Doolan or Dowling... or possibly something similar

Any idea when Bridget was born? Her brother?

Names of her children?

Thanks.

Thanks to those that replied to my post. Bridget and John's children were named Ellen Mary (died young), Henry William Phillip, John Henry, Mary Jane, Richard, James, Florence Susan, Ellen Mary, Susan, Grace, Fanthorpe, Frank, Thomas Dowling, William Philip Jago. Of interest is that the advertisement for brother Nicholas, placed in the Adelaide Observer in 1858, states "Clare Park, County of Kilkenny". Since there is no Clare Park (that I am aware of) we wonder if that was a mis-heard Clough Pook. Here is Bridget's Wikitree page.

https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Dowling-2935

I should add that we believe Bridget was born in 1835 or 1836. We have found the odd baptism record that matches the father (Thomas) and baby (Bridget) but not a corresponding brother (Nicholas) or mother, matching Bridget's daughters' names. We do not have any idea when Nicholas was born.

I am pleased to report some progress. Bridget's family name was Dowling. We deduced this thus: She and her husband advertised for "Nicholas Dowling" who they appear to believe had also emigrated to Australia. Nicholas was advertised as coming from "Clare Park", County Kilkenny. Since there was no such place, we have deduced that this was supposed to be "Cloghpook", County Kilkenny. A check in the Griffith's Valuation records for that time show that there were only Dowlings in Cloghpook. Since Cloghpook Townland lies in Muckalee Parish, would it be a safe assumption that Bridget's baptism would be recorded in Muckalee? I already know that baptism records don't exist for 1835 - 1836 Muckalee. But I need to know if I should be searching in another parish. Would any descendants of the Dowlings of Cloghpook still survive?

Would there be a genealogy group in the Muckalee area? Perhaps I should be looking there for information.

John, I've just come across this post. My parental line is Dowling which has proven hard to research in comparison to my other lines mainly due to missing records but my great x2 grandfather was Michael Dowling from Dunmore just north of Kilkenny City. He was a shepherd whose house was directly opposite the Holy Trinity Church. He died sometime after the 1901 census and had a sister Margaret who married in 1869 at Muckalee  Church indicating the family may have been originally  from this parish. I've  a lot of autosomal DNA matches from around this area including Dowling's from Cloghpook who relate to Doolan's in Liverpool.

Last year I took the Y700 paternal line test and surprisingly the majority of matches had the surname Grace or De Gras and most had confirmed Kilkenny ancestry  with an MRCA at Y700 level of  about C1650 a.d. (see post about, De Gras on the Kilkenny section of this site  from 2014 as I match them) . However there were no Dowling Y matches until a couple of weeks ago when one appeared from Australia at Y111 level who could trace his family back to Knocknew,  Ballyfoyle which is just a few km's from Dunmore. Curiously the match indicates a more distant relationship than I have to the Grace paternal matches. Understandably the Grace's believe they are descendants of  the Norman family who were at Courts Town Castle in Tullaroan,

Still early days and we need more Grace and Dowlings who trace back to this area  to test at Y700. Finally I've checked various sites and cant find any other Dowlings's who have L38 haplogroup ancestry. 

Hi, on the paid site RootsIreland I found an 1836  baptismal record for a Nicholas Dowling, as follows. Note the father is Thomas, the name your tree has for Bridget.  And the mother is Ellen, the name of two of Bridget's daughters. Address of Doolins: Coolapouge.

Nicholas Doolin                

Baptism:              18-Jan-1836

Address:               Coolapouge        

Parish/District:     DANESFORT

Gender: Male      

County  Co. Kilkenny

Denomination:   Roman Catholic

Father:  Thomas Doolin   

Mother:               Ellen Butler

Sponsor 1:           John Finely

Sponsor 2 /Elizabeth Doolin

This may be the death off Bridget's father, Thomas:

Name:   Thomas                Doolan 

Date of Death:   22-Sep-1869       

Age:       62           

Parish / District: CALLAN

Address:               Coolapouge        

County: Co. Kilkenny

Status:   Married 

Occupation:        FARMER               

Sex:        Male

Informant Name: Mary Doolan (relationship not recorded)

Address:               Coolapouge

Notes: [informant was occupier and inmate]

Source: Rootsireland.ie

Thanks again to the recent responders. You can use this link to my Great grandmother Bridget Dowling's WikiTree profile to contact me more directly (I am the Profile manager), if you wish:

https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Dowling-2935

Patricia, Your information is very interesting, and I would like to pursue the leads you have provided. But where is Coolapouge? I have tried in vain to find it.

FearDowl, Have you posted your DNA results on GEDMatch? My results are there. Because I have no direct-line male Irish ancestry, I image we wouldn't find common Y-DNA ancestry.

Coolapoge is the correct spelling. See map here: https://www.townlands.ie/kilkenny/shillelogher/tullaghanbrogue/tullaghanbrogue/coolapoge/

Patricia, I'm working on Coolapoge!! In the meantime, could you think about our quandary, trying to translate "Claire Park" (spelt according to Bridget's literate, Middlesex husband) into an actual place name or townland name. Could you suggest any other name than Cloghpook that Bridget might have been referring to, for her brother Nicholas's home location (see above). We have to imagine how the spoken name would have sounded to the Londoner. Could Coolapoge have sounded to him like Clare Park?

Sorry, John, I can't figure out how Coolapoge became Clare Park.  

Hi Patricia, I've now discovered that my genealogy group has a subscription to RootsIreland. This is very good news of course, and will enable me to follow-up your leads in detail. Thank you! I'm wondering now how much an Irish family was likely to have moved around. The Coolapoge Doolans are such a nice fit, but in one of her registrations Bridget put "near Castlecomer" as her place of birth, Coolapoge doesn't really fit that description. Perhaps the family moved closer to Castlecomer before her birth, or moved south after she was born.

There are about 20 miles between the two places. Perhaps Bridget mentioned Castlecomer because it was more recognizable than the townland?  Or the person filling out the marriage certificate, when hearing "Coolapogue," said, Where is that? To which she replied, "near Castecomer." 

John I think there was  plenty of migration in the first part of the 19th C to Castlecomer especially to  Moneenroe and Clogh due to the expansion of the coal mines in the area, however the Cloghpook  and Ballyfoyle areas are  rural and agricultural and I cant imagine many moved from the south of Kilkenny here. I also think the Clare Park / Cloghpook   transcription sounds plausible. 

I have sent you an email with a couple of interesting mutual DNA matches with surnames Kealy and Dowling which link to the Ballyfoyle and  Muckalee pa area. I would certainly consider joining the Kilkenny DNA Facebook page and their gedmatch group.