Margaret McDonnell GGM

[brnn69]

Hi I feel a little despondent reading about the potential difficulty finding details for ancestors in Ireland given the sketchy state of my information I have about my Great Grand Mother who was Margaret McDonnell

Margaret is shown on 2  family records I have as being born in County Monaghan, Ireland.
Margaret McDonnell ended up in NZ, I believe she immigrated to NZ with her family in the period 1864 - 1866 (best guess still searching ship immigration and passenger lists).

Margaret married a Richard Andrews from Oxford England in Oamaru NZ in 1878 or there about.

Unfortunately my NZ records have become clouded with the spelling of Margaret's surname between McDonnell and McDonald and my estimation of DOB for Margaret is again a best guess! The Death record for Richard does show that at the time of his second marriage to Margaret McDonnell she was shown to be 31 and 73 at the time of his death in 1932 which would indicate Margaret's year of birth was 1858 or 1859 which is still questionable.     

[hallmark]

Well you probably have a lot of clues that you are not giving which makes it harder for anyone to help!

"Margaret is shown on 2  family records".... do they give father's name or any clues?

"she immigrated to NZ with her family"... who were her family? parents/siblings? etc

Religion?

You need to reduce the potential difficulty finding details for ancestors in Ireland given the sketchy state of  information you have about your Great Grand Mother who was Margaret McDonnell by giving ALL the clues you have in a logical way.

[brnn69]

Hi Dave thanks for the encouragement, I am no where near giving up on my GGM just yet! The clues I have are as follows'
1) A copy of an official birth record for a Son William James Andrews (my GF) born to Richard & Margaret Andrews 6 Sept 1890 Oamaru NZ, the maiden name recorded on the report for Margaret is McDonnell. born County Monaghan, Ireland. The conflicting information on BR show William's parents marriage as 1877 5 August.
2) A copy of an official death record for Richard Andrews Q"To Whom Married" shows his wife's maiden name as Margaret McDonnell aged 73, age at time of marriage 31 (this is suspect or could be 21 very hard to decipher).
A conflicting clue:
3) Located a marriage record for a Richard Andrews to a Margaret McDonald (note surname difference) date 5 August 1878, Oamaru (diff between the date recorded on Son William James BR probably an error). Age for Margaret shown on MR is 19 which puts birth in the 1858-59 period. It is possible this MR is wrong although official BDM record search in NZ do not list any other R&M marriages in the period.
4) search of immigration / passenger lists thus far show only one McDonnell family arriving Auckland NZ 6 Sept 1855 a Mr & Mrs McDonnell with 6 Children (no names or country of origin) I noted this and kept searching as arrival date prior Margaret's set DOB. There are still many passenger lists to troll through. 
I do not yet have a correct copy of Margaret's death record and thus far no mention of her mother or fathers name.
Cheers & thanks again for your feedback        

[aghadowey]

Just keep in mind that McDonnell and McDonald are used interchangeably in Ireland so the records you found so far are really for the same surname.

[brnn69]

Good to know thanks for that.

[brnn69]

Bearing in mind the information that McDonnell & McDonald are interchangeable maybe another clue.

I have a copy of a death record for a Margaret Andrews (widow) died March 1938 aged 86 years in Oamaru, NZ, shown as Married to a Richard Andrews. Margaret's father shown as William McDonald (Farmer), Mother listed as Margaret McDonald. Birth place shown as Cork, Ireland. Religion Roman Catholic. Number of years in NZ 66 which would put immigration 1871-73 period and DOB 1851-53 period

I had dismissed or felt this record as being for the incorrect Margaret due to the number of inconsistencies i.e. Birth Place, Age information inconsistency across records, Issue (Children) Living & age inconsistencies, Surname.

If date /age information is correct it would have had Margaret at 20 years or so when she immigrated to NZ! I not sure if it was common for young ladies of that age to be unaccompanied / single in that period undertaking such an adventure?   

[hallmark]

it was common for young ladies of that age to be unaccompanied / single in that period undertaking such an adventure, in fact there were 'schemes' to get single women to Oz due to shortages of single women in Oz as domestics or as 'wife' potential there