Dear Listers: This is my first post to this list but with all the talk of DONOVANS, SKEAGH and SKIBBEREEN, I thought I should toss in my two cents and see if anyone can give me some leads on who my great-grandmother's parents might be. My great-grandmother was CATHERINE DONOVAN born in SKIBBEREEN (could be town or parish) about 1835. She married DANIEL MCNAMARA born in 1821 (pretty definite year) in BANDON (again could be town or parish). They may have married in Ireland or Wales. I have no information on who their parents or possible siblings may have been. As of 1854 when their first child was born, they were living in NEW TREDEGAR, MONMOUTHSHIRE, WALES. Catherine and Daniel had a total of 10 children born in Wales, the last being my grandfather, MATTHEW MCNAMARA born 1878. On the 1871 Wales census, Catherine listed her place of birth as Skibbereen, Cork. Her age varies with each census so I am estimating her year of birth as 1835 give or take possibly 5 years. Catherine's first daughter was baptised "HONORA" although my great-aunt went by JOHANNA all her life. But as Catherine and Daniel seemed to follow the traditional naming patterns, Catherine's mother may have been Honora. The other quirk about Catherine is that she would also use the surname MCCARTHY. All of the McNamara children were baptised in the Catholic church in Wales and Catherine is listed as nee Donovan on the baptism registers. But on the 1871 census and my grandfather's birth record in 1878, she is listed as nee McCarthy. There were two other children born between 1871 and 1878 where she gives her surname on the birth certification as Donovan (she was the informant) so I know it's the same person. And the baptism sponors of the McNamara children reads like a Cork telephone book: SULLIVAN, DOWNEY, RIORDAN, DALY, WALSH, SAVAGE, LYONS, BARRY, FARRELL, HENESSY, DELANEY, MIVVY, CLEARY, O'DWYER, and FOLEY. I would love to find out who Catherine Donovan's parents were or any other siblings but the above is all I have to go on. If anyone on the list recognizes any of the above information or can give me some suggestions as to how to proceed with research in Cork, I would greatly appreciate it. Sincerely, Pam Nixon Westland, Pennsylvania USA [email protected] ____________________________________________________________________________________ Need Mail bonding? Go to the Yahoo! Mail Q&A for great tips from Yahoo! Answers users. http://answers.yahoo.com/dir/?link=list&sid=396546091

Hi I have some Donovan/Coghlan information. Is Skiberreen anywhere near Schull. Cork? If so I would prefer to send privately, as it was given to me and do not feel I should pass it around. onmail list. Let me know if you want it. Lorra www.radleysofcork.bigpondhosting.com ----- Original Message ----- From: "Pamela J. Nixon" <[email protected]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Wednesday, March 28, 2007 9:12 AM Subject: [COUNTYCORK] SKIBBEREEN & DONOVANS > Dear Listers: > This is my first post to this list but with all the talk of DONOVANS, SKEAGH and SKIBBEREEN, I thought I should toss in my two cents and see if anyone can give me some leads on who my great-grandmother's parents might be. > My great-grandmother was CATHERINE DONOVAN born in SKIBBEREEN (could be town or parish) about 1835. She married DANIEL MCNAMARA born in 1821 (pretty definite year) in BANDON (again could be town or parish). They may have married in Ireland or Wales. I have no information on who their parents or possible siblings may have been. As of 1854 when their first child was born, they were living in NEW TREDEGAR, MONMOUTHSHIRE, WALES. Catherine and Daniel had a total of 10 children born in Wales, the last being my grandfather, MATTHEW MCNAMARA born 1878. > On the 1871 Wales census, Catherine listed her place of birth as Skibbereen, Cork. Her age varies with each census so I am estimating her year of birth as 1835 give or take possibly 5 years. Catherine's first daughter was baptised "HONORA" although my great-aunt went by JOHANNA all her life. But as Catherine and Daniel seemed to follow the traditional naming patterns, Catherine's mother may have been Honora. > The other quirk about Catherine is that she would also use the surname MCCARTHY. All of the McNamara children were baptised in the Catholic church in Wales and Catherine is listed as nee Donovan on the baptism registers. But on the 1871 census and my grandfather's birth record in 1878, she is listed as nee McCarthy. There were two other children born between 1871 and 1878 where she gives her surname on the birth certification as Donovan (she was the informant) so I know it's the same person. And the baptism sponors of the McNamara children reads like a Cork telephone book: SULLIVAN, DOWNEY, RIORDAN, DALY, WALSH, SAVAGE, LYONS, BARRY, FARRELL, HENESSY, DELANEY, MIVVY, CLEARY, O'DWYER, and FOLEY. > I would love to find out who Catherine Donovan's parents were or any other siblings but the above is all I have to go on. If anyone on the list recognizes any of the above information or can give me some suggestions as to how to proceed with research in Cork, I would greatly appreciate it. > > Sincerely, > Pam Nixon > Westland, Pennsylvania USA > [email protected] > > > > > ____________________________________________________________________________ ________ > Need Mail bonding? > Go to the Yahoo! Mail Q&A for great tips from Yahoo! Answers users. > http://answers.yahoo.com/dir/?link=list&sid=396546091 > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message >

Hello Pamela, I hope you don't mind me contacting you. I've been following the Skibbereen mail very closely as I have DONOVANs and HURLEYs whom I would like to track down in that area. Particularly Daniel DONOVAN who married Hanorah DESMOND in the 1820-40s whose daughter Hanorah DONOVAN married Edward HURLEY our great grandfather in Kinsale and raised a large family there. Edward HURLEY and his father, another Edward HURLEY, were both "seamen" and I imagine that the younger one met a Kinsale girl while visiting there during a port-of-call. Although there are HURLEYs in Kinsale, after my visit there where I found the graves of our great-greats alongside that of another local HURLEY family, they said that the two families were not kinfolk. This, plus the family "lore" with connections to Skibbereen, leads us to think that there must be a connection there. If you have any information, which local Skibbereen folk might help with, I would be most grateful to you. Good luck with your own searches; perhaps our two DONOVAN families might well be connected. Gratefully, Mary from Auckland, New Zealand.