Advice please...

[Jax49]

Hi all.

My reason for posting is I need to pick some brains of people far knowledgeable than I in Irish research.
I am aware of the pitfalls in presuming ...

I have posted a few times about Charles O'sullivan, and have been quite successful. My problem is going back a generation.
In 1911 Charles is with his family in Cornamona, he was a postmaster/ex RIC/Farmer. Previousley he was serving in Cork, Kerry and Clare (RIC records and births) I am presuming after retirement he moved back "home". On his marriage certificate (C of I) his father was Martin O'Sullivan, farmer. The only other entry in the 1911 census for a O'Sullivan that was of the church of Ireland was a John O'Sullivan, farmer. He was quite a bit older that Charles so I am guessing he was his uncle and that Charles was a farmer on the family farm. As you can see another presumption!!
I have a marriage for a Martin O'Sullivan to a Jane Clarke at the Cof I church in Cong, the parish that covers Cornamona. Martin is a scripture reader and his father was a Michael Sullivan, farmer.
On the Griffiths Valuation there is a Martin Sullivan  farming in Cornamona and a Michael and John  Sullivan in Dooghta (same area) Unfortunatly I cannot find a baptism for Charles therefore I cannot find the link. He was born c1853, it is possible that the records were destroyed in the 1922 Dublin fire.. Later in the year I hope to go to Dublin to check the CofI records for Cong.

Does anyone think the odds that I have the correct are people quite high, without that last bit of proof.

Hope you can put my mind at rest!!

Jax

[Christopher]

Hello Jax,

I'm wondering if there might be other documents that might tell you more about your ancestors. Newpaper death notices or other records such as Estate Records may help. There's a list of Galway Estate Records mentioned on the From Ireland website of Dr Jane Lyons of Dublin.

I doubt that records of the Galway Sheep Breeders Society which was founded in 1922 will be of use to you but they may help someone at some stage if they mention farmers who were members of the Society.

Christopher 

[Jax49]

Thanks for the reply Christopher, I shall have to have a look at those records, I will try anything.

Thanks again for your help and interest

Jax

[Jax49]

Just to update on my search I think I have cracked it!!

On a trip to Galway in January I went to the library to look at the 1901 census for Cornamona and there was Jane O'sullivan aged 67yrs living in the same house as Charles was in 1911...and she was a Postmistress. To top it off I cheekily wrote to 3 O'Sullivans in the area asking for help and of all things one of the gentlemen had a death record for a Jane CLARK O'Sullivan, Postmistress in Cornamona. She must have kept her maiden name. To me that has proved she is his mother without doubt.
Sometimes luck and being persistant pays off.

Good luck to everyone else.

Jacqui