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Hello Catherine,

Thank you for your post.  Henry Dowdle's story is very interesting, it seems we have a black sheep!

Patrick Dowdle, born c 1849 does fit in neatly with the other family members and It is very possible that Sarah Dunbar was Henry Dowdle's second wife and the mother of the last two children only (Henry and Sarah).

From my research, it is clear the Dowdle family were devout Catholics and, therefore, the other children would have been baptised, probably in the Westport area.  I have searched through many sources for baptism records without success.  I will try again this winter as I feel these missing records are the key for further progress..

I do not have any other information beyond what has been discussed on this thread.  If we continue to document our findings here, then perhaps we may attract the attention of other contributors from the wider Dowdle family.

Best Wishes,

John 

 

Hi James,

That is very interesting.  My line goes through William Dowdle through his son William Henry who ran a pub in Chorlton (possibly the Bulls Head on Granby Row) between 1901 and 1911.  William Henry died quite young at 37 and the family had to move as the licence holder had to be male. 

William Henry was married to Annie Birmingham and they had seven children including my Grandmother, Annie Dowdle.  The family eventually moved to Bolton, Lancashire where I was born. 

I checked through the available census records for Westport and there were no Dowdle names recorded so I suspect all the younger Dowdles left the area, in the aftermath of the Potato Famine, with many arriving in Manchester.  The area around Chorlton was known as Little Ireland due to the high number of Irish immigrants living there.

We are probably distant relatives so its great to hear from you James and to hear your story.  I will post again when something new pops up.

Best Wishes

John 

Hello Brian4Arsenal and James,

I think there is a good chance that Patrick H Dowdle is a relative of my William Dowdle, perhaps a brother or Uncle.  They seem to pass on the name Henry as a middle name.  Henry son of Henry must be William's brother.  This is the first record I have seen of Henry Dowdle in Westport and is a great help for my research so thank you so much for this.

William Dowdle married Catherine Poland in 1866 in Chorlton (St Augustine Chapel, Granby Row) is the likely venue.  They had 10 children:

Ellen Dowdle:  1867-1870, age 2 years.
Annie Dowdle:  1869-1937, age 67 years.
WILLIAM HENRY DOWDLE:  1872-1908, age 37 years.
Ellen Dowdle:  1874-1915, age 41 years.
Peter Dowdle:  1876-1940, age 63 years.
John Dowdle:  1878-1879, age 5 months.
John Joseph Dowdle:  1880-1906, age 26 years.
Catherine Dowdle:  1882-1884, age 15 months.
Catherine Mary Dowdle:  1885-1966, age 81 years.
James Dowdle:  1888-1890, age 2 years.


Peter Dowdle was a civilian casualty of the Manchester Christmas Blitz.  Peter was in the Brunswick Inn, Temple Street, on the evening of the 23rd December, when the air raid took place.  His death is registered in Manchester (Q4, volume 8d, page 189).

Thank you both for your help with this family.

Best Wishes,

John   

Hello 

Thank you all for your replies.  I have not been able to find any of them on Familysearch and I do not have any other access to records.  The Thomas Cunningham in New York could fit as the Uncle, but I hope its not him as it already a tragic story.

Thomas was named as god parent to Mary in 1893 and this is the only evidence of him since his birth record.  So he must have been alive in 1893.  There is no record of him ever being in Lancashire and my Uncle thinks he went to America as a young man.

Thank you once more,

John.

Hello KGarrad and Heatherjulie,

Thank you so much for your replies.  The baptism records are the correct details.  I think the god parent Elizabetha O'Neil could be the Eliza O'Neil who went on the adopt and raise Joseph Cunningham.  Eliza O'Neil could be key to this story! 

The John Cunningham listed in the Industrial School looks very interesting as I can see the birth place and age details being confused in such circumstances and the family were living in Salford at the time of John's death.

I have discussed these baptism records with my Uncle who says there was a rumour in the family of a Mary Cunningham who went to live in America.  He thought Mary was John the Father's sister.  Could the rumour have been about John the Son's sister Mary.

I have done some research about the Cunningham family in Ireland and there is no record of a Mary Cunningham.

Eliza O'Neil did a fantastic job with Joseph who went on to have a large family.  She obviously knew something of Joseph's siblings, but never told Joseph about their existence.  Joseph also knew two of his Uncles, Patrick and Michael in later years as they lived locally.  They too kept the existence of his siblings secret.  Hence the mystery.

John