Genealogy Highlights of 2016

As 2016 ends, it’s time for a recap of the year’s genealogy achievements. And, quite a few proverbial brick-walls, once considered insurmountable, have come crumbling down this year. It’s easy to visualise the progress via numbers. 

In short, I can now prove 50% of my direct ancestors from the last seven generations. That’s up 5%, or seven people, from when I last quantified the position back in 2015. There’s still a lot of work to do, obviously, but it’s progress none-the-less.

Ancestor Scorecard*

The year started off spectacularly well - I uncovered the origins of my elusive great-grandfather, Michael Byrne. He had been a slippery quarry, and it was only by discovering and tracing his little brother Tom that I finally made any headway. Not only did Tom lead me to the boys’ birthplace in Dun Laoghaire, but from there I found the names of their four grandparents (my third great-grandparents), and traced our Byrne lineage back as far as Athgarvan, Co. Kildare, in the 1830s. 

The other two probable third great-grandparents discovered in 2016 were also on Dad’s side. Laurence Coyle and Bridget Corcoran lived in Dublin city from at least the 1820s. These were Granny Lena’s ancestors. 

But, my mother’s family were not to be outdone. Just this month I located the long-sought marriage of my third great-grandparents, John and Mary Radcliffe, in Liverpool, England, in 1848.  This provided Mary’s maiden name, and the name of my fourth great-grandfather, John Leonard, a labourer. 

Rita and Moira (probably)

Still, it’s not just about discovering their names. I also want to learn about their lives. And, in 2016, blogging proved to be one of the best ways of accomplishing this. When I share stories about my ancestors, their other descendants sometimes find my blog. These long-lost cousins then frequently help fill in the gaps in my story and occasionally even send me pictures of our relatives.

This year I ‘met’ Carli from the U.S. She is the granddaughter of Moira Mapes. Moira, born Mary Pauline, was the daughter of James Percival Wynne, granda’s first cousin. Moira was probably once better known by her stage name, Moira Martell. She was part of a famous juggling act, the Martell Sisters. I wrote about them last year, here.  

From the same branch of our family tree, I also ‘met’ Kerry. Kerry’s grandmother, Nora (Wynne) Fogarty was James Percival’s sister, making her Moira’s aunt. Nora emigrated to Australia in the 1920s and raised her family there. I shared her story, here, and wrote about her father, my great-granduncle, James Wynne, here.

Probably, Nora and John Fogarty (standing) with

 John’s brother Thomas and Nora’s sister Moira (seated), 
Wedding photo, 1920

And, on Mam’s maternal line, I ‘met’ Margaret. Although born in Dublin, she has made her home in Canada. It was with Margaret’s help that I finally discovered what happened to my granduncle, John Byrne. 

Can you imagine if we all had a crazy big family reunion! What stories we'd have to share! 

Roll on 2017! If it’s even half as good as this year, it will be great. Will you be coming along for the ride? 

* 'Family History All Done? What’s Your Number?', Ancestry blog, 16 August 2012.

……………… 

© Black Raven Genealogy

Potential new ancestors hiding in our DNA results

I started out with such high expectations, but I have to admit, my DNA test results have not yielded any genealogical breakthroughs. We have hundreds of matches, most of them in the U.S. or Australia, but few have so much as a surname in common with us. Even among the top twenty or so people listed, there is no one with a paper trail to a mutual ancestor - other than my already known relatives, that is. It’s a little disappointing, though I’ve not given up all hope, yet.

So, when I received an email from a lady on my mother’s list, I decided to investigate it further. Our matching segment is not that big – for those ‘in the know’, it is 13 cMs over 1,965 SNPs. GEDmatch predicts our most recent common ancestor as being 5.1 generations ago. Thus, we could share my mother’s third great-grandparents with this match, though there's no way of knowing which ones. These ancestors are in the upper echelons of my documented family tree, or probably just beyond. They’re exactly the ones I’m hoping to discover.

