Caddell and Clarke families

Thank you, Roger,

Yes, we have that baptism of Charles Clarke, son of James Clarke and Mary Monaghan, and it seems to be the same family.  There's a better than average probability that this Charles is indeed the one that emigrated to New York State.

Do you think there will be any groups of current Clarkes and Monaghans living in Ireland who would be descendants of these Clarkes and Monaghans of Ardsallagh Parish?  How would one get in touch with them?  Would there be Clarke surname associations or Monaghan surname associations in County Meath?

Sincerely,

Bob and Elsa Pendleton

Dear Pat,

Our problem with the Caddell line is that we have no further information about Patrick's family - no idea of siblings or parents, other than that his tombstone says he was born in County Dublin.  Since Wicklow is adjacent to County Dublin to the South, this is certainly possible.  We have seen Patrick's surname spelled as Caddle, Cadle, and Codale / Coddle (difficult to make out the handwriting).  All his children changed the spelling to Cadwell, but that seems to be an Anglicization.  Even if we were led to the birth of a Patrick Caddell we wouldn't be able to decide if he was our ancestor.

So our hope has been to find the marriage record between Patrick and Bridget Clark(e).  This would have been 1836 or earlier - our best guess for their births is 1810-1814, and their oldest child, Richard, was born about 1836.  The closest marriage we have found is Patrick Carroll and Bridget Clarke, in Athboy, on 26 Feb 1838.  We would either have to have errors in the birthdates of the children, or else there would have to be children born out of wedlock, both of which are possible but not probable.

We are in Dublin (arrived 3 weeks ago), and have worked a little bit at the NLI and the Archives and the Dublin P.L.; we have subscribed to rootsireland and findmypast and joined the Genealogical Society of Ireland in Dun Laoghaire.

It would be helpful to know what percentage of the Roman Catholic church registers for the period in question exist and have been transcribed.

Our more positive chances definitely seem to be associated with the Clarke line; the surname is quite heavy in Meath and Westmeath.  We found 408 Clarkes on the Griffiths for Meath, and have transcribed them all, but aside from the family about which we posted haven't got too far.  Bridget's brothers Charles and John also came to New York with their families, but none of the three siblings came at the same time.  

John Clarke was born around 1806, married a Margaret Havey (?) in Ireland, had children Simon (1841), Mary (1846), Ann (1848), and Margaret (1850) born in Ireland, and were in Onondaga County, NY to have Rosana (1852).  Finding this family in Ireland would clearly be a win.  John and his family emigrated after Bridget and Patrick Caddell.

Charles Clarke was born around 1809, married a Margaret Donard / Leonard (?) in Ireland, had children Charles (Canada, 1846), Michael (1852, Onondaga County NY).  So evidently Charles and his wife were first to emigrate, but came to Canada first and (presumably) walked across the border into New York.  So finding a marriage of Charles in Ireland would also be very helpful.

What we are most hoping to find is possible Clarke or Caddell, etc., descendants living in Ireland who may have further family stories about these families.  Were there other siblings besides Bridget, John, and Charles?  That would be most helpful.  We do intend to post our query to Navan as well.  We made one bus trip to Trim, but that is not a research site open to the public.  So we persevere.

Thanks very much for your detailed reply and all your suggestions.

Sincerely,

Bob and Elsa Pendleton
bobandelsa@gmail.com
www.bobandelsa.com