I've been looking for information on the family of Duncan McConnell and Catherine Douglass McConnell for several years now. Here is what i know: Duncan was born in County Donegal in 1797, father Bryan, mother Hannah. They were Roman Catholic. His wife Catherine was probably born in Moville Upper, father John, mother Mary about 1807-1809. Her gravestone says 1809. There is a birth record for a Catherine Douglass born in 1807 in Moville Upper in the Anglican church records there. They left in 1838 to join relatives in the US but were shipwrecked on Coffin Island near Liverpool, NS, taken to Port Medway by the stage coach driver and settled there. I suspect that there were three children with them: Bernard, John and Thomas. Margaret, Charles, Hannah and Hugh were born in Port Medway. My cousin says her mother told her that the family traveled to Glasgow and left for America from there. I have a record of a Bernard McConnell, owner of the Brigantine Three Cheers, Master Mariner, that says he was born in Londonderry about 1830. That would indicate they spent time in Londonderry. Bernard always said he was born in 1833. I have no idea who the relatives in the US were that they wanted to join.
I can't seem to find any record of this family in Ireland at all. I can't find Bryan and Hannah. I don't know where they lived or if they had other family. There doesn't seem to be any birth records for the three boys or a marriage record. The only ship that could possibly have been their ship was the Fly and there is no information on that either. My aunt told me the ship was in a hurricane and too damaged to continue on. There is a possibility of there being two girls, Sarah and Jane, relatives, that came with them. I have found a possibility for Sarah, nothing on Jane. Sarah left a record of being in a shipwreck outside Liverpool, NS. I believe her parents were in Ontario, Canada and she hoped to join them there.
If anyone can help me with the Irish end of this family I would be truly grateful. I have Ancestry but I don't have any Irish sites. I've searched on Family Search and Geni and Wiki any other place I could think of. Thanks so much. Any hints at all would be wonderful.