The match looked promising, initially. First, this lady has already identified who she believes are her ancestors in Ireland. Second, her nineteenth-century ancestors were in Dublin, where many of my mother’s people also lived. Third, she has identified a match with a probable third cousin, and my mother shares the same matching segment with him too - i.e. it’s a triangulated match. So, if we all share the same DNA, and they inherited it from a suspected common ancestor, then there’s a good chance we received it via the same person, or from someone closely related to them at least. Or, so the theory goes.

And, both these matches claim descent from James and Alice Fitzgerald, one via a son William born in 1835 and the other via a daughter Eliza born in 1828. James and Alice lived in Coles Lane in Dublin in the 1820s. James worked as a cabinet maker. The couple had a large family, all baptised in St Mary’s Pro-Cathedral. There is a suggestion too that Alice was originally born in Dublin, in 1796. She was supposedly the daughter of Anthony and Mary Hicks, from across the Liffey in the parish of St Nicholas. They all lived close to where my mother’s family were hanging out when I pick them up in the early 1800s.

Sadly, though, try as I might, I could not find a single connection between the Fitzgerald family and my mother’s known ancestors.

But, if the account of the Fitzgeralds sounds vaguely familiar to some of you, it may be from when I wrote about Laurence Coyle. Laurence was a wood turner, running his business from Coles Lane, and was probably my third great-grandfather. BUT, the Coyles were on my Dad’s side. Laurence operated from Coles Lane from the mid-1830s onwards, next door to Denis Newport who was also a cabinet maker. In 1851, Denis Newport witnessed the marriage of my second great-grandparents, John Donovan and Maryanne Coyle. And, James Fitzgerald’s daughter Alice married Denis Newport’s son Robert in 1858.

So, I’ve found a connection to James Fitzgerald, except it’s on the wrong side of the family. Perhaps, when more of our more recent cousins take a DNA test, I might be able to hone in further on which line these matches occur.

Have you found any new ancestors hiding in your DNA test results? 

River Liffey, Dublin

……………… 

© Black Raven Genealogy

A case of murder and a genealogical near-miss

This week, as I continued my genealogy research into the lives of Laurence and Bridget Coyle, I came across the most disturbing case of murder ever perpetrated in the city of Dublin. Even today, although the case is now long forgotten, it likely remains one of the most fiendish atrocities ever to have shocked the country.

The victim, Thomas Maguire, was a handsome boy with dark curly hair, about ten years of age. He was found by children at play in a stable lane to the rear of Pembroke Road. His throat was cut from ear to ear. It was five days before Christmas in 1841.

A man named John Delahunt went to the police, claiming to have witnessed the murder. The police became suspicious, arrested him and placed him in custody. At the inquest, Delahunt claimed he saw a woman wearing a large red and green plaid shawl kill the child.

During the trial, John Delahunt continued to deny any responsibility for the attack. He tried to put the blame on the child’s mother, except that poor woman had an air-tight alibi. She was giving birth to a new baby at the Lying-In-Hospital, leaving no one to mind her son.

Sadly for John Delahunt, it was his own family who presented much of the evidence against him. Margaret Delahunt, his sister-in-law, testified Delahunt called to her home in Little Britain Street on the afternoon in question, with the child in tow. The boy, who she swore was the victim, told her his name was Tommy Maguire. Elizabeth and Anne Weldon, her sister and mother, testified they were present that evening when Delahunt returned to the house and they heard Margaret asking him where he had left the child.

Margaret Delahunt also confirmed the murder weapon as her property - her only knife. It had gone missing that day and she had seen Delahunt sharpening it the Saturday before. Other witnesses placed Delahunt near the scene of the crime. The jury deliberated for only twenty minutes before returning a guilty verdict and Delahunt was sentenced to death.

The only motive put forward, and the only one mentioned in Delahunt’s eventual confession, was financial. He had previously presented evidence, later discredited, in the trial of a tinker charged with the murder. He had also testified, again unconvincingly, against some coal porters charged with assault. In both cases the prosecution had paid a fee to their witnesses. Delahunt admitted he had killed the child in the hope of obtaining a financial reward when he helped the prosecutor convict an innocent party of murder. His was probably not the sharpest of minds.

