RootsChat.Com

Many thanks for that. I'll Google the book you mention and see if I cxan trace a copy. I was quite surprised when I first discovered that the Hatchell branch of my husband's family seemed to be Irish but some time later I read, on Rootschat I think, that Hatchells had gone to Ireland from the south of England with Cromwell and settled there. It seems plausible but I've no idea of the truth of it. Your reply has rewakened my interest and it's pobably time I had another go at trying to find out more about them.

Best wishes

Marie.

Hi

Thanks for your message. I read about the possibility of a connection with mainland Europe for this name some years ago when I first began researching my 'roots'. Unfortunately, I've never been able to get back beyond my Sauce g.grandparents who were first recorded in England in 1861 and were said on that, and on all later census returns, to be from Ireland but with no town or county given. They lived at Windle, St Helens in 1861 but by 1871 had moved to Widnes. There were other Sauce families scattered about England in the mid-to-late 1800s but there were some quite nearby in Warrington. They, also, were said to be from Ireland on several census returns although on the 1891 census they were shown as being from Galway. I've no idea if that was city or county or if there was a connection with our Sauce family.

Any records which may have been helpful were with my mother's aunt and seem not to have survived the clearing of her home after bereavement. My side of our family is about three-quarters Irish and I'm hemmed in on all sides by brick walls.

Good luck with your search!

Best wishes, Marie.

Thanks Crabby (surely not!). I'll check that web site out because the only thing I can be reasonably certain of is that Patrick and Mary were both born in Kilkerrin and their daughter, another Mary, was born in Co Galway. I'm hoping to come over in June or thereabouts with my sister (We're 'getting on' in years so no time to waste) and will have to marshall as many facts as I can.

We've visited Ireland a number of times over the last forty years but just travelled around and loved it but this time we'll have a specific purpose in mind. Roscommon was another place our mother mentioned and we assumed it was Co Roscommon but it's possibly Roscommon, Co Galway. The problem is in knowing which branch of the family she was referring to when she said these things!

Best wishes

Marie.

Thanks for that. I had seen it and it means that he was awarded a victory medal at the end of WWI but without any other details, date of birth etc, I dismissed it. I've looked at all the other WWI records from time to time in case any more have been added because some of those records give a great deal of information and are really helpful.

Without checking, I always forget that George was actually born in 1874 but there was another George Hatchell also born in Liverpool but in 1875. I ordered the wrong birth certificate which showed his father was Simon Hatchell, possibly a brother of 'our' George's father, John.

The family was listed on the 1881 census in Liverpool as Matchell but John and Esther later moved with their younger children to Ditton/Widnes.

Esther was a widow, surname Murphy, when she married John Hatchell. The other George's parents were Simon Hatchell and Mary Murphy but I've never been able to establish a link between the two families although I live in hope!

I can't trace George on the 1911 census records released so far or in any death records but he may have changed his name. He abandoned his family when my husband's mother, born November 1911, was an infant and family lore claims he travelled to the US.

Many thanks for your interest and suggestions

Marie.

Even more information.  You're a wonder! If this is 'my' Mary do you think this indicates that she may not have been born at Kilkerrin or just that Glenamaddy is the nearest town?

Mary married in Widnes in 1905 and I've been able to trace her on the 1911 census (this morning) and her place of birth is given as just Galway. 

Marie.