30 years ago, my mother-in-law Wynne, then in her 70s scribbled all over the pieces of computer paper in the form of notes and a “mud map” family tree. She wrote what she remembered and her tree was most accurate. For a child who left England in 1928 as a nine-year-old she had a remarkable grasp of the family structure and had kept up to date in the interim. There were at least five generations on that paper and details of both Paternal and Maternal lines from England and beyond.
More
recently we have tried to confirm the quite elusive paternal side back to the Corcorans
and Ramsbottoms in Ireland. These were her great great grandparents and every time
I doubt my findings, I consult her notes just to confirm I’m on the right
track.
My husband has had three decent sized DNA matches from the same family who had
Ramsbottoms in their tree. It was worth pursuing. We knew a Corcoran and a
Ramsbottom were involved but the Corcorans are being a little more elusive. As
is often the case with DNA the manager of the matches didn’t want “to play” so
I kept digging on my own. I couldn’t
find a wedding or a baptism on either Roots Ireland or Ancestry so I left it in
the ‘too hard’ basket for a couple of years as I still had a few doubts about
Margaret‘s last name.
Patrick Corcoran m Margaret Ramsbottom
1811-1864 1821-1883
Henry Honoria Thomas Edward Mary Elizabeth
1840-?? 1842-1918 1845-?? 1849-?? 1854-1894 1857-1938
However, working backwards from the Census in England in 1861 which listed my husband’s maternal English born Great grandmother we established that the parents came from Queens County in Ireland and the (Irish) children born and named on the Census were born in Dublin. This family was part of the diaspora of the 1850s moving from Ireland to Manchester and I was determined to work out where they came from, when and why they left.
The Baptism records were found in the Irish records for Henry J Corcoran born 1840 at Saint Catherine’s Dublin with the mother Mary or Margaret Ramsbottom and father Patrick Corcoran. Next came a child we know as Annie but she actually knew her official name Honoria born 1842 also at Saint Mary‘s Dublin. A third child, Thomas came along in 1845. Thomas was not on the Census but his baptism came up in a baptism search. With not much to find on Thomas it appears he may have died young in Ireland or in the early days of England.
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| Henry Corcoran's baptism- the Irish records are not so user friendly |
Edward Corcoran was next born in 1849 and was followed by Mary in 1854. The 1861 census confirms she was born in Dublin. No records can be found the baptismal records. This confirms that the parents were Patrick Corcoran and Margaret Ramsbottom and that they came to Manchester sometime between 1854 and 1857. The last entry on the 1861 Census shows my husband’s two times great grandmother Eliza (Elizabeth) was born in Salford in Lancashire in 1858.
In the too hard basket for a few years, I returned to Margaret Ramsbottom and Patrick Corcoran when more DNA matches turned up. Some people had now fleshed out their trees and attached records. In the meantime, and there was a marriage record for Patrick and Margaret- a wedding in Stradbally Co Laois (pronounced Leesh) also known as Queens County on 1 July 1838. There were multiple Corcorans and Ramsbottoms in that Parish so it should only be a matter of time before I sort the tree further back.
Stradbally is a sixth century town in County Laois in the Irish Midlands about 12 km from Portlaois. The Topographical Dictionary of Ireland 1837 by Samuel Lewis has the Parish with a population of 2392 inhabitants.
Wynne’s comment that the “Ramsbottoms are in the large clan in southern Ireland” is correct. It’s It’s a in a large county south of Dublin. In fact I need to do more on a comment I found about the English “plantation” in the county in 17th century. There are many ancient Ramsbottoms in Manchester and surrounds as well as this area. They could be a part of the plantation.
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| Stradbally Diocese Map |
I managed to track down a potential brother Patrick Ramsbottom and a sister Elizabeth. Patrick who had an extensive family had remained in the county. It seems most of his family stayed in Stradbally. They certainly were better placed to know the lay of the land.
I fleshed the tree out to meet up with my husband’s original DNA matches. In the meantime, my husband has attracted two-three more shared DNA matches who managed to match up with these extended family of siblings.
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| Inside Stradbally Catholic church |
Margaret
and husband Patrick Corcoran must have moved to Dublin not long after they
married. I’m no closer to finding out
her parents definitively or Margaret‘s birth. Believe me there are many more
theories amongst the trees on Ancestry about Margaret‘s birth parents. Patrick Corcoran’s parents and birth are
missing also.
I have a cautionary Henry Ramsbottom marrying Mary Lowry as Margaret’s parents
but I’ll need more evidence.
The move to Dublin which is about 82.6 km away a little too early (c1840) for the potato famine. There the children were born from 1840 to 1854. The family obviously weathered the devastation of the potato famine that saw so many starve or die but they were well placed (in Dublin) amongst those involved in the mass migration to all parts of the world.
Anyway, back to Patrick and Margaret Corcoran somewhere after Mary’s birth 1854 and before 1858 Margaret and Patrick decided to take their tribe across the water to Salford, Lancashire, England. At age 50 Patrick appears in the 1861 Census with the entire family minus Thomas and with the addition of another daughter locally born in 1857 by the name of Eliza (Elizabeth).