So how are we related to John Delahunt? Not closely, I’m relieved to say. Ten years after the trial, Joseph Coyle, Laurence and Bridget’s eldest son and Dad's great-granduncle, married Elizabeth Weldon. Elizabeth was a sister of Margaret Delahunt, the key prosecution witness who was married to John Delahunt’s brother. Elizabeth served as a prosecution witness herself. While this is a genealogical near-miss for our family, I’m sure none of them ever forgot their close association with the notorious culprit who lost his life in the first public hanging in more than forty years.

At noon on 5 February 1842, John Delahunt was hung in front of a large gathering at Kilmainham Gaol. The assembled multitudes, appalled at the abhorrent crime, numbered well in excess of 10,000 people. Another account of the awful ceremony put the crowd closer to 60,000 people. All the buildings facing ‘the drop’ were full of spectators who had paid dearly for the view.

In the end, death came quickly for the young man who was paralysed with fear as he faced the revulsion of the crowd. Surprisingly, the only sound John Delahunt heard during his final moments was the gentle hum of prayer seeking mercy for his unfortunate soul.

John Delahunt, Murderer, 1842

 Dublin Evening Post, 5 February 1842, p. 3

Sources: The Dublin Weekly Register, 24 December 1841, p. 6; The Clare Journal, 20 January 1841, pp 1,4; Dublin Evening Post, 5 February 1842, p. 3; Freeman’s Journal, 7 February 1842, p.3; The Vindicator, Belfast, 9 February 1842 – accessed Findmypast.ie.

…………………… 

© Black Raven Genealogy

Genealogy Saturday: Examining the possibility…

When I first began my quest to untangle the records relating to my paternal great-great-grandparents, John and Maryanne Donovan, I would happily have concluded upon finally confirming Maryanne’s maiden name was Coyle. But now that I know that, as is the want of all genealogists the world over, I need to know Maryanne’s parent’s names as well.

So, I thought I would fill you in on the candidates currently deemed best fitting the role.  They were Laurence and Bridget (Corcoran) Coyle, with a one-time address in Cole's Lane, Dublin. Cole's Lane was part of a labyrinth of little streets and laneways in the Henry Street area of the city. It ran parallel to Moore Street, between Henry Street and Parnell Street. Sadly, the whole area was levelled in the 1970s to facilitate the construction of the Ilac Shopping Centre.

Laurence and Bridget Coyle first appeared in the church records for St Mary’s Pro-Cathedral in November 1823 when their son Joseph was baptised. Twins Michael and Mathew were born in Great Strand Street in that parish in 1826, followed by Mary in 1828, Anne in 1829, Catherine in 1832 and George in 1835.  The first baby Anastatia, who was born in 1837, died when she was only two years old and the Coyles used the name again when their next little girl, Anastasia Mary, was christened in 1843.

Anastatia Coyle acted as Godmother for John and Maryanne’s son Thomas Laurence, baptised in 1857. This is surely significant; first, their selection of the name Laurence for their son’s middle name and secondly their association with Anastatia, both suggest the Donovans were related to Laurence and Bridget Coyle.  You can be sure there weren’t too many girls named Anastatia Coyle running around Dublin city at that time.

But, these were not the only connections joining this Coyle family with my John and Maryanne.

Laurence Coyle worked as a wood turner, running his business from Cole's Lane. The trade and street directories list him at this address, consistently, between the years 1836 and 1863. From 1845, Robert and Denis Newport, perhaps another father and son affair, operated as a cabinet-maker right next door to Laurence Coyle. Denis Newport was a witness at John and Maryanne’s wedding in February 1851. It’s great when these little things start falling into place!

Cole’s Lane, Pettigrew & Oulton's

Dublin Street Directory, 1845

John Donovan was an upholsterer and likely worked for a cabinet maker. So, if he worked for Denis Newport and if Denis was a neighbour of our Coyle family, this may be how he came to marry Maryanne. Likely, if I have the right Coyle family, John and Maryanne knew each other already anyway as John was born in Great Strand Street, around the same time the Coyles lived there. Now, maybe that’s a lot of ‘ifs’, but I’m starting to think this is a valid connection.

