Catherine Connolly

According to her obituary, Catherine Connolly was born in Clifden, County Galway in 1825, and died in Oakland, California, USA on 30 Aug 1901. Catherine's obituary mentions being an aunt to her sister Ellen's children, as well as an aunt to a Bridget Lydon Connolly (born 30 Nov 1851 in County Galway). I presume that Bridget is Catherine and Ellen's brother Joseph Connolly's daughter, but I cannot verify this.  Most of the family (Catherine, Ellen’s husband, and Bridget and her husband) were in the laundry business in San Francisco and Healdsburg, California.

I have been advised (thank you, Roger McDonnell) that most immigrants to a new country would say they were from the nearest "big" town rather than the small townland or village where they were born. Many people used Clifden even though they were 20 miles or more from Clifden. Unfortunately, the parish to the north of Clifden and the one to the east of Clifden have records starting much later. So my ancestors may have come from one of those two RC parishes (Roundstone or Ballinakill).

Thank you in advance for any help in finding records for West County Galway native siblings Ellen, Catherine, and Joseph Connolly. I was not able to find any clear matches on rootsireland.ie, FindMyPast, or Ancestry, etc.

Stefanie