Patrick DONAGHY

In the PERRY line of my son-in-law, here is Patrick DONAGHY, the Irish great-great-grandfather of brothers Brent & Martin, 3rd great-grandfather to their children. I have very little information on his parents, on him and his wife, and his 9 known children. But at the same time, I do have "some!" 

Note spelling variations seen on various documents: Donaghey, Donaghee, Donaghey, Donaghoe; and for his wife's maiden name: Magenis, Magennis, Maguines, Maginess, etc. 

Patrick DONAGHY was born approximately 1840 in Emyvale, Monaghan, Republic of Ireland.  That information is inferred by the details of his marriage in Emyvale and his wife and all children's births in Emyvale or nearby Glaslough, and in several Censuses.  In 1860, he was living in Emyvale, as seen on the Griffith's Valuation book.  Note Glaslough is about 5km southeast from Emyvale.

Born in the Emyvale region of County Monaghan, near County Tyrone, Patrick eventually married Martha McGuiness [many variants of spelling - Maginnis e.g.]. They were both Roman Catholic. Their marriage in approximately 1864, Co. Monaghan, was followed by 9 children, all born in the Emyvale/Glaslough region.

Patrick Donaghy and Martha McGuiness children:
   1.  Catherine, bap 19 Jul 1865, Glaslough
   2.  Mary, bap 2 May 1868, Glaslough
   3.  Ann, bap 21 Jun 1870, Glaslough
   4.  James, bap 7 Jan 1873, Glaslough
   5.  Martha Jane [ancestor], bap 7 Dec 1874, Emyvale, d. 11 May 1968
        Staffordshire Eng; m. James PERRY, 2 Aug 1898, Glasgow,
        Scotland; 5 children
   6.  Bridget, bap 15 Apr 1877, Emyvale
   7.  John, bap 17 Aug 1879, Emyvale
   8.  Susan, bap abt 1883, Emyvale
   9.  Thomas, bap abt 1886, Emyvale.

The family moved over to Glasgow, Scotland apparently before Martha & Patrick married 2 August 1898. When Patrick & Martha's  daughter Martha Jane married on 2 Aug 1898 in Glasgow, Patrick's occupation is listed as "blacksmith (journeyman)" at that time. The North Channel between northern Ireland and Scotland was quite commonly taken by people looking for work and higher wages. I suspect that several of the older children may have moved to Glasgow or thereabouts at some time before the 1901 census.

It is obvious that the family moved to Glasgow for only a few years, as children #6-9 were baptised in Emyvale, Monaghan, Ireland.

The next item I have found for Patrick is a listing in the 1894 Slater's Royal National Directory of Ireland. Living in Emyvale, he is listed under the column "Commercial" as a Nailer. Slater's lists the village of Emyvale in 1891 as having had a population of 320, on 27 acres of total land. Not a lot of land for farming for the number of possible families. perhaps less than one acre per family. Wheat, oats, and barley were the common grains grown, plus perhaps some cows and pigs. Perhaps some people shared acreage with extended families in order to grow enough food each year. 

By the 1901 Census, Patrick and Martha had moved back to Emyvale and living with only their youngest daughter Susan, aged 17.  Patrick's occupation is listed as Nailer. The older children Catherine, Mary, Ann, James, Bridget, and John, were likely working in Scotland, perhaps married. I haven't done all the Scotland research for them as yet. Thomas would have been 15 years old, but isn't listed on the census for the village of Emyvale.  Many threads to be followed up on. 

On the 1911 Census, Patrick and Martha are living still in Emyvale with only their youngest child, 25 year old single Thomas, living with them. Patrick's occupation is listed as Nailer once again, and son Thomas' occupation is "Shop Assistant."

On all the Censuses, Martha's education is always listed as "cannot read", while Patrick and the children show they can both read & write. He has a clear neat signature as seen on the 1901 and 1911 censuses.

More research is clearly needed, as I have no information on the children as adults, either in Ireland or Scotland.  I have Martha Maginnes Donaghy's death in June 1915 (i.e., 2nd Quarter of 1915). But no record of Patrick's death yet. To date, I have found no details of his parents, nor Martha's parents in Ireland. Another blog post after more research! 

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If these are your ancestors, I am happy to share what little I have on these ancestors. And if there are errors, please do let me know, via calewis at telus dot net, and I will get back to you by email. I appreciate the opportunity to correct any issues or add additional information in these family trees.

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"IN THE CENSUS," for #52ancestors challenge: 3 Generations of GILLESPIEs

Here we are on Week 5 of the year-long challenge of writing weekly 52ancestors/52weeks by genealogist Amy Johnson Crow.  This week the prompt is "In the Census."

Here is an 1881 England Census return which gave me 3 generations of my father's family: names, ages, birthplaces, residence address. The "do" on the right column is ditto for place of birth being Ireland for every member of this 3-generation family. This area of Walney [Walney Island] in Barrow in Furness, in north-east England, had many who were born in Ireland, now working in the shipbuilding industry or supportive industries.

However, I thought this was NOT my ancestor family when I first found it. In fact I scanned past it as the names didn't seem to match the tiny bit I thought I knew about my father's GILLESPIE family from England. This particular census of the neighbourhood ward of Walney [Island] in Barrow in Furness, Lancashire, showed the Gillespie family all born in Ireland. Well, that couldn't possibly be true - I "knew" that the Gillespies all came from England. I kept looking in England and found a few other possibilities but still, they were not particularly likely, I believed.

I took my list of  5 possibles and looked for them in the following Census, 1891. I eliminated 3 of the possibles because of the children's names - wrong group of names, wrong ages. That left me with only two possibilities.

Ohhh, and then the 1901 Census [above] in Barrow showed a Wm John married to Harriet with daughter Elsie. I knew my Aunt Elsie was the eldest of the Gillespie children. My family - very likely.

And the 1911 Census cinched it. There were all the correct names for my aunts/uncles, in the correct order. This 1911 Census in Barrow in Furness showed their birthplaces also - huge clues for me to use to research further for my Grandma's family in England. I was able to find my Grandpa's father and mother in the 1911 Census, with their birthplaces in Ireland as well.

The confusion about my grandfather's name, William John. I'd always known his name as Jack, and I assumed that was a nickname for his correct first name being John. My mistake. He was going by his second name, which became a nickname, Jack. Don't know why I didn't twig to this shift in names when I first saw the 1881 Census. It was early in my genealogy searches, and clearly I was not as attuned to variants in names at that time.

In addition - this 1911 Census was written in my Grandpa's handwriting - isn't it beautiful? I've since found his signature on my Dad's birth registration as well, confirming this is indeed his handwriting.

Treasure - one finds treasure in the Census. There are so many possible clues to use for further research. The church district listed on the Censuses, place of birth for all in the household, ages, how long married, number of living children, occupations, residence at time of Census, signatures, and more.

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If any of these are ancestors of yours, I would be happy to hear from you with your comments or corrected information. I am also very happy to share any details I might have that are not shown on this post. Contact information is found at the very bottom of this blog.

Blogger has a glitch which is stopping me from replying to your comments, but please do know that I appreciate your comments very much. You make my day! Thanks so much for stopping by to read my family blog.