Find Ancestors

Good morning - I am wondering if anyone can help. A friend last evening asked if I could help her trace her grandmother. She was called Mary O'Sullivan - my friend thinks she had the middle name Agnes - and was born 1901 in Killarney, County Kerry, Ireland. She was 1 of 12 children - 11 girls and 1 boy called John. Unfortunately my friend has no idea what position she held amongst these 12 children or what position the only boy was in. She also does not know if all 12 survived. I have tried to find this Mary or Mary Agnes O'Sullivan but not been successful so far. Unfortunately no parents christian names are known. All that is known is that they were a very poor family that literally lived on the fish they caught. This would indicate that they lived near a fishing facility - either a lake or the coast. It would appear that at age 17 Mary came to England on her own and travelled on a cattle cart to reach the port - which port ? I have no knowledge of Ireland and would appreciate any help anyone can give. Thank you.

Do you know the. names of any of her sisters please?

The 1901 and 1911 Irish census are available free online

Sorry rootgatherer - all my friend has is that she was born 1901 Killarney, 1 of 12, 11 girls 1 boy called John, the fact that she came to England on her own when she was 17 and that's about it. I did warn my friend that this would be extremely difficult with so little information and also the uncertainty as to whether she was just Mary or Mary Agnes. I am wondering if maybe the name too could be Sullivan as opposed to O'Sullivan. I have tried the 1911 census looking for a Mary b 1901 Killarney but cannot find one. I am now wondering if they actually lived in a village/hamlet on the edge of Killarney as opposed to Killarney itself. I have put my brain in overdrive but just cannot think of what else to do. Thank you for trying.

Bit of a long shot this family. Most of them seem to be working but there appears to be only one son. They had 13 children, 11 living.

Residents of a house 11 in Kilcoman (Caher, Kerry)

Surname Forename Age Sex Relation to head Religion

O'Sullivan Eugene M 52 Male Head of Family Roman Catholic
O'Sullivan Teresa M 50 Female Wife Roman Catholic
O'Sullivan Helena M 27 Female Daughter Roman Catholic
O'Sullivan Hana 24 Female Daughter Roman Catholic
O'Sullivan Mary 20 Female Daughter Roman Catholic
O'Sullivan Agnes Bride 18 Female Daughter Roman Catholic
O'Sullivan Florence John 10 Male Son Roman Catholic
O'Sullivan Barbara 9 Female Daughter Roman Catholic
O'Sullivan Agnes 7 Female Daughter Roman Catholic

Does your friend have her grandmother's marriage certificate? This would hopefully name her father and give his occupation.

Thanks rootgatherer. I have made a note of that and will continue looking for a while.

Computer playing up so will close down for a while and try again later.

rootgatherer - I honestly don't know whether this is her maternal or paternal; grandmother but as she is at work at the moment I am going to rung her tonight and find that out. I will ask her about any certificates she may have at the same time. Unfortunately her last parent died earlier this year or the tail end of last year so she will have no-opne to question. However, as her grandmother was born 1901 and would have presumably had chldren in 1920's, some could still be alive (as is my 91 yr old aunt) and any survivors would be her father/mother's cousins. I am going to ask if any cousins were ever mentioned and see if that roundabout route would help - particularly re the exact location in Ireland that they lived. I am grasping at straws I know, but I am at a loss as to how to make any progress now. Thanks for trying to help.

Through a process of elimination I have discovered that Mary A O'Sullivan married an Albert W Ward September 1924 Coventry ref 6d 1786. I cannot find any marriage info via parish records so will tell my friend to send for this certificate to at least ascertain the father's name.... even if he is deceased. Thanks for helping.

Wonder if this is Mary's death

Name: Mary Agnes Ward
Birth Date: 24 Nov 1900
Date of Registration: Dec 1980
Age at Death: 80
Registration district: Coventry
Inferred County: West Midlands
Volume: 33
Page: 0397

I think you are right rootgatherer. I do believe she was 80- when she died. Now comes the wait until my friend sends for and receives the wedding cert to find the father's name. Thanks for your help.

No problem Margaret, pleasure to try to help. Please come back to this thread if we can help when the certificate arrives. :-)

I now have possession of the marriage certificate of Albert W Ward and Mary Agnes O'Sullivan. They were married 5 July 1924 at Church of Holy Sacrament and St. Osburg's, Coventry. The bride's father is given as Timothy O'Sullivan - deceased. I have also since found out that Mary Agnes was the eldest of all the children. Still have no idea of mother's name. However I tried the 1901 irish census looking for a Timothy O'Sullivan with a child Mary who would be down as age 0 or x number of months. No luck I am afraid. The same with the 1911 census - no luck. I know that Mary Agnes always said she was from Killarney but I extended the search to County Kerry but still no luck. Please has anyone any idea now where I go from here ? Thanks.

Need to log off now but will come back on tomorrow in the hope that someone can help.

Wonder about this Mary who's not with her parents?

Name: Mary Osullivan
Gender: Female
Age: 12
Birth Year: abt 1899
Relation to Head: Niece
Residence Date: 2 Apr 1911
Townland/Street: Ballygamboon, Upper
District: Kiltallagh
County: Kerry
Household Members:
Name Age
Michael Connor 33
Margaret Connor 32
Mary Anne Connor 8
John Connor 6
Bridget Connor 3
Michael Connor 76
Kate Connor 45
Mary Osullivan 12

Hi Margaret,

There is a Facebook page that was set up in 2011 called Killarney Down Memory Lane and there is over 7,000 members on it. If you or your friend send a friend request I'll add you to the group where hopefully one of our members will be able to help you out. It's all free, just a community based page showing old photos of Killarney, it's characters & stories. I know several people have already found living relatives on the page and learned a lot about their shared ancestors :-)

Happy hunting,
Patrick.

rootgather - unfortunately that isn't the Mary I am searching for. Mary was born at the end of 1900 (Nov or Dec) so would be under 1 year of age on 1901 and only 10 years old on 1911. I have no idea how old her father was when she was born but am estumating anything between 18 and 25 years old so am going through the census returns again looking for every Timothy O'Sullivan whose age falls between these two and who has an eldest child called Mary !! Needless to say there are tons of Timothy O'Sullivans. Thanks again for trying.

Patrick - thank you so much for that information but I am afraid I am not a Facebook member so cannot access it. I will check with my friend and see if she is on Facebook and if so, I will give her that information. Thank you for trying to help.

Thanks Gritty - am in the process of doing that now. I am beginning to lose heart over this O'Sullivan family - I am thwarted at every turn.

I met with my friend last night and she had just returned from Killarney. She could not believe it as nearly every person she spoke to was either an O'Sullivan/Sullivan or had a relative of that name !! She didn't however do any better than we have over here. She had however learned (though talking to an aged aunt) that Timothy was already deceased when Mary came to England aged 17 in 1917/18. She also learned that amongst Mary's many sisters were a Nora and a Bridget. As Timothy was already deceased by 1917 all 11 children must have been born by then so I am hoping to find a Nora and Bridget O'Sullivan/Sullivan with a father Timothy hopefully born by 1911 and therefore appearing on the census - if in fact this family ever bothered to fill in the census form. It will be yet another mammoth task but at the moment it is the one last hope of locating Mary's parents. Fingers crossed that this new snippet of info yields some results. Thanks for any help anyone can give..

nudge