Donovan

Hello Tom, 

My great great grandfather was Michael Donovan from Newfoundland born approx 1840. He married Sarah Pardy. They had my great grandfather named Patrick and another son named Thomas. I would love to find out more from you. Do you have a Gedmatch number? 

Regards, 

Amy 
 

Hi Amy

Nice to hear from you. My wife & I have been researching the Donovan family tree for about 20 years. Its not an easy task when there are very few records from early Newfoundland. I do not have a Gedmatch #. I have done a Y-37 DNA test through Family Tree DNA but that file cannot be used for Gedmatch. I would need to get a Mitochondrial test done. I presently live in Calgary AB. Moved here 6 years ago. Interesting fact, my daughter is also named Amy

Here is the information that we have gathered over the years:

My family's earliest Donovan that emigrated from Ireland to Nfld was a Michael Donovan, witnessing a baptism in Ragged Harbour ( now Melrose, Trinity Bay ) in 1819. He then marries a Hanna (Johanna) Doody in 1825. This is her 2nd marriage. She was married to Patrick Doody in 1816 & they had at least 2 children. Her maiden name was Godfrey. She then marries Michael. This record was found in the Harbour Grace RC parish records.They had 7 children including my ggfather Patrick (b. 1842) and your gggfather Michael (b. 1837). It appears that your Michael may have been married a 2nd time. Our research shows a Michael Donovan married Mary Cotter in 1863 in Ragged Harbour. They had one child Catherine in 1864. We found no evidence of the death of Mary. No church death records for that area around that time. Then in 1867 he marries Sarah Pardy from Broad Cove (now Duntarra, Bonavista Bay). I found evidence that they had the following children: Terrance (1868), Johanna (1870), Ellen (1877), Elizabeth (1880), Patrick (1883), Mary Bridget (1885) & Bernard (1888). I did not find a Thomas although there is a 7 year gap between Johanna & Ellen. I believe several Donovan's my have moved to Broad Cove from Ragged harbour by the end of the 19th century.

I did chat with a Bridget Lush (ne Donovan) back in 2015. I dropped into Duntarra & by chance found her. She was one of the last Donovan's left in the community. Her father was John Donovan (1910) who, I believe, was the son of Terrance born to your Michael and Sarah. According to Bridget Terrance died shortly after John was born. He was only in his early 40s.

I hope this helps in your research. I still have relatives in Melrose but there are very few Donovan's left in the area. I have still not made the connection to Ireland although it has to be one of the following counties: Waterford, Wexford, Kilkenny, Tipperary, Cork. All have a connection to the Newfoundland cod fishery. The River Barrow connects those counties or is close and the river takes you to Waterford, where many emigrants left to get to Nfld. Wexford, Cork & Kinsale are other exit ports for the Nfld fishery back in the early 19th century. We did visit Ireland in 2014 and was told I had a Waterford accent.

Please contact me again if you have any questions or if you can fill in any of my gaps. I haven't done much research on other siblings of my direct line. You have given me another nudge to get back at the family research :)

All the best

Tom

Hi Tom, 

Thanks so much for all this wonderful information!  I'm on most of the DNA websites (23 and me and MyHeritage) as well, if you are able to upload your DNA.  Would love to know if we are related!  I've found a lot of people on Ancestry that have similar Donovan trees but we are not a DNA match?  Makes me wonder if I have the correct information.  I've only been able to find records and DNA matches that support these children of Michael and Sarah Pardy:  Johanna (Anna), Thomas, Ellen Mary, Patrick, Elizabeth, and Mary Bridget (Bride).  I've been told that Michael's father was possibly TERRENCE DONOVAN but can't find any records to support this.  Where have you found the information you've shared with me?  First born son of Michael and Sarah would suggest Terrence/Terrance (also considering his grandfather might also be Terrence) but I can't find records (birth, death, marriage) to support any of it. I've never seen Bernard (1888) but, I do have a Bernard Donovan in my family born in 1915 in Chicago, IL.  So, this name make sense...

I haven't found evidence but I suspect my Donovans were from Cork or Wexford - but again, no proof?

I have just recently connected with family that lives in Bell Island -  Descendants of Ellen Mary and Bride Donovan.  Both sisters married brothers with the last name KELLY. Patrick Kelly died in a mining accident and Bride remarried Thomas Dwyer. I'm not familar with Bridget Lush Donovan so I need to do more research on Terrence....I also have an uncle named Terrence, so again, the name make sense to my tree.  

