Patrick Donovan and Mary Sullivan w/daughter Bridget

Hi Tracey,

Thank you very much for your message. I hope that someone with information makes a connection with you.

In the meantime, as Bridget was born after 1864 you should be able to find a civil record of her birth. Civil records are available from the GRO. Here are their contact details:

General Register Office

Government Offices

Convent Road

Roscommon

Ireland

Tel:+353 90 663 2900

Locall:1890 25 20 76

Fax:+353 90 663 2999

Homepage: http://www.groireland.ie/

You could also check Church records for the parish for her baptismal records and even the marriage record of her parents to see if you can get any more information from them. Most Catholic records are held locally so you may need to write to the local parish priest for possible assistance. One website that you may find useful is the Irish Times where they give an overview of what records are available in specific parishes. It also shows you where copies of the records are available. Trinity Without civil parish falls under Ballybrickan Catholic parish, whose records have a very early start date:

http://www.irishtimes.com/ancestor/fuses/rcparishmaps/index.cfm?fuseaction=showidrecords&CityCounty=Waterford&parish=Ballybricken&churchid=1091

As you can see from the above link Waterford Heritage Services have copies available. Here is their email if you would like to contact them, however a fee may apply: mnoc@iol.ie

Have you tried looking for record of the family in the 1901/1911 census records? If you haven?t already done so here is the link:

http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/

I did a quick search for Donovan in Trinity Without in the earlier land record called Griffith?s Valuation (1848-64) and one result came back:

http://www.askaboutireland.ie/griffith-valuation/index.xml?action=doNameSearch&Submit.x=30&Submit.y=9&Submit=Submit&familyname=Donovan&firstname=First+Name&baronyname=&countyname=WATERFORD&unionname=&parishname=TRINITY+%28WITHOUT%29

It is possible that this is Patrick?s father.

Some other websites that you may find useful are:

The National Archives of Ireland http://www.nationalarchives.ie/genealogy1/genealogy-records/introduction/

The National Library of Ireland http://www.nli.ie/en/family-history-introduction.aspx

Irish Genealogy Tool kit: http://www.irish-genealogy-toolkit.com/

Genealogy links: http://www.genealogylinks.net/uk/ireland/waterford/index.html

Waterford Library: http://www.waterfordcity.ie/library/iguana/www.main.cls?p=bc1d4f27-9c52-4d61-94cc-f197673e7ad4&v=96512350-cb7e-4884-830b-9bbc0be46682

From Ireland: www.from-ireland.net

IGP: http://www.igp-web.com/waterford/

I hope this is helpful.

Kind regards,

Genealogy Support

Hello Emma!

Thank you so much for your helpful response.  I think I am getting myself confused though.  I've now found a lot of Bridget Donovans who were born in 1868 on the GRO, but since they do not mention the parents' names, I have no idea how to narrow them down.  I may be able to locate some on Ancestry.com to rule them out, but I know I never found that many on there.  Is there a way to find out the names of the parents without having to pay for approx. 12 birth record copies?  :-(

So in short, I now do not know for sure that my Bridget was born in Waterford.  The sole reason I connected her with Waterford is because the only document I found with her parents' names on it was a Bridget born there in 1866.  All other records from the U.S. indicate she was born in 1867-68 (except for an errant one that says 1861!). 

I checked the census records and there are a whole slew of Patrick Donovans...pages and pages of them.  I think I'll have to narrow down the town before looking there I guess.

Thank you for your advice!

Tracey

Tracey

From www.rootsireland.ie - Brigid Donovan baptised in 1866 in Trinity Without, parents Patrick Donovan and Mary Sullivan. Nine other baptisms with same parents between 1866 and 1884 in Trinity Without. Rootsireland has transcriptions of the baptism entries for a fee.

The 1901 census has a Patrick and Mary O' Donovan and three children William, Joseph and Mary living in Barrack St. (100 yds from Trinity Without (Ballybricken) church.) Patrick is a shoemaker. Both Patrick and Mary shown as born in Co. Kilkenny. -  http://tinyurl.com/o6dmkcn

The 1911 census has a Mary Donovan, widow and a William O'Donovan both lodgers in Barrack St. The census also shows that Mary had ten children born alive and four still living in 1911. - http://tinyurl.com/p94sbrg

There is a Patrick Donovan, Shoemaker listed in Egans Directory of 1894 living at 76 Barrack St.  -  http://www.waterfordcountylibrary.ie/en/familyhistory/ -  search under Trade Directories.

Possible son of Patrick and Mary from the 1911 census - Joseph. Boot and Shoemaker, wife Catherine and daughter Mary Ellen. -  http://tinyurl.com/o5pnz2n

Noel

Three years later and I made some more discoveries. Joseph, the bootmaker is my gr-grandmother's brother so thank you, Noel!

My Bridget is also definitely the one I mentioned earlier as having been born in Waterford. Her parents were born in Kilkenny, but not sure exactly where.

I am having trouble finding the Egans Directory however. I will keep looking.

Would love to find living relatives! Fingers crossed. :-)

Tracey