Looking for research advice:
My 3x great grandmother, Mary Jane Hughes was supposedly born in Co. Offaly around 1850. On her marriage certificate (marriage was in Westmeath, 1874), both her parents' names are present: Patrick Hughes and Mary Anne Doyle and their address is listed as Frankford, Co. Offaly. Mary Jane is listed as Catholic, which lines up with the rest of my Irish ancestors (as far as I know). On her civil marriage certificate, her father's occupation is listed as "dealer" and Mary Jane has an occupation listed as well: school mistress.
The problem is, I can't find anything of Mary Jane's parents or herself in records before her marriage. I think I've exhausted Ancestry.com and still nothing. Do people on here know of other records I should search? Would love to hear any advice you might have!
Thursday 7th Apr 2022, 06:16PM
Message Board Replies
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I also could not find any records. Frankford is in Ballyboy civil parish and the RC parish is Kilcormac. Records for that parish are on the subscription site Roots Ireland back to 1821. My searches for any children of Patrick Huhes and Mary Doyle were for all of Ireland not just Co. Offaly. All of the RC parishes in Co. Offaly have records back before 1850. Somehow the marriage record and the baptismal record for Mary Jane and any siblings did not make it to a parish register. Possibly, the parish where the events occurred had a gap which covered the period around 1850.
Roger McDonnell
Castlemore Roscommon, IrelandXO Volunteer ☘
Thursday 7th Apr 2022, 08:00PM -
Hello,
It wasn't clear to me that Mary Jane was born in Offaly. At the time of her marriage she was living in Westmeath. Perhaps you had some other records showing she was born in Offaly?
Did you find Mary Jane and husband in the 1901/1911 Irish censuses? Her birth county would be given there.
Patricia
Thursday 7th Apr 2022, 09:19PM -
Thank you both for your responses. Patricia, you're correct to point that out. That was an assumption that I made or was somehow passed on to me and I took it up. Unfortunately, Mary Jane died in 1891. I wonder how I'll find them if their records are elsewhere outside of Offaly. Hughes seems a common name.
Any advice on finding Mary Jane at an academic institution (as she was supposedly school mistress at time of her wedding)?
Monday 11th Apr 2022, 02:37AM