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Hi all,

I'm currently researching the family of my great-grandmother Bridget Mary CONNELL, generally known as Delia O'CONNELL after her arrival in Queensland, Australia in 1882. My mum and I have been ferriting through various resources online and have reached a bit of a dead-end. We can find lots of mentions of Pat Connells in the area but cannot be sure which one is "our" Pat.

At present, as far as actual documentation goes, we have Bridget (Delia)'s birth record which my mum obtained from the Ennis parish office ten or so years ago, when she visited Ireland. Her details are as follows:

Birth registered in Drumcliff parish on 3 April 1963 with parents given as Patt CONNELL and Jeane COLLINS. She arrived in Queensland in 1882, at the age of 18/19, on the Western Monarch.

As to Pat(t) and J(e)ane, we have since found that their marriage is registered in Drumcliff parish on 5 October 1852. Sadly mum didn't know that when she visited Ennis so we do not as yet have a copy of the details provided in the registry (which leads to a question I will ask a bit further on!)

Apart from Bridget/Delia, Pat & Jane were parents to Mary (b. 11 Nov 1853), John (b. 2 Jul 1857), David (b. 17 Jul 1866), Thomas (b. 14 Apr 1869), Patrick (b. 15 Mar 1872) and Michael (b. 30 Sep 1873). Each of these births was registered in the Drumcliff parish.

So, two questions really:

1. Do these name/places/dates ring any bells/make any connections with others?

and

2. Does anyone know how we would go about obtaining the marriage registry information for Pat & Jane from Ennis parish short of visiting Ireland again? I haven't tried the obvious yet, i.e. emailing the parish office and asking, so that may be an obvious answer. I'm just wondering if anyone else has had experience of obtaining information from them from overseas.

Thanks in advance for any and all pointers!

Tuesday 25th Nov 2014, 11:54AM

Message Board Replies

  • Drumcliff is the name of the Catholic parish that covered Ennis town, and they have transcripts of their records online - see : http://www.ennisparish.com/genealogy/

    The marriage of Patt and Jeane appears with the date you mentioned. The actual register would usually include names of witnesses, and possibly place of residence for one of the couple. Parents names would not usually be included on a marriage record for this timeframe.

    EDIT : RootsIreland (pay-website) have transcripts for Ennis/Drumcliff in their system, but just baptisms so far. They only started to add records for Co. Clare recently, so might be worth keeping an eye out for an update for their system with marriages ..

    Shane Wilson, IrelandXO Volunteer ☘

    Tuesday 25th Nov 2014, 12:12PM
  • Thank you very much for your speedy reply. Ah, that's a bit of a pity to know we probably won't get the parents names from the registry! A place of residence would be nice, though, as it would rule in or out various possible Pat(rick) Connells I've found around the place, so we'll still figure out how to get hold of that information.

    Again, thanks for the pointers. Much appreciated.

    Tuesday 25th Nov 2014, 01:21PM
  • It looks like there's a parish admin. for this section, so hopefully they will be able to advise further.

    Shane Wilson, IrelandXO Volunteer ☘

    Tuesday 25th Nov 2014, 01:24PM
  • Dear vlconnell

    I have passed this to a Clare volunteer in a neighbouring parish who will be in touch soon

    Best wishes
    Clare Doyle
    Genealogy Support

    Tuesday 25th Nov 2014, 03:39PM
  • Thanks so much, Clare.

    Much appreciated.

    Viv.

    Wednesday 26th Nov 2014, 05:09AM

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