In 1852, Joseph Coyle, Laurence and Bridget’s eldest son, married Elizabeth Weldon. He also worked as a wood turner and began to appear in the Dublin street directories, at Abbey Street, from 1854. Maryanne Donovan was Godmother to their son James in December 1859 and in March the following year Elizabeth Coyle was Godmother to the Donovans' daughter, Catherine. Joseph Coyle's two daughters were named Maryanne and Anastatia. There is no doubt the families were connected somehow.

The bigger question remains, though, was Maryanne the daughter of Laurence and Bridget Coyle? And if so, where exactly did she fit in?  When she died in May 1873 Maryanne was said to have been forty years of age, so born about 1832-33, making her about the right age to have been born into this family.

Was she the Mary Coyle baptised in 1828?  From the time of her marriage, I’ve only ever seen her referred to as Maryanne, or a version thereof, never as just Mary. Perhaps her baptism was not recorded. If that was the case, it is potentially also feasible Mary and Anne, the children born in 1828 and 1829, also died as infants, only for both their names to be used again when Maryanne was born.
  

Genealogy Quick Tip:

Irish naming patterns are well known and often provide clues to those attempting to identify an earlier generation. But, bear in mind, naming conventions were not always followed and if they were, parents rarely stuck to the suggested order. Taking into account the lack of variety in first names in Ireland in the past, it is often far more suggestive of a familial relationship when an unusual given name connects the generations.

Sources: Church baptism and marriage registers on IrishGenealogy.ie; Pettigrew and Oulton's Dublin Almanac and Thom's Irish Almanac and Official Directory, accessed on Findmypast.

……………….

© Black Raven Genealogy

Genealogy quest: Niggling Doubts

Having finally identified John and Maryanne (Coyle) Donovan as the parents named by my great-grandmother on her marriage to Charles O’Neill in 1874, I find myself still harbouring some niggling doubts?  Don't get me wrong, I'm happily convinced that Mary Agnes considered this couple to have been her parents, but, well, could they have been her real parents? Would they, at least, have been the parents named on her baptism record, if only I could find a copy of it!

In Irish genealogical research, a missing baptism record is not that unusual, even when the search location is known. Maybe she was born sickly and baptised at home, or maybe there was once an entry in a baptism register, but it has since been lost, or is now illegible. Maybe I have just not found it yet. Either way, the parents of some of my other direct ancestors have been ‘proven’ only by establishing their relationship to a sibling, and with far less angst. So, why do I have such lingering uncertainty, in this case?

I keep coming back to the church records located for John and Maryanne and their children and wondering where Mary Agnes fits in.1

            Marriage of John Donovan and Maryanne Coyle on 9 February 1851

Thomas Joseph Donovan	born 11 March 1854
John James Donovan	born 18 November 1855
Thomas Laurence Donovan	born 20 June 1857
Francis Donovan	born 16 September 1858
Catherine Donovan	born 18 March 1860
Teresa Anne Donovan	born 18 May 1862

Not for the first time, I see the three-year gap between their marriage and the birth of Thomas Joseph. It's not unreasonable to believe a child, or maybe two, were born in this period, and I'm not even taking into account the possibility of a premarital pregnancy.  

Then I realised the cause of my concern. Mary Agnes said that she was a minor (less than 21 years of age) at the time of her marriage.2 And I believed her. This therefore gave her birth-date as after 19 April 1853 – less than twelve months before the birth of Thomas Joseph – a very small window of opportunity, maybe not impossible, but certainly tight.

In truth, however, the Donovan sisters have given no indication they were worthy of such trust when it came to reporting their ages. In the 1901 census, Mary Agnes estimated her age as 38 (which would imply she was eleven years old when she married by great-grandfather - not), while the census ten years later indicated she was 45 years old – so we can see she was definitely prone to ‘losing’ time.3 The 1901 census for her sister, Teresa, says she was born about 1876, when we know for a fact she was baptised in 1862.4 I cannot think of a reason why Mary Agnes would say she was a minor if it was not true, but maybe she truly did not know how old she was. Age was not of as much concern in the nineteenth century, as it is now.

