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Michael Bradley and Mary Ellen "Nellie" O'Connor (County Clare)

I am looking for more information than I have been able to research on my own about my great-grandfather, Michael Bradley, and great-grandmother, Mary Ellen "Nellie" O'Connor. The basis on my research is the Ireland Census of 1911 which shows Michael and Nellie lived on house 23 in Querrin, County Clare. He was 32 years-old and she 31 years-old at the time. His is listed as a fisherman. The census shows they were married in 1903 and had one child at the time, Mary, my grandmother who was 2 years old and was born in the United States. I believe they travelled between Ireland and the United States a few times.

It is my understanding that Michael may have a sibling, Virginia. Nellie may have a sibling, Andrew. 

Michael and Nellie may have had four other children, Catherine, Margaret, Delia and John. I am uncertain.

I understand Michael was born in May 1878 in Querrin (and died in July 1970 in County Clare) and Nellie was born in Kilrush in 1880 (and died February 1942).

I believe Michael's parents are Thaddeus Bradley (born in 1856 and died in 1934 in County Clare) and Margaret "Rita" Costello (no other information).

I believe Nellie's parents are Patrick O'Connor (born 1841 in County Clare, died ??) and Margaret Gould (born 1840 in County Clare and died in 1927 in Kilrush). Her father may be Anthony Gould (born in 1815 and died in 1875 in Kilrush) and mother Honora Noonan (born in Kilrush).

Any and all information about the Bradleys, OConnors, Costellos, Goulds and Noonans from County Clare is welcomed, including other family members and occupations, If any of the information I have presented is incorrect, please advise and correct.

As always, many thanks for your interest and time in helping me research my famlies from Ireland.

I am grateful.

Bill Prendergast

Prendergast

5 replies

Local volunteer contacted about this message.

Castlemore RoscommonIrelandXO Volunteer

Thank you!

Prendergast

Hi Bill

I had to check whether you were the William Prendergast who posted at
https://irelandxo.com/ireland/clare/killofin/message-board/looking-memo…
about his Clare ancestors, but eventually concluded that there are two namesakes using this website.

As well as being the local volunteer referred to by our anonymous Castlemore volunteer above, I have a family connection to the Bradleys.  My grandmother's first cousin married Michael Bradley's half-brother.  I am still in regular contact with several Bradley descendants.  Perhaps the best way for you to see what I know about the Bradleys would be for you to register on my personal website (and await my approval).  Just go to
http://pwaldron.info/tng/pedigreetext.php?personID=I87302

A few corrections:

Mrs. Bradley had an older sister Mary Connors married to Michael Reill, so I doubt that she was ever known as Mary Ellen.

The 1911 census was taken on 2 April, not 31 December as many people seem to assume when calculating implied birth and marriage years, and it asked for the age last birthday and number of complete years since marriage.  A user-donated family tree by your second cousin at
https://www.ancestry.com/family-tree/tree/115304123/family/familygroup?…
gives a precise date and place for the Bradley/Connors marriage consistent with the census:  7 Sep 1902 in Jersey City, Hudson, New Jersey, USA.

Michael's stepmother reported in the 1911 census that she had 11 children born alive, including Virgina/Virginia.

Nellie's father reported that he was a widower in both the 1901 and 1911 censuses of Moyadda Beg, so I'm not sure where you got the 1927 year of death for his wife.  I have found only four children for Patrick Connors and Margaret Gould, not including an Andrew.  See
https://www.familysearch.org/search/record/results?father_givenname=pat…

I did find all the children you mentioned for Michael and Nellie apart from Margaret at civilrecords.irishgenealogy.ie, but Margaret may have been born after 31 Dec 1920, the current cut-off point for that website.

I have not been able to find either Michael's birth or death, both of which should appear at civilrecords.irishgenealogy.ie.  As he was born out of wedlock, his birth was most likely registered under his mother's maiden surname, and I have heard two different theories as to what that surname was.

Nellie was born on 8 Nov 1879, and the wrong year may again result from misinterpretation of the 1911 census.

