Owen (Eugene) CONNOLLY, Virginia, Cavan

[BlandTree]

I am looking for anything about Owen Eugene Connolly, now dead, who lived in the 1950s in Virginia, Cavan.  I don’t know if he was born there or moved there but his father was also Owen Connolly, a smallholder & labourer. 
I don’t know his mother’s name. 
His date of birth is also unknown.  His wife said that he was 10 – 15 years older than she and we know that she was born in 1934, making Owen’s birth around 1919-1924.  However, on the marriage certificate (1957, Wandsworth), Owen’s age is given as 25, giving a birth year of 1931/2. 
A witness on the marriage certificate is M Connolly, who I think must be a relative.
His wife’s parents disapproved of Owen and when she fell pregnant she came to England and had the baby in St Pelagia’s Convent (1956).  Owen followed her and they married 6 months after the child was born but the birth was not registered for a further 9 months, in December 1957, by Owen only.
Apparently Owen had two sisters, Teresa & Bridget/Bridie who came to England.  There might have been other siblings who remained in Ireland.

Any help or advice would be very much appreciated.

[aghadowey]

You've already started a thread for him in February-
http://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php?topic=741653.msg5882680#msg5882680

[myluck!]

Hi BlandTree
Since the February Topic did you obtain his death certificate and marriage certificate to add to this information?
In February you seemed certain of his Date of Birth but not now 

Can we state facts as:
Owen CONNOLLY married Kathleen Bridget McNALLY in 1957 Wandsworth

Father named Owen
There are 22 marriages of an Owen CONNOLLY from 1905 to 1935 - LINK

Witness at marriage named M Connolly - suggesting a relative

He is deceased - year?  (England 1998 death suggests 1917 birth)

Presumed to have two sisters who also went to UK? why from what source? Can you look up their marriages for hints and details?

[BlandTree]

Humble apologies to all.  I have now had a chat with the nephew of the Owen Connolly who was born in 1917 and died in 1998, and he has convinced me beyond doubt (but for reasons which have to remain confidential), that this Owen Connolly cannot be the father I am looking for even though the d.o.b is about right, the birth county is right and, at his death, he was living less than six miles from the address I have on the marriage certificate.  So, I have reposted a request , with extra information, and left out the d.o.b.

I have been asked to find, if possible, the last resting place of Owen Connolly, the father of a friend of mine.  He left the marital home when my friend was about 2 years old so she never knew him and bears no resentment but, at 60, she would like to know about him and to visit his grave to lay flowers there & say  “Goodbye”.

The marriage certificate states that Owen Connolly married Kathleen Bridget McNally (my friend’s mother), 30 March 1957 in Wandsworth and that he was a Metal Factory Labourer whose father was Owen Connolly, Labourer.  A witness was M Connolly.  Coincidentally, the Owen Connolly who was born in 1917 also worked in a Metal Factory!

The vexed question of Owen’s d.o.b. is explained on today’s update.

My friend knows, from her mother’s sister, that Owen came from Virginia, Cavan, and that he had two sisters, Teresa & Bridget/Bridie who also came to England.  My friend was born in September 1956 in St Pelagia’s Convent, her parents married in March 1957 but the birth of my friend was not registered until December 1957!  The informant was Owen Eugene Connolly but he does not give his middle name on the marriage certificate or in any Electoral Register which I have found.

Kathleen was pregnant with her 2nd child just 3 months after the registration and about this time, or a few months later, Owen had left the marital home and later obtained a divorce, claiming custody of my friend but lost the case in court.  I have spent many hours in the British Library, Boston Spa, searching local newspapers for announcements of the divorce or court case, without any success.

I can find no trace of the 2nd child and neither can the Salvation Army Family Tracing Service.  A far as we can tell she did not go home with her mother from the hospital, no adoption is recorded on her birth certificate and we have not found any record of her death.  Kinship care seems unlikely as her mother had only one sister and there is no father named on the birth certificate (which might be the reason for the divorce), issued 5 days after the birth.  But this is not the purpose of my research.

I hope that this explains the reason for this 2nd posting and, as before, any help or advice would be very welcome & appreciated.

[aghadowey]

Does your friend have an original copy of her birth certificate? and if so, is this the one issued in December 1957? or do you mean the quarter covering Oct./Dec.1957?
If the mother was unmarried when she gave birth to a child in March 1957 then there should be a registration under the mother's surname. It could be that the Dec.1957 'registration' was merely adding the father's name to the birth certificate.