Again, thanks so much for all this information.  I'll let you know if I dig up any new findings!

Best, 

Amy

Hi Amy

I had my DNA tested by FamilyTreeDNA. I have my family tree posted there and on Ancestry but to be honest the advice I have seen from genealogists is that DNA should only be used as last resort. If a paper trail cannot be found then DNA could help but even then it would have to be a pretty extensive test. My understanding also is that the further back you go (in generations) the weaker the evidence becomes. I find the DNA testing/process to be very confusing. When I did my test I thought it would be a quick shortcut to find family however it has not turned out that way. Nothing beats paper trails & that takes work. It can be boring and can lead you down a lot of rabbit holes. I have been able to get back to 1819 in Nfld. I figure the next leap is back to Ireland

A lot of information can be obtained on line, some free but most have a fee. The information I passed on to you (pre 1890) was found in church records. They recorded baptisms and later marriages. The original records are not easy to read but it is real proof of a connection. My early information was obtained at the provincial archives at The Rooms in St. John's, mostly from the original records of Kings Cove RC/Anglican church then the Boavista RC records (after 1840). Some records were found in the records of the Harbour Grace RC church. There is a lot of information on the website "Newfoundland Grandbanks" (census, business directories, grave photos etc.). Government records were not kept until the 1890s. Even then many churches sent in information that was not completely accurate ( they were given a fee for every record which led to many false reports). I tried to attach a couple of records that I found that might be of interest to you but I got an error message. I will try later.

I am confident we are connected. That area of Nfld (Boavista peninsula) had a small population and communities were close to each other. You should be able to confirm that your ancestor Michael was the brother of my ancestor Patrick with a paper trail. The only assumption I have made is that my/your Michael was the same person that married Mary Cotter first then Sarah Pardy. Sad to say but it was not uncommon during those times for a woman to die in child birth. Do you have a trail from you to Michael Donovan & Sarah Pardy. It shouldn't be hard to find government records after the 1890s. Prior to that church records would be your best proof. If you have a subscription to Ancestry you should be able to access the necessary records. Another site that just came on-line recently concerns the research of John Mannion ( www.themannioncollection.ca ). He was a professor at MUN & did a lot of research on the Irish in Nfld.

I wasn't aware of the Bell Island connection but honestly, as I mentioned before, I haven't followed the siblings of my direct ancestors. If by accident I came across something (like the record of the baptisms of Michael & Sarah's children) I would make a note. I will definitely keep that Bell Island connection in mind. None of my DNA connections show in Nfld. Most are in USA or Ireland, but then again those connections are the only ones who completed their test on FamilyTree. Not only that but there are only a very few with a close match and only 3 who have the name Donovan. However I keep getting notifications weekly of any "new relatives". So you never know. I have been a member of the irelandxo site for years and you have been the only one with a Donovan connection to respond to my posts.

Can't seem to send those files. I can email them to you if that works for you. Where are you located? My email: tfdonovan51@yahoo.ca

Tom

I see one of the files was uploaded. I shows the baptism (King's Cove RC) of your Michael in 1837.

Hi, my 3x great grandparents were Terrence Donovan & Ellen Carew of Broad Cove, Bonavista Bay, Newfoundland married in 1836. I think that the Michael Donovan who married Sarah Pardy was the son of my Terrence Donovan who was a native of Lismore, Co. Waterford, Ireland who emigrated to Newfoundland previous to 1820.

Regards,

Bill H

Hey Bill,

Nice to hear from you. Thanks for responding. You are correct. Michael was Terrance's 2nd child. I continued my conversation with Amy (above) through email and was able to locate several records for her confirming the connection to Newfoundland, including naturalization papers, WWI draft registration, census information and the gravesite picture for Patrick who was the son of Michael and Sarah. He entered the US in 1904 and died in Illinois.
I will have to check out the Lismore connection. I am convinced that my Michael and your Terrance are related. They appear in several church records witnessing marriages & baptisms for each other. My gg grandfather Michael lived in Melrose (Ragged Harbour), which is across the Boavista peninsula in Trinity Bay. I think Michael, Terrance and a Nicholas came to Nfld together. Hopefully I can connect them to Lismore. Have you done much research on you tree? Are your ancestors from Michael & Sarah?

All the best
Tom