My very mysterious great-great-grandfather was John Mitchell born about 1844 in Northern Ireland, according to the family stories. He most likely arrived in Victoria, Australia about 1860 but so far I have been unable to determine just John Mitchell he is. His marriage and the births of his 10 -12 children were never officially registered, but baptism records were found for 9 of the children. And, of course, the registration of his death has not been found. However he is annotated as deceased on his wife’s death certificate and on a few of his children’s marriage certificates.
Recently I have found three DNA matches each with a Mitchell marriage dating back to the 1850s – 80s in Bailieboro Cavan. All have a John Mitchell as the father, but the forename of these three Mitchells is the same as three of my John Mitchell’s children born in Victoria. From the Irish Genealogy site, civil records, they are:
Rebecca Mitchell married John McKelvey 3 Mar 1854, Bailieboro;
William Mitchell married Ann Fox, 7 Aug 1862, Bailieboro; and
Francis Mitchell married Isabella McCleery, 7 Dec 1881, Bailieboro.
There are a few more Bailieboro marriages with a father listed as John Mitchell but I am yet to find a DNA match to them and the forenames don’t match any of the remaining children born in Victoria.
I recently took a subscription to RootsIreland in the hope that the available church records for Bailieboro Cavan may unearth some more details but I couldn’t find any baptism entries in Bailiboro, or in Cavan or the surrounding counties that match. Are there any other records that might point me in the right direction? Maybe someone reading this has a connection to the Mitchells!
Mark Smith
Canberra, Australia
