Wow, Thanks Shane & Aghadowey You guys are a mine of info.
I thought a possible link to Cuthbert Eccles was slim but one which at least needed to be proven/disproven. The more I look at the info you have given me the more I question a link even further. Given the ESQ status of Cuthbert Eccles, The Army Major son and the strong Anglican Church connections I really wonder how likely it would be that a son of Cuthbert would become a relatively lowly prison warder married into a middle class catholic family.
I first heard the family stories from elderly relatives in New York 1970. These were grandchildren of Robert and at the time I dismissed their claims that we were descended from landed gentry. Specifically they claimed we were directly descended from Gilbert Eccles b 1602 Kildonan, Ayrshire, Scotland, d 1694 Shannock, Co. Fermanagh. They had a family tree (which I still have) purporting to show that Robert was a son of Daniel Eccles b 1787 Ecclesville Fintona, d 1869 Monaghan. However, there is no proof offered that this connection is correct and given that I have established other inaccuracy's in it I very much doubt it. I have found reference to Daniel Eccles will with an estate of £250 but no mention of a son Robert (though it is possible that he pre deceased Daniel). The name Robert recurs in almost every generation of the Ecclesville Eccles from the 1600's on.
So, while I have my doubts about somebody from either of the above backgrounds becoming a prison warder and despite some errors by the aging relatives they did have some accurate info relating to Eccles of Ecclesville that I feel sure must have been handed down through the family and that there is some truth in the stories.
Phil