William Nolan : Short Biography

William Nolan b: 7/12/1839 [Knockpatrick] County Kildare, Ireland per US naturalization records.

{On William’s Sept 10, 1867 marriage certificate, his mother is listed as Mary.  On his March 31, 1896 death certificate, she is listed as Bridget. The search in Ireland for a baptismal record for William Nolan has so far been inconclusive. The records for the family of Patrick Nolan of Knockpatrick and Mary Kehoe of Clough are found on NLI Microfilm P4192, the records of the Baltinglass Parish, Kildare and Leighlin Diocese. On that microfilm are several entries in the 1830’s for a William Nolan: 1) Sept 10, 1837 William, son of a Patrick Nolan and Bridget Kelly of Grangenolvan. This may or may not make sense since Patrick Nolan of Knockpatrick married Mary Kehoe on Aug 25, 1837. The residence is listed as Grangenolvan which is between Casltedermot and Athy and not Knockpatrick.which is clearly indicated on the other listings for Patrick Nolan of this family lineage; 2) June 15, 1835 a William, son of Patrick Nowlan and Judith Kelly.  This is uncertain since there is no matching residence location indicated.; and 3) 2/11/1831, “Pat” son of Patrick Nolan from Knockpatrick with a bold notation in the book “illegitimate”. No godparents are listed. This entry is intriguing. Further work is necessary to corroborate that this entry applies to the William who emigrated to the US and Providence RI.   To add further confusion to the case, there are birth date discrepancies with other US documents.  The 1831 date would indicate that William was 6 or 7 years older than he actually claimed to have been in US documents. Could the church have indicated the name as “Pat” to protect the child? Yet Knockpatrick is clearly shown next to each of the entries for the subject Patrick Nolan.  

In this same microfilm of Baltinglass parish records are listed the 1837 marriage of Patrick Nolan and Mary Kehoe.  Also listed is the 1843 birth of Andrew Nolan, the 1845 birth of Daniel, the 1848 birth of Jerome, the 1849 birth of Christopher, the 1852 birth of Margaret, the 1854 birth of Peter, the 1855 birth of Eliza, the 1858 birth of Mary, and the 1861 birth of Bridget.  With ALL the children and the marriage listed on this same reel and indicated as Knockpatrick, why is William not listed in 1838? The lack of children in the first 5 years of marriage is confusing. Could the couple have attended church in another parish during their first years of marriage?   This theory is currently being pursued.  Patrick Nolan had strong family connections to the church in Moone in the Castledermont parish.  His father and mother are buried in a prominent position there.

This microfilm roll has not been thoroughly reviewed to look for a definitive baptismal record of William.  

The large number of Nolan family members buried in Moone/Killelan Parish Cemeteries (including Garret Nowlan 1685-1763), leads to a theory that the answer may be found in the Moone Parish records. Patrick’s family parish up until his marriage to Mary Kehoe seems to have been in Moone, Castledermont.  Perhaps his marriage to Mary who was from Clough, near Baltinglass, resulted in Patrick changing his church to the one his wife’s family attended. If William was baptized there, then the record has not been found.

NLI microfilm records for Baltinglass contain clear evidence of an illegitimate son, “Pat”, with Patrick Nolan of Knockpatrick indicated as the father. Question: Was the William Nolan who emigrated to Providence RI born in 1831 and the illegitimate son of Patrick Nolan of Knockpatrick? Perhaps as stepmother, Mary Kehoe raised the boy and he was actually named William. Could Patrick Nolan have had a first wife who died so that William was Mary’s stepson?  Did either William or his wife, Catherine Carr, learn that his real mother’s name was Bridget during one of their visits to Knockpatrick?  We can document Catherine’s several trips from Providence RI to Ireland and her visits to Corbally and Knockpatrick. We can document the connection of William Nolan to his brother, Jerome Nolan of Brooklyn NY.  We also know of Jerome’s frequent journeys home to Knockpatrick. 

Perhaps William listed his stepmother Mary as his mother on the marriage certificate and his birth mother or his godmother, Bridget, was put on his death certificate by his widow, Catherine Carr.  Was the confusion in William’s mother’s name a mistake in the Providence City Clerk’s office in the entry on the death certificate?  Was Catherine Carr Nolan simply confused and distraught at her husband William's death and gave the wrong information?  She does not seem to have been a woman easily made distraught and the death was not sudden. Was Patrick indeed the father of the child branded illegitimate in church records or did he bring the child of a farm hand to be baptized? Who was the Edward Nolan from Knockpatrick indicated as the father to an Eliza born in 1855?  Was Edward a brother of Patrick, or another son, a nephew or a farm hand?  We have no reference to him at this time among the children of Patrick’s father William Nolan.  Was Patrick just a “stand-up” guy who took his own illegitimate son to the church to be baptized but kept the name of the mother, to whom he was not married, confidential? Was “Pat” a generalized name put into the records to protect the child?  Perhaps we will never know the answer to this surprising document.  But keep searching! There is an answer out there!  Another mystery: Who is the Patrick Nolan identified in the Census of 1911 as living with the family at Knockpatrick?}