Salford is an old town with a history of textile processing firstly woollen products and then cotton with many mills built alongside the banks of the River Irwell.
Fortunately, by the time of their first English census (1861) Patrick aged 50 had found work as a coach cleaner with the London NW Railway. They live in 1 Hart St Salford which is a 44 metre long street in the Greater Manchester city of Manchester and adjoining the Manchester Coach Station, near the Railway and the Manchester University.
The county of Greater Manchester which is in the North West (England) region of the UK. 163.58 miles North West from the centre of London, 0.32 miles East from the centre of Manchester, 31.34 miles East from the centre of Liverpool and 32.54 miles West from the centre of Sheffield.
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| 1861 census for the Corcoran family |
The census also shows Henry is 20 and working as a Stationers Assistant, Honoria is 18 working as a cotton winder. Edward 11, Mary 8, and Eliza or Elizabeth is 4 are scholars with Margaret (Ramsbottom) keeping house. The street is filled with a mix of people from Lancashire, other parts of Britain or Irish. Some are trades people supporting the growing town and others work for mills or railway.
Life in England was short lived for Patrick Corcoran as he died in 1864.
The
1871 Census sees Margaret living in a nearby residence in West Thomson Street
as a widow with Henry who is unemployed. Mary and Elizabeth are employed as cotton
winders in the Mill. Edward is not listed.
A Catholic mission started when land was given in 1853 by Samuel Grimshawe, a Levenshulme resident and industrialist. Eight Sisters -Poor Clares Collettines- came from Belgium in 1863 and settled in Levenshulme in 1871. Coming from a good catholic Irish background, Honoria (Annie) had entered the convent as a sister of the Poor Clares and was known as Sister Mary Colette. She was the choir sister.
Later in the 1881 census Margaret was living with her daughter Elizabeth who
had married James Cassidy. He was born in Ireland at Blarney Castle army
Barracks so came from an Irish army family. He had settled in Salford with his
father, Thomas Cassidy around 1859 when his father was pensioned out of the
Army. James Cassidy and Elizabeth Corcoran had married in 1880. Henry lived in
the household too and was employed as a painter labourer.
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| Margaret living with her youngest daughter Elizabeth Cassidy 1881 |
At this time Mary Corcoran was boarding with the Ball family in Pendleton in Salford. Certainly, everyone in nearby residences was employed at the local mills.
This is last recording of Margaret Corcoran in a household Census as she died a couple of years after the census in 1883 at the age of 62. She’s obviously pleased with the research as another DNA match has popped into my husband’s record box as I write.
Sister Mary Colette Corcoran was a nun for 52 years known as Sister Mary Colette Corcoran (Choir sister) in the convent of Poor Clares, Levenshulme Manchester. She died in October 1918 in her 76th year. Before she died she bequeathed her Missal to a nephew Joseph Cassidy still treasured to this day by his daughter.
Recently I turned up a photo of Edward on Ancestry and I’m still investigating. The writing on the photo is curious and may point to him being a Franciscan priest? Certainly, he seems to have lived to a good age.
Henry is nowhere to be found. He may have married, moved to another country or died.
Wynne said there were some cousins in Lancashire called the Noonans. It took me a while to work this out. Mary Corcoran married Patrick Noonan (also an Irishman) in 1885. She’s found in the 1891 census with her husband and three children. Then suddenly she died in 1894 probably in childbirth or thereafter. It’s possible the Noonan cousins Wynne remembers were the children of Mary’s boys.
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| Mary Noonan nee Corcoran and family 1891 |
I’m
writing this story to explore the Irish diaspora, that worldwide event that saw
Irish who lived in and then left Ireland moving to all parts of the world for a
number of reasons but largely because of the terrible situation that happened
in Ireland with mass starvation due to the potato famine and the eviction of
farmers from their farming lands. I’m trying to explore the events and stories
and connections.
It’s almost too late to collect the stories of the past through the increasing
number of generations but by recalling, researching, retelling and recording
the timelines it’s possible to piece a few things together. Anyone trying to
search their Irish Family History will find that it is darn hard. There are
many missing records, lack of information in the recorded ones and gaps. A
massive number of deaths and departures add to the complications. Added to that
there’s large families where everyone’s called the same names- named after
saints and relatives to be sure to be sure!
A further complication is that after a generation or two families often moved on from Manchester to America/ Canada or Manchester to Australia. Keepsakes rarely make the move twice.
A couple of hints for tracing Irish ancestors:
- Get a good map of Ireland (and then you may need one of Australia, Canada, America, England etc)
- Recently I have joined the Ireland XO site. This website is attempting to make some connections back to the original towns and counties by asking that people record snippets of information for their Ancestors that may piece together a family history of the movements of families (diaspora in reverse)
And so we leave Margaret Ramsbottom- my husband’s 2x great grandmother. I feel
we understand so much more.
As I total up the family tree, I can see that there are at least 164 descendants of Margaret’s and counting. I note that I have collected my husband's ‘cousins’ who live in the UK, America, Australia, New Zealand, Canada and Belgium. In addition, because of the DNA matches there are clearly ancestors and their descendants also in Ireland.
Margaret’s daughter, Elizabeth Corcoran’s story next….
