McConnell of County Donegal and Londonderry

[ncarmb]

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.

[rathmore]

family search

http://www.familysearch.org

Donegal resources

http://www.donegalgenealogy.com

[rathmore]

family search Bernard McConnell born 1833 married a Eliza Owens in 1871 Halifax Nova Scotia
Bernard Dad Duncan McConnell and Catherine

[ncarmb]

Thank you so much.  I do know that Bernard (Barney) was born in 1833 in Londonderry from his marriage record and because he was the owner of the Brigantine "Three Cheers".  Unfortunately I can't connect that to anything in Ireland.  There seems to be no record at all of his father and beyond the record of his mother's birth, that's also a dead end.  The ship's record is a little vaguer, saying he was born in Londonderry, it puts his birth year at between 1829 and 1832.  Bernard and Eliza had no children and Bernard died on board the Brig Arthur off Clinton, Mass. US, where he is buried.

I can't find any information at all on his two brothers.  I have the family Bible and some family papers so I know that John was drowned off Table Bay in South Africa.  My father always said it was pirates,  he was made to walk the plank and that he was 15.  I don't know where he got that information. I suspect he was born in Ireland but no date, no location and nothing about the ship he was lost on, although I have looked through shipping records until my eyes crossed. Irish naming patterns would put him as the second son.  And I know nothing at all about Thomas (Tommie) except that he is buried in the graveyard of the Catholic Mission near Mill Village.  I don't know when he was born or when he died or how old he was or anything.  I suspect he was born in Ireland. Neither show up on the 1861 census so I suspect both were dead or away from home before that.

The rest of the family I know quite a bit about.  Margaret was born in 1839 in NS .  The Bible says she died in December, 1922,  Hannah was born about 1841 in NS and died in Boston, Mass of smallpox in 1902.  She and Margaret were milliners.  Charles died of pneumonia in 1886 in Port Medway.  Hugh was lost in the wreck of the Bonnie Jean in 1873.

Once again, thank you for bothering to look up information for me.  I appreciate every clue and hint I can get.