So, I suppose it really is feasible that John and Maryanne were her real parents.

Perhaps, I will never be able to consider closing this this case, without Mary Agnes' baptism record.   

---

1 Church registers, St Mary's Pro-Cathedral, Dublin, IrishGenealogy.ie.

2 Copy marriage register, Agnes Donovan, Dublin North, 1874, General Register Office.

3 Mary Agnes Ellis, Mountjoy, Census of Ireland, 1901 and 1911, National Archives of Ireland. 

4 Theresa Corless, Manchester, Census of England, 1901, Ancestry.com.

Image from Pixabay. 

.……………. 

© 2015 Black Raven Genealogy

Genealogy quest: Mapping the Donovan family homes

The newly discovered family grave, located in Glasnevin Cemetery, Dublin is quite remarkable. The plot itself does not look to be anything out of the ordinary and there is nothing to distinguish it from all the other unmarked graves in Curran Square, the oldest section of the cemetery. Yet, it is the final resting place for fifteen members of my Dad's Donovan family. 

The cemetery's burial register shows the last address of everyone interred in the grave and for over forty years, this extended family lived in the same small area of Dublin city, near the north shores of the River Liffey. It is interesting, don't you think, to chart their addresses on a nineteenth-century map of Dublin:

Dublin streets of Donovan residences are marked in yellow

Glasnevin Cemetery Register, Donovan family plot
Name	Date	Last Residence	Age
Pat Donovan	1832	Gt Strand St	-
Mary Anne Donovan	1832	Gt Strand St	-
Eliza Donovan	1833	King St	-
Cathe Donovan	1834	Essex Bridge	-
Margaret Donovan	1837	Green St	45
John Donovan	1839	Charles St	46
Eliza Donovan	1848	Charles St	48
Eliza Donovan	1853	Bull Lane	1
John Flood	1854	Upper Liffey Street	68
Thomas Donovan	1856	Gt Britain St	2
Thomas Donovan	1859	49 Mary St	1
Francis Donovan	1861	30 Upr Dominick St	2
Catherine Donovan	1861	30 Upr Dominick St	1
Catherine Donovan	1873	51 Great Britain St	86
Marianne Donovan	1873	6 Blessington St	40

At the time of her death in 1873, my great-great-grandmother Marianne (Coyle) Donovan (also known as Maryanne) lived in Blessington Street. Blessington Street runs parallel and to the north of Dominick Street, though it is not shown on the map. I suspect Catherine Donovan of Great Britain Street (now called Parnell Street), who also died in 1873, was Maryanne’s mother-in-law. The four infants who died between 1856 and 1861 were her babies.

Apart from that, I have not yet figured out who the rest of these people were or how they fit in my family tree.

Baby Eliza of Bull Lane, who died in 1853, might have been another daughter of Maryanne and her husband John Donovan, making her a potential sister to my great-grandmother, Mary Agnes. The surviving head of household extract from the 1851 census includes a John Donovan living in Bull Lane – possibly my great-great-grandfather – but Eliza’s baptism record has not been found. 

There again, no baptism record for Mary Agnes has been found either. She was probably born around the same time as Eliza, maybe a year or two later, so perhaps they were both christened in the same church, and the relevant pages of this register have somehow missed digitisation.

Bull Lane was in the parish of St Michan, while all the younger Donovan children were baptised in St Mary's.  I have already, fruitlessly, searched St Michan's church records on www.irishgenealogy.ie, but maybe I'll have more success with the copy registers newly released on the National Library’s web-site.

Wish me luck.

See previous post in this quest: 
Genealogy Quest: Striking gold - the search for Maryanne

Sources: Glasnevin Cemetery burial register (O 54 Curran Square), Glasnevin Trust; ‘The 1851 Dublin City Census’, FindMyPast, citing Dr D. A. Chart’s index of heads of households in Dublin City, 1851, National Archives of Ireland.

.…………….

© 2015 Black Raven Genealogy