Ireland XO
Back to Message Board

CONVICT CATHERINE CONNOLLY Westmeath

Westmeath

Iam looking for information on Catherine Connolly, her father was John Stanley a solicitor from Dublin.  On 20 1840, Catherine was convicted at Westmeath Assizes for   stealing a great coat from Mr Mulvey.

Catherine was a house servant, married with four (4) children. She was 35 years of age when she was sentenced to seven (7) years transportation to Van Diemen's Land (now Tasmania), Australia.

 Catherine married Richard Cudihy, a convict in Tasmania before moving to Queensland, Australia where she died in 1874. 

 This is all the information I have from her convict records and would very much like to know a little more about my great great grandmother. I would greatly appreciate any information on Catherine. I am not sure if she came from Westmeath, but that was her place of trial. I have attempted to look for her baptism and marriage records , but became lost .

 Many thanks,

 Jennifer Cuddy 

first born

4 replies

Jennifer: I assume that Catherine was Catherine Stanley when baptized? I checked www.irishgenealogy.ie for Dublin city church records and did not find a Catherine Stanley baptism with father John. There was a baptismal record January 30 1816 in Athboy Co. Meath with father John Stanly and mother Mary Victory. This record was on the subscription site Roots Ireland. I did not find a Catherine Stanley marriage to a Connolly and also did not find any Connolly baptismal records where the mother had a maiden name of Stanley. Have you considered DNA testing? Possibly you will have matches with 4th cousins. Roger McDonnell
Castlemore RoscommonIrelandXO Volunteer
Hello Jennifer, One thing in this history stood out to me: Catherine's father was a solicitor but she was a house servant. This would have been an unusual scenario. Are you sure her father was John Stanley?
glanvil3@aol.com

Hi Jennifer
Fellow Aussie here.

Personally, I am cautious of info from convict databases, they aren't always factual. Two places you can look would be
IRISH-AUSTRALIA TRANSPORTATION RECORDS - free online from the National Archives of Ireland.

The Australian Joint Copyright Project is brilliant - it is the records from Ireland and the UK all available through the National Library of Australia for FREE and they will generally be readable through TROVE (online newspapers)

I would look for Catherines death certificate - it will give evidence of her parents. Then look for her marriage certificate - to BOTH husbands. She married in Ireland and had children - there would be records for marriage and births. There would be census records.

There are about 100 births in Dublin for Catherine Connollys between 1803-1807 - but we don't have names to confirm which one is hers. I would look at the names of her children for hints of her parents names.

Look for the Assize records on Family Search too. Find my Past has free parish register info.

There are also description books of female convicts and the Female Convict Database in Tassie.

Cheers

Lilly
Hello Irish Volunteer, Patricia and fellow Aussie. Thank you for your time in responding to my query. Irish Volunteer- I have had a DNA and will follow up with a possible fourth cousin. Catherine's baptismal record doesn't gel with her convict or death records. Particia, yes, I am reasonably sure her father was a solicitor. Lilly, I have researched the transportation records, I have her death certificate. There is no marriage certificate even though she was given permission to marry by the Tasmanian relevant convict department of the time. I have information from the female convict data base in Tasmania and have a transcription of her convict records (CON). I was hoping to know more about Catherine's life in Ireland before being transported to Australia. Thank you once again, I will follow up on your suggestions. Kind regards, Jennifer Cuddy
first born

Reply

Reply
One image file up to 2 MB.