Ireland XO
Back to ancestor search
Charlotte Matilda (née Blake Thornely) Stoker

Charlotte Matilda (née Blake Thornely) Stoker

Born
1818-06-28 12:00:00
Died
1901-01-01 12:00:00
Gender
Female
Place of migration
Stayed in Ireland

Charlotte Matilda Blake Thornley the mother of Bram Stoker, was also a charity worker and social reform activist. 

She was born in Sligo town in 1818 to Matilda Blake and Lieutenant Thomas Thornley of Ballyshannon, Co. Donegal. The family lived near Old Market Street, Sligo near where the Old Courthouse stands now. 

In 1832, they bore witness to the horrors of the Asiatic Cholera Pandemic which caused more death in Sligo than anywhere else in the country. Merchants, shopkeepers, and medical men ... all fell prey to this rapid disease which caused death in a matter of hours. Charlotte witnessed frightening scenes and heard stories about people she had known succumbing to the disease and being buried alive. In her journals she recalled witnessing one victim being pushed by others into a makeshift grave using long wooden poles – he was ill but not yet dead. Terror, panic, and confusion spread and those who tried to evacuate the town were refused entry by their neighbouring towns who feared contagion. Charlotte’s family evacuated to Ballyshannon where they were received by relatives. Upon their arrival, they were surrounded by a mob refusing entry to the ‘diseased from Sligo’. When the Cholera epidemic was over, they returned to Sligo.*   

Circa 1840, she married Abraham Stoker Sr. from Coleraine, who worked as an official in Dublin Castle and had seven children. 

Charlotte died in Dublin in 1901. Her internment was either in Dublin's Mount Jerome Cemetery, or her family plot in the cemetery of St John's Cathedral in Sligo. 

*Charlotte's recollections of the horrors of the Cholera outbreak greatly influenced the novel "Dracula" written by Bram Stoker. Here they are in her own words, read by her descendant Dacre Stoker

RECOMMENDED

TIMELINE: June 1832 Cholera hysteria from Croghan to Boyle

TIMELINE August 1832: Cholera in Sligo

BUILDINGS: Navarino Lodge John Fry Esq. dies of Cholera Dec 1832 

TIMELINE August 1832 Cholera in Claremorris 

TIMELINE April 1833 Cholera Aftermath in Croghan

Associated communities

Sligo

County Sligo, or Sligeach in Irish, is located in the border region of Ireland.  We are home to Benbulben Mountain, which is said to be Ireland’s most distinctive and shady valleys dominate the landscape here.  Our county town is Sligo and we have a population of approximately 65,393.  We look forward to helping you connect with your ancestors’ place of origin.

Other ancestors in this community

Buildings in this community

  • Dunneill aka Dooneal TOWNLAND

    Location: Sligo

    Dunneill, Kilmacshalgan, Co Sligo

  • Collloney Church of the Assumption

    Location: Sligo

  • St. Michael's Church

    Location: Sligo

    462F+G9 Cloonacool, County Sligo, Ireland

  • Kilcullen seaweed Baths

    Location: Sligo

    6W94+42 Enniscrone, County Sligo, Ireland

Timeline events in this community

  • 2000s

    Parish of Ardcarne

    2000-01-01 12:00:00

  • 1840s

    The Parliamentary Gazetteer of Ireland 1846

    1846-01-01 12:00:00

  • 1830s

    Henry Garrett

    1832-08-21 12:00:00

  • 1830s

    Sligo Death Notices From Cholera, Ireland

    <p>DEATH NOTICES (from the Enniskillen Chronicle and Erne Packet) during the height of the cholera pandemic in Ireland.</p>

    1832-09-13 12:00:00

Clontarf (Dublin)

Our aim is to connect all people with a link to Clontarf (Dublin). You may live here, have visited here or maybe are tracing ancestors who left long ago. In any case, we’re sure to have lots to share and are delighted to welcome you.

Other ancestors in this community

Buildings in this community

  • 25 Victoria Road, Clontarf, Dublin

    Location: Clontarf (Dublin)

    25 Victoria Road, Clontarf, Dublin

  • Hibernian Marine School, now Seacourt, Seafield Road

    Location: Clontarf (Dublin)

    Seafield Road, Clontarf, Dublin 3

  • Clontarf Railway Bridge

    Location: Clontarf (Dublin)

    Clontarf, Dublin 3

  • Montrose CLONTARF

    Location: Clontarf (Dublin)

    45 St Lawrence Road, Clontarf, Dublin 3

Timeline events in this community

  • 1890s

    1890 All Ireland Senior Gaelic Football Final

    1892-06-26 12:00:00

  • 1010s

    Game The Battle of Clontarf

    <p>The battle of Clontarf (north of Dublin) was an important event in Irish history and is recorded in both Irish and Norse chronicles. It is estimated that between 7,000 and 10,000 men were killed. After the battle, the Vikings and the Kingdom of Dublin were reduced to a secondary power.</p>

    1014-04-23 12:00:00

  • 1830s

    Clontarf in the 1830s

    <p>A snapshot of pre-famine local history, as described in the "Topographical Dictionary of Ireland" by Samuel Lewis, 1837. (The information collected here was submitted by members of the local gentry and clergy of the time).</p>

    1837-01-01 12:00:00

  • 1890s

    Bram Stoker's "Dracula" first published

    <p>"Dracula" bound in yellow cloth and titled in red letters, was first published in London by Archibald Constable and Company. Cost: six shillings.</p>

    1897-05-26 12:00:00

Inishmacsaint (Donegal)

Our aim is to connect all people with a link to Inishmacsaint (Donegal). You may live here, have visited here or maybe are tracing ancestors who left long ago. In any case, we’re sure to have lots to share and are delighted to welcome you.

Other ancestors in this community

No other ancestors are associated with this community.

Buildings in this community

No buildings are associated with this community.

Timeline events in this community

  • 1830s

    Sligo Death Notices From Cholera, Ireland

    <p>DEATH NOTICES (from the Enniskillen Chronicle and Erne Packet) during the height of the cholera pandemic in Ireland.</p>

    1832-09-13 12:00:00

  • 0430s

    St. Patrick at Aill Finn (Elphin)

    <p>On his missionary tour through Connaught (having crossed the Shannon at Drum-boilan, near Battlebridge, in the parish of Ardcarne) in 434 or 435, St. Patrick came to the territory of Corcoghlan, in which was situated the place now called Elphin. The chief of that territory, a noble Druid named Ono, of the royal Connacian race of Hy-Briuin, gave land to St. Patrick to found a church and monastery.</p>

    0435-01-01 12:00:00