Michael's father was generally known as Theodore Bradley and was presumably christened in the then established church (United Church of England and Ireland) as an infant as well as in the Catholic Church on the eve of his marriage, where he was named `William Theodore Patrick.'  However, I can find no record of the earlier christening.

Best wishes

Paddy Waldron

PS: I am not sure how to make this discussion appear on the message board for the relevant parish at

https://irelandxo.com/ireland/clare/moyarta/message-board

Moyarta ClareIrelandXO Volunteer

Paddy,

Thank you for your response, It is very helpful.

In response, I offer the folowing:

Yes, I am a different William Prendergast than the individual who posted looking for information about the Breens, etc.(Though I am researching the McGraths from Kilrearagh, Clare; Daniel Flannen McGrath, my grandfather, married Mary Bradley. my grandmother, in Jersey City, New Jersey)

I registered on your personal website and await approval.

I did find the Mary Connors (born 26 Sep 1870 in County Clare) and Michael Reill marriage and am researching their famiy histories,

Thank you for the clarification about the exact date of 1911 Census.

I did not know Michael was born out of wedlock. I have a birth date for Michael as May 20, 1878 and a date of death as July 1970. What are the two surnames you have for Michael's stepmother. she the one with 11 children?

I found a death record for Andrew J O'Connor. It indicates he was born on November 4, 1875 in Ireland and died a widower on January 6, 1916 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. His parents are listed as Patrick O'Connor (born in Ireland) and Margaret Gould (born in Ireland).

With respect to Nellie's father being a widower in 1901 and 1911, perhaps I am wrong and the Margaret Gould I have connected to him to the wrong wife? I may have the wrong wife? If so, Andrew J O'Connor would not be relative either?

Many thanks for your help!

Bill

Prendergast

Hi again Bill

I can see that you have now logged in to my website, where you have hopefully found answers to some of your questions.

Unfortunately the microfilming of the baptismal registers in Carrigaholt appears to have stopped when the parish was split in two a couple of months before Michael Bradley was supposedly born:
https://registers.nli.ie/parishes/0769

I searched for Michael with no surname and the precise birthdate which you gave at
https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/2533/
One can only insist on the year being matched exactly, so there are 4,687 hits!  The first 19 have the precise date, and are hopefully the only ones with the precise date, but none appears to match your Michael, so his birth may never have been registered with the civil authorities (or have been registered with a different date).

I think that you may have misread what I said about the conflicting hearsay evidence as to Michael's mother's maiden surname.  There is no ambiguity as to his stepmother's surname.  As I said above, it was the stepmother who reported in the 1911 census that she had 11 children born alive.  As I do not know the mother's name, I have no way of identifying her in any census.

It looks like the Anthony Connors born on 30 Oct 1875 alternated between calling himself Anthony and Andrew and knocked five days off his age:
https://registers.nli.ie/registers/vtls000634785#page/58/mode/1up
`2288 Anthony Connors 30 Octr. Patrick Connors  Marg't Gould  Ballykett  31 Octr. Thos. O'Meara C.C. [sponsors] Sinon Culligan Bridget Culligan'

I have found him in various other records under both names, and tracked his son Andrew (jr.) up to the WWII draft.

There is an obituary matching the 1916 death certificate in a Pittsburgh newspaper at newspapers.com, to which I do not have a subscription.

The informant on the death certificate was George O'Connor of New York, quite likely Andrew/Anthony's brother of that name.  Andrew/Anthony and his wife were both brought all the way from Pittsburgh to New York for burial.

Some or all of the townland of Moyadda Beg, including where this family lived, appears to sometimes have been considered part of Ballykett.  I found Margaret's death there on 25 May 1900:

https://civilrecords.irishgenealogy.ie/churchrecords/details-civil/25f4…
Name    MARGARET CONNORS
Date of Death    1900
Group Registration ID    4415279
SR District/Reg Area    Kilrush
Deceased Age at Death    62

!DEATH_CERTIFICATE: https://civilrecords.irishgenealogy.ie/churchrecords/images/deaths_retu…
married, wife of a farmer.

Best wishes

Paddy

 

Moyarta ClareIrelandXO Volunteer

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