiden name. 

In the relevant time period, there were four children, born to Thomas and Catherine Donovan, all baptised in St Mary’s Pro-Cathedral. The mother’s surname was not actually stipulated in any record, but there was a Flood connection, via the Godparents.

• June 1820, Eliza, Sponsors: Richd Flood & Mary Flood
• August 1823, Elizabeth, Sponsors: Edwd Gregan & Jane Flood
• April 1828, Thos, Sponsors: Mich Kennedy & Mary Ann Rice
• September 1832, Cathe, Sponsors: Patk Flood & Mary Rice

In three of these baptisms, the Godparents were members of the Flood family, including the first Eliza, born the year before Thomas Donovan and Catherine Flood married. The surname ‘Rice’ seems to connect the records with Flood Godparents to the birth of Thomas Donovan in Great Strand Street, where my second great-grandfather said he was also born.

So, we know my second great-grandfather was somehow related to Thomas and Catherine Donovan – why else would Catherine share a grave with his wife? And, we've found a Thomas and Catherine Donovan living in the same street, around the same time he was born. And, the best guess is this couple was Thomas Donovan and Catherine Flood. What are the chances these were John's parents?

Admittedly, the evidence is not conclusive. On the plus side, John Flood, of a similar age to Catherine, was interred in our Donovan family plot - at least proving a Flood connection to our family. So maybe my third great-granny really was Catherine Flood. It's definitely a reasonable hypothesis to work on...

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© 2015 Black Raven Genealogy

[1] www.IrishGenealogy.ie. 

[2] Copy death registers for Catherine Donovan, 1873 and Thomas Donovan, 1875, General Register Office. 

Image credit: image chef