One of my biggest brickwalls is my gran's father's family. My gran knew practically nothing of her family except for the fact that her father was an only child brought up by two aunts and served in the army. I have been working on her family for the past year cos I thought it would be nice to be able to tell her more about her family before it was too late. So here is what I know so far and see if anyone can point me in the right direction next. Sorry if this isn't set out in the normal fashion as I am new.
My gran's father was James O'donnell born 4/3/1903 in glasgow, he died in Glasgow in 1981 age 78. His parents where william o'donnell and ellen Mcglinchy. I found out they had a daughter annie O'donnell born 9/5/1903 and died 11/6/1907 so he did have a sister afterall and a step brother Daniel Mcglinchy Kelly born 13/5/1894 who was illegitimate his father was named james kelly on birth certificate.
I then found out that william O'donnell's parents where called cornelius o'donnell born in ireland and bridget barclay born in Ireland. I searched poor law records and found out they where married in leitrim in the parish of glencar?? I think on 14/9/1854. Cornelius died in stirling on 13/7/1873 and bridget died in glasgow on 25/8/1907. My problem is that I have a few certificates with conflicting information as to who cornelius parents are I know his dad is definately a John O'donnell but on one cert it says his mother is catherine conner and on another it says his mother is catherine doran. cornelius was a labourer.
What I would love to find out for my gran is who the aunts where that her daddy lived with and why if possible. Information of his army life (have found nothing on this so far, don't even know where to begin) why cornelius and bridget left ireland my initial thought is the potato famine but not sure. and what cornelius and bridget's parents names where. my great aunt also remembers her dad taking her to a bakers shop in stirling when she was a little girl that apparently belonged to a family member would be good to find out if this is right or not.
I know this is a long shot but if anyone could even point me in the right direction that would be good as I don't even know where to begin with irish and military records, I have just been lucky so far in that the poor law record gave quite good details.
Thanks in advance
Marie
xx
+ Reply to Thread
Results 1 to 10 of 10
Thread: O'donnell's of Leitrim
-
12-01-2012 11:55 PM #1Newcomer to Brit-Gen
- Join Date
- Jan 2012
- Location
- Glasgow
- Posts
- 9
- Thanks
- 5
- Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts
O'donnell's of Leitrim
-
13-01-2012 1:19 AM #2Starting to feel at home.
- Join Date
- Oct 2011
- Location
- north yorkshire
- Posts
- 85
- Thanks
- 1
- Thanked 15 Times in 15 Posts
you should try looking on scotlands people, it only costs about £7 and you get 30 credits, with that you can see the death certificates or any birth and marriage ones within a few seconds
however, i think this is cornelies and bridget living in stirling taken from the 1871 cencus
Cornelies Odonnell 37
Bidde Odonnell 30
James Odonnell 18
William Odonnell 12
Margaret Odonnell 8
Mary Odonnell 5
Retty Odonnell 2
Bridget Odonnell 6 Mo
-
13-01-2012 4:43 PM #3Newcomer to Brit-Gen
- Join Date
- Jan 2012
- Location
- Glasgow
- Posts
- 9
- Thanks
- 5
- Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts
Hi there
Thank you so much for taking the time to look into this for me I should have mentioned that I have them on the 1871 and 1901 census, was just trying to get down as much information as possible and forgot to mention this sorry. I also feel I have exhausted scotlands people with regard to cornelius and bridget I guess I could try to find the marriages for all their children but I am not sure it will give me anything other than what I have already and as for births of their children they where all bar two born in ireland and I have these two birth certs already. Think it is more the irish records I need to look to now and the military records.
Thanks for your help though it means alot and sorry if I have confused things, I am not very good at getting things down in a post i'm afraid.
-
13-01-2012 4:58 PM #4Name well known on Brit-Gen.
- Join Date
- Jul 2008
- Location
- North London
- Posts
- 5,143
- Thanks
- 35
- Thanked 741 Times in 673 Posts
No problem at all, Marie. There's nothing wrong with your post.