[myluck!]

Thank you BlandTree for the explanation; no apology was required 

Did the 1957 marriage take place in a registry office or church? If it was in a Church, especially a Catholic Church, there may be a record of where Owen was baptised to help you backtrack, also some churches recorded the mother's name of Bride and Groom. This may be another place to look.

Where you state the witness is shown as M. Connolly - was this in a transcript or original? If on a transcript it may be worth asking if this is all that was written (some people do not transcribe the full detail) Also if a transcript there may be a notation on the record that was not passed on.

Also was your friend baptised? either in 1956 or 1957, as again this may be a source of added information.

In our tree there is a missing aunt who would be 93 if still living, she left the family home in 1962 and last trace of her is in 1977; we assume there is a chance she is still living but the hope fades each year. I can relate to your friend's want for closure and wish you luck.

[BlandTree]

For: aghadowey

Thank you for your reply to my post.

Unfortunately, and against my advice, my friend ordered the copy of her full birth certificate from the GRO and it is type-written so may well be a copy of a copy!  I have telephoned Wandsworth Register Office and had a helpful conversation with a registrar who tells me that it is not possible to have a photocopy of the original (although some London Register Offices do this), so the best I could buy would be a photocopy of the copy they originally sent to the GRO.  That’s no good to me, I wanted an original so that, if I ever find a close living relative he or she might be able to identify the signatures of the groom and/or M Connolly (a witness).

The birth date on the certificate is 16th September 1956 and the certificate was issued on “6th December 1957 on the Authority of the Registrar General”.  It appears in the index in the 4th quarter 1957 and also in the 3rd quarter 1956, handwritten at the bottom of the page with the note ‘See D/57’.  This is 100% a late entry, not an entry to add a father’s name, and it is a copy of the first certificate issued.  Interestingly, the sole informant is Owen Eugene Connolly.  The child’s surname is that of her father as her parents were married at the time of registration.  No mother is present for the registration and the middle name ‘Eugene’ does not appear on the marriage certificate or in any Electoral Roll that I have seen.

The question of the late registration is puzzling but we are dealing with St Pelagia’s here (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/10932969/Convent-that-forced-young-mothers-to-give-up-their-babies.html) and it may be that Kathleen refused to register her daughter in order to prevent an unwelcome adoption.

[BlandTree]

For: myluck!

Thank you for your reply and kind words.

The wedding took place in St Anselm’s Catholic Church, Borough of Wandsworth.  Unfortunately we know that Owen Connolly followed Kathleen McNally to England as an adult but was born in Ireland, so the baptism wouldn’t have taken place in Wandsworth.  However, I am not familiar with Catholic ways so would there be a note of his baptism kept in the church where he was married (perhaps as proof that he was indeed a Catholic communicant)? 

Unfortunately, and against my advice, my friend ordered the copy of her full birth certificate from the GRO and it is type-written so may well be a copy of a copy!  I have telephoned Wandsworth Register Office and had a helpful conversation with a registrar who tells me that it is not possible to have a photocopy of the original (although some London Register Offices do this), so the best I could buy would be a photocopy of the copy they originally sent to the GRO.  That’s no good to me, I wanted an original so that, if I ever find a close living relative he or she might be able to identify the signatures of the groom and/or M Connolly (a witness).

There is no record of the mothers’ names on the wedding certificate.  Where would I look for that information?  Should I contact St Anselm’s?

I don’t know if my friend was baptised, but I know that she regularly attends Mass, so I suppose she must have been.  I’ll ask her.  That’s a great idea, but she had a difficult childhood and I know that she was fostered for a while, aged about two or less.

Good luck with finding your aunt.  I won’t presume to be able to find someone who you have not been able to find, but I do have a little experience of finding living & recently dead relatives and have recently found the father of my friend’s half -brother, plus a half sister he did not know existed and an uncle who has supplied a huge amount of information.  Do feel free to message me if you think that I might be able to help!

Regards

Malcolm

[aghadowey]

Registration of birth was mandatory so the mother wouldn't have been able to decide not to register.

Child was born in 1956 yet parents married in March 1957 so I'm still wondering if there was an earlier registration in 1956.