Alley families of Dublin, Castlekelly and Loughill (Kilkenny), Newtown and Donaghmore (Queens'), etc

Hi there,

I have been researching my husband's family, the Alleys, for over 20 years and have one "missing link" that I would LOVE help with!    

Family legend has it that one family of our ancestors was John Alley (b 1730) who married Sarah Alley (b 1742)  in 1761- said to be first cousins- and descendants of Rev Peter Alley of Donaghmore- which is reasonably well confirmed. Their marriage record was easy to find, but I've only recently found any other records naming their children, so it's been impossible to prove they are actually in the lineage. They seem to have been members of the Moravian Church in Dublin and actually Sarah was John's second wife- the first was Margaret Wilson, a widow in 1756. John and Sarah unfortunately lost five children very young and then died themselves in 1773 (Sarah) and 1775 (John), leaving another 6 children orphaned, and I don't know if they were brought up with family, church friends, or whatever else. John was a hardware merchant who had a shop in Pill St.

 In John's will of 1775 he mentions the remaining living children- Jeremiah, Mary, Joseph, Peter, John and Sarah. However, John and Mary also died as young adults, leaving only three possible sons who could have carried on their Alley name- Jeremiah, Joseph and Peter. Their birthdates so far are unknown but somewhere between 1756 and 1773.  The next level of the lineage is meant to be Charles Alley, born in Newtown, Queens' Co., birthdate unknown but estimated at 1772, who married Elinor Phillips in 17... (date obscured but a guess is 1794). They are supposed to have had at least 5 sons- Frederick (b 1796, married Barbara Sutliffe, lived in Fermoyle); Peter, b 1801, married Magt. Magree, lived in Loughill, Kilkenny; John, b 1803, sergeant of RIC, married Jane Sythes, lived in Clonan Hill; Henry or Harry, b 1805, married Mary Sythes; Francis, b 1808, married Elizabeth Jones, lived Ballinakill.

Now we have no way to connect these generations if John had no son Charles, so the connection must be via another brother back to Rev Peter Alley of Donaghmore. Apart from the marriage records I can find nothing else to confirm Charles is the correct father of those Alley men, or whose son he is; and none of them have records naming their father, that I can find up to now. Any ideas, anyone??? Any help greatly appreciated!!! I live in Melbourne, Australia so am forced to do everything online, although we did visit Ireland once back in 2013.

 

Thank you, Rosie Alley