Nestors of Ennis

[clare-nestor]

This is my brick wall. If anyone knows of this family or has any advice or comment I would like to hear it.

I am not very experienced at family history. Perhaps someone who is would like to judge whether I should lay claim to these people or not.

I can identify three of my great-grandfather’s generation, all born in Ireland. I have a lot of information about them after they left Ireland, but almost nothing before then.
Catherine NESTOR was born about 1832, Thomas NESTOR about 1841/2/3 and Mary Ann NESTOR about 1848. In official documents they all gave Ennis as their place of birth and John NESTOR and Bridget WALSH as their parents.
In addition, family tradition speaks of two girls, names and dates unknown, who emigrated to America, and "were never heard from again after the San Francisco earthquake." (1906)
Also in my research I have found a John NESTOR, born about 1850/1. He appears in Widnes, Lancashire as baptismal sponsor to one of Thomas’s daughters in February 1870, and then dies in an industrial accident in April of that year. He could have been Thomas’s younger brother.

Griffiths, published in 1855, therefore possibly compiled in 1853/4 shows a John NESTOR living in Drumcliff Ennis. When Catherine entered Australia in 1853 she stated that her parents were resident in Ennis. Mary Ann said the same in 1864.

Research done at Clare Heritage centre some years ago showed only three John NESTORS in Clare with children baptised between 1835 and 1845. Only one had a son Thomas, and he was the John NESTOR living in Ennis.

Ennis baptismal records show four children baptised in Ennis with John Nestor as the father; THOMAS       baptised 24 Nov 1841
BRIDGET        baptised 22 Jan 1849
JOHN              baptised 24 Mar 1851
ELIZABETH     baptised 13 Mar 1855.
Catherine’s baptism was about 1832, before the registers began, so she wouldn’t show there. There is a baptism for a Mary Ann Nestor in Askeaton, Xmas Day 1848, with parents John NESTOR and Bridget WALSH, sponsor Thomas NESTOR. The dates fit well so this is probably “my” Mary Ann, which means she wouldn’t be in the Ennis registers either.
So far, so good.
This is where it gets tricky.
Bridget was baptised in Ennis on 22 January 1849, less than a month after Mary Ann’s baptism in Askeaton, so could hardly be her sister. Unless they were twins, (and there are two sets of twins further down the line) but if they were twins, why not baptise them both in Askeaton?
The real problem though is that the mother of the children baptised in Ennis is named as Bridget HERBERT, not Bridget WALSH.