Patrick Donnelly & Anne Kenny, Omagh County Tyrone

[Elwyn Soutter]

I wouldn’t necessarily say Northern Ireland was mostly Church of Ireland. There were plenty of Roman Catholics too, and Presbyterianism is/was more common than the Church of Ireland.  In my opinion though, your family was probably RC. (98% of the Donnelly households in Tyrone were RC according to the 1901 census).

Anne Donnelly’s death cert says she was a farmers widow. Does that tie in with information on Australian certificates, ie that Patrick was a farmer?

I looked in Griffiths Valuation for 1860. Griffiths should list most farmers. There was only 1 Donnelly farm in Ballybray townland that year and it was occupied by Bernard Donnelly. Given her age, my feeling therefore is that this Ann Donnelly was probably married to Bernard.

http://www.askaboutireland.ie

The revaluation records show that Bernard ceased to be the tenant in 1863 when he was replaced by James (his son perhaps?). Probably indicates Bernard had died. James in turn was replaced by Eliza Quinn in 1875. There are no Donnelly farms listed in the townland after that point. Going by her death certificate, Anne was evidently still living there so possibly lodging with a relative. A married daughter perhaps?

By 1901 the farm was evidently headed by Alice Quinn:

http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/pages/1901/Tyrone/Donaghmore/Ballybray/1739092/

Now the tithe applotment records for 1826 do list a Patrick Donnally in Ballybray (plus 2 other Donnally farms) so that is an interesting piece of information:

http://www.cotyroneireland.com/tithe/t-a-donaghmore.html

Ballybray is in the RC parish of Donaghmore. It has no records earlier than 1837. However there is a note against those records in the PRONI catalogue to say that earlier baptisms and marriages may be found in the adjacent parish of Killeeshil (whose records start in 1816). Since this Anne probably married in the 1820s or 1830s, you might want to go through those early records looking for a marriage of a Donnelly from Ballybray to a Kenny, to see if this family can be ruled in or out.

The RC parish records are on-line free on the National Library site:

http://registers.nli.ie/parishes

I notice you give Anne’s age on the death cert as 83. And her date of death as 31.3.1887. The GRONI indexes give her age as 79, and date of death as 5.3.1887. Is there a mistake there? I ask about the age because if she was 84, she was pushing it to be the mother of a child born in 1851/53. Though ages on death certificates are often out by a few years, being just the informants best guess.

I suppose the next question to ask is how reliable is the information that your Anne died in 1887 and that it was in the Dungannon area. If the year is out or the location is out, you may need to widen your search a bit. As Hallmark has said, there are other deaths around that time of women whose age fits your information (10.1.1886 aged 73, and 12.1.1888 aged 63 being two). You might need to have  a look at them. Ann(e) Donnelly is a very common name in Tyrone and so this may not be easy.

[Renatha]

That fits as Margaret Donnelly (Anne & Patrick's daughter) married Ferdinand Lergessner at St Stephen's Church of Rome, Brisbane on 7th Nov 1872. Anne & Patrick didn't come to Australia. On the marriage certificate it gives her parents names as Patrick Donnelly (Plasterer) and Anne Kenny.

Margaret (aged 15) and her sister Mary (aged 22) came in 1866 to Melbourne, so Anne would have been 42 and 35 respectively when she had them. And dtr-in-law Cath Donnelly obviously was married to a son of Anne & Patrick of whom I'm not aware.

Mary Donnelly married Patrick Meenan in 1870 in Aus. (he was also born in Ireland) and they returned (at least to London) with their 3 young children in 1876. Somehow Margaret made her way to Brisbane and by 20 was getting married there, having, according to my aunt, visited Ellen Kelly (Ned's mother) on the way. I'd like to believe that 

So maybe if she was a widow, Anne was living with her son and Cath Donnelly in Ballybray and Patrick's farm had been in Dungannon?

You certainly seem to know your way around the Irish genealogy websites! I really appreciate your ideas.

[Elwyn Soutter]

There’s a huge difference between a farmer and a plasterer. The Ballybray Anne Donnelly was a farmer’s wife, not a plasterer’s wife. Farming is normally a full-time occupation and would not normally be combined with being a plasterer. I’d say the Ballybray family is not the right family. But to double check, you should go through the parish records to see if you find the people you are looking for.

If you think Patrick Donnelly died in Dungannon, you could go through all the deaths there from 1864 onwards (when death registration began). Searching 1864 to 1884 I see about 10 people of the right sort of age (ie 50 and over). Deaths from 1891 onwards are on-line free but for the moment for those in the period 1864 to 1890, you need to pay to view them on the GRONI site. Incidentally, a plasterer is likely to live in a town like Dungannon, whereas a farmer is not. A farmer would be in a rural area.

[Renatha]

There’s a huge difference between a farmer and a plasterer. The Ballybray Anne Donnelly was a farmer’s wife, not a plasterer’s wife. Farming is normally a full-time occupation and would not normally be combined with being a plasterer. I’d say the Ballybray family is not the right family. But to double check, you should go through the parish records to see if you find the people you are looking for.

If you think Patrick Donnelly died in Dungannon, you could go through all the deaths there from 1864 onwards (when death registration began). Searching 1864 to 1884 I see about 10 people of the right sort of age (ie 50 and over). Deaths from 1891 onwards are on-line free but for the moment for those in the period 1864 to 1890, you need to pay to view them on the GRONI site. Incidentally, a plasterer is likely to live in a town like Dungannon, whereas a farmer is not. A farmer would be in a rural area.

Thanks Elwyn, I didn't question the different occupations as it is not unusual for those to change in my more recent ancestors in Australia such as with Ferdinand (Patrick's son-in-law) being variously listed in census and on documents as Bushman, Farmer, Stonemason etc whereas back in Wales & Somerset where I have long lines of ancestors, they stay farmers generation after generation.

I do concede the Ballybray Anne Donnelly is not mine, though I tried hard to make her fit 

I'm going to try to see if Mary & Patrick Meenan went back to Dungannon.