My wife's great-grandfather, Patrick John McCall, was born in Glasgow in 1857 to an Irish couple named Patrick and Judith McCall. All we know is their names, that they were Catholic, that Patrick was a farmer in Ireland and a laborer in Scotland, that Judith's maiden name was also McCall, and that Patrick died before 1888. There are literally no further records of this couple in Scotland or England, and no record of their son before his marriage in London in 1888 - and trust me I have looked. The fact that there are NO records other than this birth makes it a real mystery, and makes me assume that the answer lies in Ireland.
The only glimmer of hope that I have is that Judith is an unusual name, and that there is a history of Scottish McCalls in Ulster.
I know that the records are sketchy, and that this is needle in a haystack sort of stuff, but there are some interesting leads on familysearch.org:
- An 1841 census record for a Judith McCall, born 1833, in Killashandra, Cavan.
https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/QV9Y-QGKM- A probate record from 1858 for a Patrick McCanl in Cavan
https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/KCFK-GZS- A probate record from 1877 for a Patrick McCall in Cavan
https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/KCN9-6SJVarious tithe records also cite Patrick McCall in Cavan, but of course his name is more common. On the possible theory that Patrick may have indeed died soon after his son's birth, there is also a family with a Francis Callan and Judith McCall that appears in the records in Ballybay beginning with children in 1865 - a possible remarriage?
A true mystery - can anyone help?
