WITH KARLEE TWINER
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Each month, we choose a member’s request for research help, and our genealogy expert Karlee Twiner offers insight that might help dismantle their brick wall.
This month’s request comes from member KAREN DURKAN, who is seeking more clues about her Irish-born great-great grandparents.
QUESTION:
I am hoping you could have a little chip at my huge brickwall! My great-great grandparents were:
John D’arcy b.1833 in Ireland
Bridget Connolly/Connelly b. 1838 in Ireland
They both moved to UK Lancashire, timings unknown, and first appear here on 1861 census, then 1871 and lastly 1881. After that the trail goes cold.
I do not have a clue whereabouts in Ireland either came from, and the only information I do have from their marriage certificate in Lancashire, where he was a soldier at Fulwood Barracks, was:
His father was marked as deceased, and his name was Nicholas and was a farmer.
Her father was also deceased, and his name was Gregory, also a farmer.
And that’s it!
They had 2 children, Nicholas b.1870 and Elisabeth b.1872. She was my great grandmother.
There was also a daughter born to Bridget’s first husband, William Gibbons, Mary, b. 1858 in Preston.
The 1891 census shows just Elisabeth as a servant, and there is absolutely nothing for the other three. I have done a lot of research on both sides of my family and my husband’s Irish side, too. His parents came from Mayo.
I have looked at other Irish records but turned up nothing. Nicholas and Gregory are not the usual Irish names I have, so I thought I maybe in with a chance of finding either John or Bridget with those fathers’ names but yet another blank.
My mum had Granny Elisabeth Robinson living with them whilst she was younger, but in those days never gave it a thought where people came from. I certainly didn’t. Now and for the last 20 years, I have looked at my ancestry tree and made big inroads, then it’s all there for my children and grandchildren to see their backgrounds, whether they want it or not.
I have done my mum’s DNA test, which does show the Irish side of her mum, the D’arcys. Her dad was totally English.
My husband’s showed 100% Irish on both paternal and maternal sides.
So that’s it. Nothing much to go on, but maybe there is something I never thought of or looked at. If you could help in any way I would be extremely grateful.
Many thanks,
Karen Durkan
ANSWER:
Hi, Karen!
Thanks for the question. This can be hard, especially with such common surnames, but there are things that you can try out.
Based on them first appearing in the 1861 census, most likely they moved over between 1851 and 1861. This is a time of very high emigration out of Ireland as it was immediately after the Great Famine. People often were trying to escape the possibility of being stuck in Ireland for another famine. Lancashire was also a very, very common place for Irish to end up as it is just across the Irish Sea.
You may be able to find ship manifests, but they are sometimes harder to come by for the Dublin-to-Liverpool trip, as it was technically “internal” and such a short trip. I would look to see if you can find their parents on ship manifests as well.
If you haven’t already, I would also look into Bridget’s first husband. Have you found a marriage record in Lancashire? If not, it’s possible they were married in Ireland, and you might be able to find her through that.
Because they were married in Lancashire, you are most likely looking for two different places. This can make it a bit harder, because you can’t use the two surnames against each other to check places.
One last piece of advice, try looking for newspapers. They had quite a bit of gossip in them, and they may just have where your family was from. It could have a marriage announcement, which may give a specific place.
I hope this helps!
Do you have a tough question for Karlee? Send your request, along with any relevant documents or photos, with the subject line Ask the Heritage Help Desk to stories@byancestry.com and yours could be chosen for next month’s column.
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