Author Topic: Mary Smith Orphaned in Offaly 1876  (Read 1141 times)

Offline Ailish

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Mary Smith Orphaned in Offaly 1876
« on: Thursday 07 March 19 12:52 GMT (UK) »
Hi Guys,

I am new to rootschat, I hope I am posting in the right section.

My grandfather recently took an Ancestry DNA test. We were contacted by a person in England who was a 3rd-4th cousin match to my grandad and gave us an outline of his family history.

His grandmother Mary Smith is, as far as he knows his only Irish connection. She was his grandmother and the story that was told to him was that she was born in 1876, Tullamore, Co. Offaly. She was placed in an orphanage and subsequently adopted by a Thomas Smith. She was sent at 18 over to England to work for a family in Cheshire. She met and married the gamekeeper there and that is all the information I have.

I have created an extensive family tree for my grandfather's side; nobody in the tree is from outside of Dublin until the 1810s. So my question is: what are the chances of someone in Dublin possibly having a child in Tullamore and giving them up for adoption in 1876?

Also would the orphanage have been an industrial school? If so, would there be any way at all of finding out who Mary's real parents were? or would they have any records from that time. I could only find a St. Johns for girls in Birr and it was built around the 1860s so maybe it was there that she was placed.

We are trying to find out who our MRCA was. Right now, it could be anyone in my grandfather's tree from any side. It would be great to narrow them down.

I was thinking that maybe they kept her name as Mary and maybe I could just hop into the GRO in Werburgh street and just systematically search for any Mary's born in Tullamore in 1876.

i know this won't be easy and probably won't bear any fruit, but I would like to at least try.

Thank you,
Ailish

Offline hallmark

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Re: Mary Smith Orphaned in Offaly 1876
« Reply #1 on: Thursday 07 March 19 12:58 GMT (UK) »



Why not just look online??


 C Reg Birth results for Mary of Tullamore from 1876 to 1876

Displaying results 1 - 75 of 75.


http://www.rootschat.com/links/01nhg/


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