Would you like the thread moved to one of the Irish forums, where it might attract some specialist input?
-
13-01-2012 8:47 PM #5Newcomer to Brit-Gen
- Join Date
- Jan 2012
- Location
- Glasgow
- Posts
- 9
- Thanks
- 5
- Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts
That would be great, thanks I didn't realise there was irish forums until today lol, still finding my way around the site and for some reason I had overlooked the sub categories when I first posted.
Thanks
-
13-01-2012 9:01 PM #6Name well known on Brit-Gen.
- Join Date
- Jul 2008
- Location
- North London
- Posts
- 5,143
- Thanks
- 35
- Thanked 741 Times in 673 Posts
Moved for you.
-
04-04-2012 10:42 AM #7Knowledgeable and helpful
- Join Date
- May 2009
- Location
- uk
- Posts
- 995
- Thanks
- 4
- Thanked 169 Times in 169 Posts
Hi Marie and welcome

The church at Glencar seems to be St Osnat's . I think - but am not sure - that it comes under Killasnet parish in the diocese of Killmore.
There are parish records for Killasnet available from 1852. I can't find St Osnat's mentioned by name so I don't know if it comes under Killasnet or if the records are lost.
The records are held by the National library of Ireland, by PRONI and by the Leitrim Genealogy Centre which is part of Roots Ireland.
Roots Ireland is online. You have to register and then pay to view records.
There is one match for a Cornelius O'Donnell to a Bridget in 1853 somewhere in Leitrim. Her surname is not Barclay but it could still be worth checking the record. It may not be in Killasnet.
You could email the Leitrim Genealogy Centre to ask about St Osnat's records.
It's possible that they didn't actually marry.
Hope this helps.
-
The Following User Says Thank You to grisel For This Useful Post:
tigerleigh (20-06-2012)
-
04-04-2012 12:54 PM #8Knowledgeable and helpful
- Join Date
- May 2009
- Location
- uk
- Posts
- 995
- Thanks
- 4
- Thanked 169 Times in 169 Posts
On Leitrim Genealogy's own page via roots Ireland you can search for parish.
There is a baptism in 1853 of a James O'Donnell in Killasnet, father Cornelius, mother Bridget. To see the full record you have to pay.
Will recheck that marriage for parish.
Yes - the 1853 marriage was in Killasnet parish.
Seems I only have a handful of free index searches left to me now
which is a great pity....
-
The Following User Says Thank You to grisel For This Useful Post:
tigerleigh (20-06-2012)
-
20-06-2012 9:13 PM #9Newcomer to Brit-Gen
- Join Date
- Jan 2012
- Location
- Glasgow
- Posts
- 9
- Thanks
- 5
- Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts
I just wanted to thank you very much for taking the time to reply to my post, I have only just noticed them I will definately check out roots ireland. Since my last post I have found out recently that cornelius' mother was in fact called Catherine Doran and I found out that she in fact died in Scotland and found her death certificate on scotlands people, couldn't believe I found it I think perhaps I wasn't seeing the woods from the trees and searching for her death was like a needle in a hay stack with a name like O'donnell but I tried both maiden names along with o'donnell and found it lol. It still didn't help with information from Ireland but it is a step closer than I was.
Thanks again it is very much apprieciated.
-
20-06-2012 9:31 PM #10Newcomer to Brit-Gen
- Join Date
- Jan 2012
- Location
- Glasgow
- Posts
- 9
- Thanks
- 5
- Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts
Here to help you trace your British Family History. Copyright © British-Genealogy.com
All times are GMT +1. The time now is 2:37 AM.
Powered by vBulletin™ Version 4.1.3
Copyright © 2013 vBulletin Solutions, Inc. All rights reserved.
All times are GMT +1. The time now is 2:37 AM.
Powered by vBulletin™ Version 4.1.3
Copyright © 2013 vBulletin Solutions, Inc. All rights reserved.

Reply With Quote

Bookmarks