Mary Jane O'Dowd,c1831,Soldiers Bride.

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rjkellett
Posts: 2
Joined: Wed May 23, 2007 2:32 am
Location: Morrinsville,New Zealand

Mary Jane O'Dowd,c1831,Soldiers Bride.

Post by rjkellett » Thu May 24, 2007 5:44 am

Hello,

My name is Janet Kellett,nee Mackintosh.For the last 2 years I have been trying to find out information about my Irish Great-grandmother,Mary Jane O'Dowd(Doud),although we have found some information from English census',English GRO,etc,have been unable to find out,for certain,where she really came from,who her folks were,even if O'Dowd was her maiden name(she would have been about 30 when she gave birth to her 1st child by William Lambert,my Great-grandfather and,I assume,her husband,as we have no proof that there was a marriage)However,here is the information that we have on mary Jane.

William Lambert was a soldier serving in British Army from 1845 until 1866 in the 3rd reg.of foot.His army papers we had searched give little away,no details of wife and family until his discharge in 1866 when a sum was granted to pay for their removal from Shorncliff camp(in the UK)to the Chichester area where they were to live.We know that William was based in Limerick April to June(pay-returns period)1864 and he could have been there for some time as the last location we can fix from Army records was that he was in England Oct 1855 to March 1856.
We know that William was in Ireland in July 1866,on the pay list at Curragh Camp,after that he,and his family presumeably,returned to England where he was discharged in September after 21 yrs service.I suppose it would be reasonable to think that he was in Ireland from 1864-66(and possible for some time before that).

The records state that their child,James,was 2yrs and 9 months old in Sep.1866 which would suggest he was conceived at the first few months of 1863.We obtained Mary Jane's maiden name from the birth registration of one of their children,Frederick,born in Sussex in 1871.Various census'all gave Ireland as Mary's birthplace but the 1901 was most specific giving Dunnogan(which we believe is the Townland Doonogan)Clare,Ireland as her birthplace.

Mary Jane died in Sussex in 1914,her death reg.suggesting she was 75yrs old,while we think she could have been a few years older than that,perhaps 3 or4 yrs,going by census estimates.

We have made quite an effort to get more information on Mary Jane,as I said previously,without success,so if anyone at your end can throw any light on the matter we would be very grateful,

Best wishes,

Jan :D
Rob and Jan Kellett,Morrinsville,New Zealand

Paddy Casey
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Dowds / O'Dowds in Clare

Post by Paddy Casey » Thu May 24, 2007 4:21 pm

Jan,

Have you already trawled the numerous Dowd references in the Clare Library records at http://www.clarelibrary.ie ? I couldn't find a direct hit for Dowd in Dunnogan there but there are lots of Dowds in the 1855 Griffiths Valuation at http://www.clarelibrary.ie/eolas/coclar ... fithd3.htm and I wondered whether it might be worth checking those to see whether any were adjacent to Dunnogan.

It occurred to me that whilst you might not find Mary herself there you might find a Dowd family cluster which could relate to her.

Just an idea.

Paddy

rjkellett
Posts: 2
Joined: Wed May 23, 2007 2:32 am
Location: Morrinsville,New Zealand

Mary Jane Dowd

Post by rjkellett » Sat May 26, 2007 2:23 am

Hello Paddy,

Thank you for the kind reply.

Yes we have looked through the areas' that you cite,however our knowledge about family of Mary Jane stands at a great big zero.
I rather hoped that my query would catch the eye of some-one who may be related and(a very maybe I suppose)have some knowledge of her existance and be able to link some relatives to her.When I stated an alternative spelling of O'Dowd as Doud,I should have written O'Doud(as spelt on the Birth Cert.of her son Frederick.)was it normal for the O' not to be used in Ireland?

Thanks again for your interest,

Best wishes,

Jan :)
Rob and Jan Kellett,Morrinsville,New Zealand

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