Gellies, great to hear from you. Joseph Sennett and Julia Ann Ryan are my direct ancestors too - my line comes down through one of the younger children - their 10th child Edward b 1858.
Juliana (Julia Anna) SENNETT, your ancestor, was christened in Wicklow 18th Jun 1845 at Temple Rainy Chapel, Avoca Parish, Co Wicklow. There were actually at least four children born to Joseph and Julia Ann in Wicklow before they emigrated to Whitwood sometime during 1847/48, however only two (James and Juliana or Julia Anna) were still alive at the 1851 census. I have the christening details of all of these.
I was in Ireland last year and had some wonderful breakthroughs with finding this information, however it came on my last day or so there, so I didn't really have time to push it much further back. I believe I may have the christening details for Joseph and a couple of his brothers, although there are still some things that don't quite make sense in these earlier generations, in particular accurately sorting out the different people with the same first names.
My possible christening details for Joseph Sennett are:
- Joseph Sinnott, son of James and Mary Sinnott, born Kilmacoo (Avoca valley), christened 16 Dec 1816 at Castlemacadam Church of Ireland, Co Wicklow.
If this is the right one, then there are at least two more brothers:
- Francis Sinnott, born Kilmacoo, chr 1 Jan 1811, Castlemacadam Church of Ireland
- Edward Sinnott, born Kilmacoo, chr 4 Oct 1813, Castlemacadam Church of Ireland
This Edward could be the Edward Sennett who also emigrated to Whitwood, Yorkshire between 1841 and 1851 and who married Bridget Quin on 22 Nov 1853 at Halliwells Chapel, Tanshelf, Pontefract. They did not have any children.
From a couple of different descendant lines there is the family story that they came from Rathdrum - Castlemacadam parish is a neighbouring area to Rathdrum, so this fits. Also Castlemacadam is on the edge of the Avoca mining area, which is where the children were born and where Joseph probably worked.
I ran out of time to look for a marriage of Joseph to Julia Ann. I stayed at a b & b only a few miles from Temple Rainy Chapel and the woman who ran it told me that Ryan was definitely a common Catholic family name for that area. I'm now wondering if the Sinnotts were not originally catholic but Joseph converted when he married Julia Ryan.
All the above information needs checking and confirming, and in particular the marriage of Joseph and Julia Ann Ryan needs to be found, however I believe there is at least one other couple with the same names around the same time (but in a slightly different area) just to confuse things. I think there are also two James Sennett/Sinnotts of the right kind of age to be the father of Joseph - one a joiner and one a miner. These also need sorting out. And I'd like to confirm how James Sennett (b abt 1804 and married Martha White, then also emigrated to Whitwood) is related to Joseph, because they do appear to be related in the way members of each family are names on certificates of the other family as witnesses or informants).
I'll send you a personal message so you can get my email contact details. I'd love to hear more of what you have found out, see how that compares with my research, and pass on anything that is relevant to you that you don't already have.
Are you still living in the Normanton area? It seems like a lot of the descendants of Joseph and Julia are still, with the exception of my line, where Joseph's grandson Edward (b 1883) moved his wife Fanny and children to Aylesham in Kent to work in the Snowdown colliery in about 1926. Most of those descendants are now in the south of England.
