52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks: #4 - Anne O'Neill

This is #4 in a Genealogy Blog Challenge issued by Amy Johnson Crow over on her blog "No Story Too Small." The challenge is to write 52 blog posts on 52 ancestors throughout 2014.

Picture from:
http://irishecho.com/2012/02/time-to-restore-the-quiet-man-cottage/

I have long been stymied by genealogy research of my Irish Ancestors; knowing only names from their children's death certificates here in the states or a random birth certificate, and being unable to find more. I thought, just from everything I'd learned, that my ancestors were most likely poor farmers, hence why they immigrated. I'd also always romantically hoped they lived in a stereotypical "thatched Irish Cottage" much like the one from "The Quiet Man" movie.  Aaah, Hollywood!

Which made a recent discovery even more incredible to me.

Anne O'Neill is my 2nd great-grandmother.  For over the entire 15 years I've worked on genealogy, all I knew about her was that she was married to Daniel Donnelly, they lived in Sluggan, County Tyrone, Ireland, and that she had at least 4 boys.  The names of her boys I got from my 1st great-grandfather's obituary (Edward Michael Donnelly - to be profiled later in the year).

Selection from Edward Donnelly's Birth Record

Her name came from a birth certificate that my mother's cousin had requested. This cousin was trying for the dual citizenship program that Ireland offered (I don't know if it still offers it) to descendants of Irish immigrants and needed the birth record. He gave a copy to my mom.

Recently, though, I attempted a technique that I had employed to great success on another branch of my family - and that was to research siblings.  I knew that Edward had a brother who had stayed in Ireland, also named Daniel Donnelly.  I wondered what had happened to him after his older brother Edward immigrated to America.  Lo and behold, I found census records from 1901 and 1911.

Excerpt from 1901 Census

These records were incredibly detailed! It wasn't just a list of names like found in the US census, but it was a record documenting not only the people who were in her house on the day the census was taken, but her property and the number of buildings on it were also included.

Here's what I now know about Anne.  In 1901, she 54, and a widow. She owned a farm in Sluggan, County Tyrone, Northern Ireland. She called herself "Annie" and had 4 children living with her: Daniel, 26, John, 20, Rose, 18, and Peter, 16. All her children, except for John were listed as "Farmer's son / daughter." John was a "Scholar." She was a farmer and lived in a 3 room thatched cottage in the vicinity of other Donnelly's and O'Neill's. (I have not yet connected them together, but I hope I will be able to soon!) The family identified as Roman Catholic and everyone knew how to read and write.
 
By 1911, she was 64 and Daniel and Peter were still living with her, but John and Rose are absent from the record. I suspect they had married or moved on.  Daniel and Peter's occupations were upgraded from "Farmer's son" to "Farm labourer."  Most interesting to me, is the fact that there was a visitor staying with them by the name of Michael O'Neill.  Michael was 10 years older than Annie.  An older brother, perhaps?

Her farm seemed to be quite successful as by then; Annie had a servant. The thatched cottage had 4 rooms, and had been upgraded in the census from a 3rd class house to a 2nd class house - there now being 4 rooms with 3 windows facing the street.  The farm itself hadn't changed much, building wise, from 1901 to 1911, there still being a barn, two cow sheds, a stable and a shed.

Excerpt from 1911 Census

Anne made an error on the census record, to my benefit. When filling out the marriage information, she first wrote "married," and then included how many years she had been married.  She and her husband Daniel had been married for 39 years when he died.  I know that he was dead before the 1901 census, and that she was born sometime around 1843. Even if he died in early 1901, that put the date of their marriage prior to 1862, when she was around 19.  I should be able to use that information to find her marriage in the church records - once I figure out what church she attended.

She also included information about children.  She gave birth to 8 children, but only had 6 children still alive.  Now I have more people to find. Her son Edward's obituary, where I found his brother's names, only had a total of 4 people listed. This means relatives that Edward's family didn't know existed!

I don't think I have ever been as excited about finding a census record like this ever. After over half hour of looking at all of the images that were available online, I finally made another connection in my head.  Unlike the American Census records, which are lists of families all written by an Enumerator, some of these records were the forms that the families filled out themselves.  So all the writing on the Census return, was Anne's own handwriting.

Anne's signature from the 1901 Census

Seeing her handwriting, knowing more about her successes and the fact she was able to run a successful farm, has made me feel closer to her in a way. I may not have a picture of her, but I know that she was a strong woman, who not only survived the death of her husband and two children; but who was able make enough of a success of her farm that she could not only afford to add on to the house; she could also hire a servant.  Anne O'Neill Donnelly made a mark in the world, even if it was on a humble census form.

When starting this blog post, I thought that it would be incredibly short. How much can you write about a person based off of 1 or 2 census records?  I'm honestly surprised by how much I was able to find out.

There is still a lot of information that I do not know about her.  What was her birthday? When did she and Daniel get married?  What are the names of all of her children?  Who were her parents?  Her siblings?  When did she die?  I have hope though.  I now know for sure where she lived and that she was Roman Catholic.  With this information, I should be able to find the church where she attended, and from there identify the records. As of this very minute, I'm not sure if those records are available online or if I will have to order them on micro-film, but I suspect that I may have more to add to this story in the future!