Enniscorthy Catholic parish registers at National Library of Ireland
https://registers.nli.ie/parishes/0593
Looking at Eliza's baptism in the register on the first microfilm, a note in the last column is "militia". So Eliza Ryan's father, John Ryan, was a member of the militia.
Eliza was born near the start of the wars with France which lasted until 1815. John Ryan may have been moved around Ireland and Britain as part of his militia service. He may have gone on to join a regular army regiment. On the other hand he may have done all his military service in Ireland. There was unrest in Ireland at the time, threatened French invasions during the decade and rebellions in 1798. County Wexford was a centre for one of the risings.
Sponsors at Eliza's baptism were Ben Wildrife (?) and Anne Myles. Do those names mean anything to you? Wildrife is an unusual name. Perhaps another militia member?
Have you searched the marriage register for marriage of John Ryan & Suzy Macnelly? The register began 1794. It's possible they moved from elsewhere.
Alrighty, thanks for the help. I would not be surprised if they travelled around a lot, they do seem to have married a traveller family and if keeping to tradition, irish travellers only really married other irish travellers.
Apology for my long and detailed post. In reading it you have overlooked or misunderstood an important point I made. So I've quoted those parts again.
My reason for suggesting the possibility of John Ryan and his wife coming to Enniscorthy from elsewhere was that John Ryan was in the militia when the Kingdoms of Great Britain & Ireland and their allies were engaged in a major European war which lasted more than 2 decades. An estimated quarter of a million men from Britain and Ireland took part.
The militia were a locally recruited defence force. They were mobilised in times of war or other emergencies and were deployed to wherever they were needed. Apart from the war with Revolutionary France there were plenty other emergencies happening in those times. Thousands of men of military age were moving around Ireland, Britain, Europe and the world because of the war 1793-1815.
Some of those men married women whom they met when they were away from home; some wives accompanied their husbands when they were moved to a new posting. Some wives gave birth (and buried children) when they were away from home.
There is plenty of information online and in books about militia, French Revolutionary Wars, Napoleonic War, United Irishmen, 1798 Rebellions, military barracks in Ireland and other related topics. Also museums and historical societies in Wexford.
I was merely alerting you to the possibility that John Ryan and/or his wife, Susy Macnelly may have come from elsewhere and just happened to be in Enniscorthy when their daughter was born/baptised. It was a suggestion. You would have to do further research on them in Enniscorthy to find out if they were settled there or not. E.g. look for baptisms of siblings of Eliza; marriage of John Ryan & Suzy MacNelly; evidence of other Macnelly people already there.
Catholics were only allowed to enter the British Army in late 18th century. ( Penal Laws.)
Family historians find evidence, (in this case that John Ryan was in the militia, as noted at Eliza's baptism), familiarise themselves with the place and the time (Enniscorthy, Wexford, Ireland, 1790s, war with France, all of which are significant), search for corroborating evidence, consider absence of evidence, and remain open-minded to alternative possibilities.
Nowhere in my previous post did I mention the word "traveller". The key word was "militia".
There is no need to quote entire posts. If you want to comment on or query part of a post, quote that bit. If you only want to make a general comment or say thanks for the post, the poster's name and post number is enough. e.g. I might have put " Ruskie, re. reply #6. Thanks, you made a good point." Or "Rosinish reply #2. Very interesting."
