Thomas Mannion

[heywood]

Re the witness to the Mannion/Laffey marriage. This is likely to be her:

1851 2021/270/7

Mary Alward 26 yrs b Ireland.
She is the wife of Richard Alward.
Their address is Browns Yard, Oxford Street, Bilston

[thearobin]

Patrick's surname is written as Laffey.  On looking for a Bridget Laffey there is this:

Name:    LAFFEY, BRIDGET   
Age at death (in years): 25
GRO Reference: 1857  D Quarter in DUDLEY  Volume 06C  Page 84

Might not be any of the Bridget's you are looking for, but with all the various spellings you are faced with, it's something to keep on the back burner!  The age does match the Temple St. Bridget though.

This Bridget's burial says she was the wife of Andrew Laffey.

Excellent spot as per usual

[thearobin]

Re the witness to the Mannion/Laffey marriage. This is likely to be her:

1851 2021/270/7

Mary Alward 26 yrs b Ireland.
She is the wife of Richard Alward.
Their address is Browns Yard, Oxford Street, Bilston

Thank you, yes I have that - Richard was a coal miner too (as was Thomas Mannion) and Familysearch seems to think Mary's maiden name was Gorman / Gormanly.  I've not got very far with them yet as I did find death record in Massachusetts yesterday afternoon for a potential daughter which stated her parents' names as above but when I looked more it seemed the wife was born in Newfoundland so I lost the trail a bit and need to revisit them

[rosie99]

AYLWARD, BETSY       mmn GORMAN 
GRO Reference: 1849  June Quarter in WOLVERHAMPTON & SEISDON  Volume 17  Page 353

Another alternative for Mary Alwards maiden name   
ALWARD, JOHN       mmn GARMERY 
GRO Reference: 1850  Dec Quarter in WOLVERHAMPTON & SEISDON  Volume 17  Page 320  Occasional Copy: A

[heywood]

There doesn’t seem to be an obvious connection to the Alwards other than neighbours perhaps.

Are the Mannions now being discounted?

[rosie99]

I would think that it is very likely that they were just 'friends'

Marriage Sep qtr 1848 
ELWOOD    Richard       
GORMAN    Mary       
Wolverhampton    17   375

[thearobin]

thanks both - I had Betsey and John and then there was a Mary Ann in the USA who named her parents as Richard Aylward and Mary Gorman and I started late yesterday to look at them but then found the wife was from Newfoundland so assume I probably tangled two families and needed to look properly.  Once i had Mary's MN I assumed they were work colleagues (Richard and Thomas) rather than related.

I can't find Luke Comer the other witness but I did find that a Bridget Comer married a William Cavanagh and had a child Cecily who died aged 1 in Bilston, Staffs

I'm not discounting the Mannions yet as I can't find them anywhere after the marriage in 1855 and because their address is Oxford Street in Bilston and my Bridget Laffy and John Cavanagh are also in the same road in later censuses I want to make sure she didn't marry someone else briefly.. although I must admit I'm starting to think such proof doesn't exist and I may as well accept it was a different Bridget!

[heywood]

Oxford Street and surrounding streets, seemed to be one of the areas of Irish settlement so it could be quite possible that, as always, they stayed amongst their own.

In 1871, Bridget gives her birthplace as Westport and John as Rose Hill. I don’t know about Rose Hill, there are a couple of possibilities.

There is one baptism, I can see, for a Bridget Laffy but it is 1835 

[thearobin]

Oxford Street and surrounding streets, seemed to be one of the areas of Irish settlement so it could be quite possible that, as always, they stayed amongst their own.

In 1871, Bridget gives her birthplace as Westport and John as Rose Hill. I don’t know about Rose Hill, there are a couple of possibilities.

There is one baptism, I can see, for a Bridget Laffy but it is 1835 

Ah yes, so that baptism is to (if I have the same one as you) a Matt and Ann Laffy and online trees have these as her parents.  But they also have her marriage to John Cavanagh in 1842.. which makes her a tad young so I've ignored it for the time being. One of those two dates can't be right.
Rose Hill for John is actually not far from Westport but it's not on modern-day maps, I found a paragraph mentioning it and various parishes (https://www.duchas.ie/en/src?q=kilmeena)