For queries within the area of Lancashire between the Ribble and the Mersey.
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I knew that in the nineteenth century the spelling of names could be inconsistent but the attached record which I encountered for the marriage of the daughter of my thrice great aunt takes the biscuit!
The groom's name is given as Donnelly but his father is Donnelley and he actually seems to sign as Donnolley.
My initial attempts to find out anything further about James and his wife Dorothy have drawn a blank and it doesn't help to have a variable surname! Given his occupation as a Ship's Steward I suspect that they may have settled elsewhere or emigrated.
We are a little bit tied as we don't know Dorothy's age for definite. The passenger lists onine begin at 1890 so they would probably have left by then.
Dorothy's name being less common than James is what I looked for, and I think I might just have them in the 1880 census in USA, the brother in law is the clue.
San Francisco, California - I can't find that a better address is given
The three places given are Place of Birth, Place of birth of Father and Place of Birth of Mother
Donnoly James W M 30 Mariner Australia Ireland Ireland
Dorothy W F 30 England Wales Wales
Jones Daniel W M 19 Brother in Law Sailor England Wales Wales
The W is for white.
Clay Township, Village of Genoa and Martin is the description against District 068.
MaryA Our Facebook Page
Names - Lunt, Hall, Kent, Ayre, Forshaw, Parle, Lawrenson, Longford, Ennis, Bayley, Russell, Longworth, Baile
Any census info in this post is Crown Copyright, from National Archives
Wonderful stuff - now I have the spelling of Donnoly which is yet another version of James's surname to add to my collection. I will need a bigger piece of paper!
Dorothy appears to have been born sometime around 1855 because she was christened at St Peter's in Liverpool on 7th October 1855 and I think I have identified her in the GRO index as Liverpool 1855 Q3 Vol:8b Folio:92. Her age in 1880 should be 25 rather than 30 but far be it for me to question a woman's age!.
As you say the brother in law is the clue. Daniel was a family name, her grandfather was Daniel Roberts and in accordance with the Welsh custom of the time my twice great grandmother, Elizabeth Roberts, was married under the patronym of Elizabeth Daniel [that took some finding!]. Dorothy did have a younger brother who was christened Daniel at St Paul's in Liverpool on 22 March 1860 and I think is in the GRO index as Liverpool 1860 Q1 Vol:8b Folio:91. He seems to be a near perfect match for the Daniel Jones in the US Census in 1880.
If James was born to Irish parents in Australia it explains why I found no trace of him in the UK records that I searched.
I will check out that 1880 US census entry and extend to see if they appear again at a later date.
