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I am the Gt Gt Grandson of John McCool. His daughter Margaret married my Gt Grandfather Patrick McDaid - my namesake. Margaret had sisters and a brother. I am short documentary evidence on most of them - I have strong circumstantial evidence however, or in some cases best-guess hunches.

I am particularly interested in hearing info re: Mary McCool (who married James Burns); Susan McCool (who married Robert Gamble) and Ellen McCool (who married Edward Coyle).

I have documentary evidence of the subsequent lives and families of these women but I am anxious to see if they are indeed sisters. They all turn up at some point or other as a witness to a wedding or are present at a birth or a death.

Greetings from north Co. Dublin

 

Patrick McDaid

rotorua

Tuesday 25th May 2021, 11:04AM

Message Board Replies

  • Patrick:

    As you likely know, John McCool died in 1893 in Legland and his son John was the informant.

    When I was searching for baptismal records, I found out that the RC church Raphoe only has records starting in 1876 but the few records I located, the townland was Legland in Convoy civil parish.

    I located the three civil mariage records for Ellen, Mary and Susan. All showed John as the father but none of the ladies showed Legland as their home. However, all three may have been working away from Legland. 

    My hunch is that Susan and Mary were sisters to Margaret but I'm inclined to believe that Eleonora was not a sister.

    Roger McDonnell

    3rd record Eleonora McCool/Edward Coyle 

      https://civilrecords.irishgenealogy.ie/churchrecords/images/marriage_re…

    top record Susan McCool/Robert Gamble    https://civilrecords.irishgenealogy.ie/churchrecords/images/marriage_re…

    top record Mary McCool/James Burns  

    https://civilrecords.irishgenealogy.ie/churchrecords/images/marriage_re…

    Castlemore Roscommon, IrelandXO Volunteer ☘

    Tuesday 25th May 2021, 05:34PM
  • Thank you Roger.

    I have the records you mention and have the same hunches as you. McCool is a very common surname and there were more than a few John McCools at that time. I have a DNA link to the Gt Granddaughter of Ellen McCool. Both Edward and Ellen were present at either births or marriages of the other McCool girls and so I am inclined to accept Ellen as their sister as a result.

    While Susan is recorded as living in Tops and Mary in Drumkeen, these places are all in the Raphoe area. The Census of 1901 does not have any record of McCool in Tops - not concrete proof of anything I know, but sometimes handiness crept in to the data entry in my opinion and I have uncovered some howlers in my research. Drumkeen Church would have been the nearest church to Legland: indeed my Gt Grandparents Patrick McDaid and Margaret McCool are buried there.

    There are records of additional sisters Anne x 2, Madge and Margery and a Bridget which appear in various documents but not in all. Bridget is recalled by my father (deceased) via HIS father that there was a Bridget. Again I have strong circumstantial evidence regarding Bridget but no smoking-gun.

    My mother remembers a lady locally in the 1960s who my father maintained was a distant cousin of his father's. Her name I can trace back to indicate Susan as being a relation. I suppose we just have to accept that best guesses and hunches may be all we might ever have in this game.

     

    Many thanks for your interest

     

    Patrick

    rotorua

    Tuesday 25th May 2021, 07:09PM
  • Hi Patrick!

    I live in the States but one of my lines (Brennan) came from a small townland called Glenfad a couple miles from Lifford. They emigrated in 1865 to Philadelphia.

    All the best!

    Roger

    Castlemore Roscommon, IrelandXO Volunteer ☘

    Tuesday 25th May 2021, 09:11PM

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