John James Driscoll/O'Driscoll

[heywood]

If this is the right family, Dennis Driscoll married Mary Ann Cornhill in 1850.

[taramcdsmall]

Well done Heywood !

I'm sure with names like Dennis Driscoll the family originally came from Cork at some point !

Tara

[heywood]

I would agree. 

So where does Clifden come from and is this the right family?

It is all quite difficult because there are lots of Driscolls in Poplar

1861 has another family Denis and Bridget Driscoll with a 5 yr old son.

So looking back over this:
If your suppositions are right with Mary and Henry Ward and Mary Elizabeth Woods - then the 1881 address and young Charles'  link them.

[taramcdsmall]

Rereading the original posts it looks like there is some confusion allright !

I'm just wondering about the different occupations - engineer on his daughter's marriage cert, labourer on some of his children's baptisms and seaman on other records

Suppose we'll have to see what 'Jack....' has to say !

Tara

[Jackstar666]

Hi thanks everyone for your help, I got the Clifden birth from a member forum on ancestry but failed to realise that it was a Clifden in Australia, which I only knew of the Galway Clifden so now I know.  But was told by my grandmother that her family was from Galway, so have been looking to find out anything from Galway.  But if the John Driscoll and Mary Elizabeth scenario is right, then a William Dennis Driscoll would be the brother of John James and so would another Mary Ann Driscoll living in poplar according to the 1861 census. Am really confused tho about what Heywood said about the Mary Ann married to Daniel McKenzie because I'm wondering whether it is John's sister or mother if Mary Ann Cornhill was the one?  Also Tara you are probably right about the Cork connection there, if the Denis Driscoll in the 1851 census is the right family then it says he came from Cork originally, but looking for a Denis Driscoll in Cork is like trying to find a needle in a haystack:( Am still wondering why it was that John Driscoll was listed as having different occupations, tho have tried to gain some insight into this by looking at the history of Mellish St and learnt that the owner of the land around there Lord Mellish died and his son inherited the land and built houses made for the Dockworkers around the area. So whether or not he could have been in the merchant navy in any position even stoker and just put it down as Seaman I'm not sure.  It is a mystery how they disappeared from the 1881 census, also am still confused about the different occupations, I know the other John Driscoll living in the area was also an engineer, this is what is really confusing at the moment, just trying to piece everything together.  Thanks again for all your help will try to look into it more, then let you all know what I find out.

[heywood]

Sorry to confuse you Jack.

Daniel McKenzie married Mary Ann Driscoll - widow - her father being James Cornhill. So that was the mother he married.

[taramcdsmall]

Hi there,

1. I really think you can rule out Clifden as being where your Driscoll's came from. I thought you have documentary proof that he was from there, but given that you don't and the extreme rarity of the surname in the county, it would be unlikely they were from there.

2. Given that you have mentioned that there are stories of Galway in your family. Maybe one of the women that married a Driscoll was from Galway

3. Yes you will have trouble tracing the exact Denis Driscoll in Cork, but I think you've a lot more work to do in Poplar and Meelish Street to be 100% sure that you are working with the right family before you even think about looking in Cork.

4. I wouldn't worry about the occupation for now. 'Seaman' as far as I'm aware can cover a multitude of jobs as indeed can labourer, as to his daughter saying that he was an Engineer on her marriage cert, sure maybe she was showing off or exaggerating, or maybe as he died quite young she didn't know his exact occupation, so I would rule out engineer as his occupation for now.

5. With cases like yours, I think the best thing to do is start from scratch with the hard copies of all documents and paperwork that you have. Start with the marriage cert of Mary and Henry infront of you, then look on all the census for possibilities for her in the 1891 cenus (search for the family in as many different ways as possible ie by surname including variations of spellings, by christian names and years of birth and places of birth, also look at occupations).

6. At this point you will probably need to invest in some certs, but in saying that you are lucky in that you search area has quite a lot of records online on ancestry.

Hope that makes sense and you have a breakthrough soon !

Tara