Ireland XO
Back to Message Board

John Kinsella, coachman, Carlow and Dublin

CarlowCarlow (Carlow)

I'm searching for records of my great great grandparents John and Bridget Kinsella, who lived circa 1830 to 1900. They and their children came from Co.Carlow. The family was Protestant and this seems to be quite unusual for the Kinsella name. I have traced a marriage of John Kinsella and Bridget Conroy, which fits the dates, but it is in a Catholic church. On all subsequent records of
marriages and censuses the family is Church of Ireland. Is it feasible for the couple to have been Catholic and converted after their marriage?

The family seem to have moved to Dublin between 1870 and 1887, and subsequent records including the marriages of three daughters are in Dublin.
(My belief that they were sisters comes from the church marriage records and other highly coincidential information, but I have no definite proof.) My grandfather James Kinsella was the illegitimate child of one of their daughters,

Mary Kinsella, father unknown. James was born in New Street, Carlow, in 1883.

The daughters' marriages and other information show that John Kinsella was a groom and coachman. Is it likely that the family were protestant because they were servants to one of the protestant gentry in Carlow? Two daughters Sarah and Elizabeth married English soldiers and emigrated to England.

I have searched online and found no trace of John's or Bridget's birth or death. Bridget was a widow in the 1901 census in Dublin and was named as mother of Elizabeth. I can provide more information if it helps.

I am looking for:
All information on protestant Kinsellas in Co Carlow, as they are probably all linked, to help me trace my Kinsella origin in Carlow.
BMD records of John and Bridget (Bridget census says she was born in co Carlow, but they probably both died in Dublin)
Births records of their children Mary, Sarah, Elizabeth.
Any other children of John Kinsella.
The parish where the family lived when the daughters were born.
When and why they moved to Dublin.

IrelandXO member

4 replies

Stephen:

Roots Ireland www.rootsireland.ie which is a subscription site recently added records for RC parishes in Co. Carlow. They do not have any Protestant records for Co. Carlow. However, www.irishgenealogy.ie which is a free Irish government site has Cof I records for Co. Carlow as well as C of I and RC records for Dublin city. Here is a link to the available C of I records for Co.Carlow on www.irishgenealogy.ie

 http://churchrecords.irishgenealogy.ie/parishes/Carlow%20(COI).pdf

I think it is possible that the couple converted to a Protestant religion particularly if they worked for a well to do family which were Protestant.

I looked on the Roots indexes and there were over 20 John Kinsella baptismal records in the period around 1830. I also found an 1855 baptismal record on Roots for a Sara Kinsella parents John and Bridget but I could not determine the parish. Also could not locate a record for a Mary or Elizabeth around the same time period so Maybe the Sarah was from a different family.

Let me know if you have questions.

Roger McDonnell

Castlemore RoscommonIrelandXO Volunteer

Thanks for your speedy reply Roger. As you think joint conversion to CoI could have happened I'll pursue that line a little.
The RC marriage was in Aghold which was in co Carlow at the time. Could one guess where in co Carlow the couple were converted and would there be a church record?

IrelandXO member

Thanks for your speedy reply Roger. As you think joint conversion to CoI could have happened I'll pursue that line a little.
The RC marriage was in Aghold which was in co Carlow at the time. Could one guess where in co Carlow the couple were converted and would there be a church record?

IrelandXO member

Reply

Reply
One image file up to 2 MB.