On 10th January 1904 Michael Connor married Celina Stanley. The wedding took place in Cloverhill Church. Both parties resided in Emlaghroy. Celina was 21 (born 1883) and the daughter of Pat Stanley. (The townland of Emlaghyroyin lies between the River Suck and the railway line. It is about half a mile south of Island Upper…
All posts in Geography
Spike in the death rate?
In my attempts to tie down loose ends, I came across a curious page in the register of deaths for 1936. I was interested in Ellen Stanley. She appears on the 1901 census in Ballinlough. She is 60 (born 1841) and living with her brother Patrick (45), his wife Mary Ellen (45), and their three…
McCormack & Stanley
There were already nine (9) different people called John Stanley on this website when I started writing this post. I now introduce number ten! On 30th November 1882 John Stanley married Ellenor McCormack. John was a bachelor from Ballyglass. Ellenor was a spinster, also from Ballyglass. The wedding took place in Cloverhill Church. This church…
Boer War Concentration Camps
It is easy to identify ways in which the British authorities could have done a better job in the Boer War. Well it is with the wisdom of hindsight. Not for the first time, and certainly not for the last, military leaders were slow to adapt to new tactics. The Boers knew that they could…
The small print
In October 1902, Patrick signed Army Form B217 for a short service enlistment. It was for a total of 12 years, part on active service and the rest on reserve. Question 1 asks for the recruit’s name. (Starting with the difficult ones!) Question 2 provided the key information about Patrick’s place of birth. Question 18…
2nd Eastern General Hospital
In September 1913, the staff and pupils of Brighton, Hove and Sussex Grammar School took possession of new, purpose built premises on Dyke Road. In August 1914 they were forced to return to their old home. The building had been requisitioned. It became 2nd Eastern General Hospital. The building still exists. It is now a…
From Islands to America
On the post “Island Lower and Upper”, (https://www.roscommonstanley.me.uk/geography/island-lower-and-upper/ ) I referred to American records as providing answers to the question about what happened to the rest of the Stanley/Kenney line. (Bridget, Thomas, Mary and John) Bridget Stanley married William Simpson on 29th June 1887 in Pittsfield, Massachusetts. He was born in Darnford, New York in…
Island Lower and Upper
The 1901 census reveals that there are only 17 people carrying the Stanley name living in County Roscommon. The population at that time was 102,000, only 40% of what it had been prior to the Great Famine of the late 1840s. They group into just four families. (There is also a Governess, born in Cork,…
Kilbride to Canada
In my efforts to understand more about my Roscommon ancestors, I have looked at Parish records. There are many gaps. It is not possible to track people from birth to marriage to death. Kilbride Parish Church, at Four Mile House, features in my family’s records. I have found another family with the Stanley name on…
DNA: the magic bullet?
I was given a DNA testing kit as a Christmas present (2018). The results were pretty much as expected. I received a list of people with whom I share some DNA in descending order of overlap. The closest matches suggest that we might be fourth cousins. This means that we share a great, great, great…