A Family Named Dolly / Dally or Dalley in 18th Century Dublin

Janice,

The attached may be of some interest to you.

The surname "Dolly" can be found in various parts of Ireland.

Dolly - (O) Dolly - Surnames of Ireland by Dr. Edward MacLysaght - 3rd Edition 1978 (laoch, hero or champion - dath, swift). This name is still around Galway city. The sept was once of some importance in Connemara.

Dollard, Dullard - a descriptive name in Co. Dublin since the thirteenth century.

Credit: Subscription site  www.findmypast.ie

Regards,

Thanks for this, but could not access the attachment.  Could you please resend. 

The name is slightly ambiguous, in that the names Dolly and Dally have different etymologies; O Dolly or Dolly from Ó Dathlaoich, and Dally from Ó Dálaigh.  Loughton John signed his name Dalley (I have documentary evidence of this), and his father signed his name Dalley on his 1808 marriage certificate.  Dolly appears on the baptismal record for John Dalley, the younger.  It is possible that the Dublin marriage record I found for John Dolly and Mary Flanagan does not relate to the Anglo Irish Dalleys, though the first names and birth dates agree.  The census returns for the senior Dalley give the name as Dally and Dalley, but that could be the enumerators' spelling.  The only other clue I have at present is that the family may have been Wesleyan Methodists. It seems likely that both John Dalley the senior and his bride Mary Holders gravitated to London to find work, and it was there the couple met.

Janice Lingley

Janice,

I assume this is the attachment you are referring to?,

Regards,

Thanks for this.  The Flanagans seem to have occurred all over Ireland. Is there any way of discovering where and when the names Dolly and Flanagan occur together?

Janice Lingley

Janice,

I suggest Irish Ancestors by John and Eoin Grenham. Griffith's land valuations c1846 - 1866 may be of assistance. www.askaboutireland.ie/Griffith's  - Free Site

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Regards,

Thanks for your email.  Apologies for the delay in responding.  I consulted the Irish Ancestors website (which is excellent) for instances in Griffith's Valuation where the surnames Dolly and Flanagan occur together.  The results were:  Galway: Moylough, Dolly (4), Flanagan (2); Annagdown, for both names (1); Sligo: St John, Dolly 1, Flanagan 7; Tipperary: Carrick, Dolly 1, Flanagan 2.  I checked the entries but nothing very useful seemed to emerge.  I also searched for the marriage of John Dolly and Mary Flanagan, whose son John was baptised in 1781 at St Paul's Church, Arran Quay, Dublin.  According to Irish traditional naming, John may have been their third son, and the marriage could have taken place circa 1770, or earlier if the couple had daughters.  I consulted the following record sets: Diocese of Dublin Marriage Licences 1638 to 1658, Ireland Marriages 1619 to 1898, and Farrar's Index to Irish Marriages 1771 to1812, but without result.

Further guidance would be appreciated.

Janice Lingley

I do not appear to have a response to my email posted 10 July 2023.  I may include what has been discovered so far about John Dally senior in an article to be submitted to a UK local history society, and it would help, if there is nothing further that can be done to establish the Dalleys' Irish ancestry, to be so advised, or given further pointers for research.

Janice

Janice:

I think McCoy has been very helpful. I don't believe there is any other help we can provide.

I would make one comment. Very few RC parishes have records back to 1781. Mainly Dublin parishes and a few other locations. I would be very cautious in using the 1781 Dublin baptismal record to connect to the John Dalley who married in 1808 in England. All the best with your research!

Roger McDonnell

Thanks for your comment, Roger.  I agree the connection between the John Dalley and the 1781 Dublin baptismal record may not be correct, despite the coincidence of first names and birth dates, and the fact that there is no evidence that John Dalley senior was born in mainland Britain.  I understood, when I posted my first cautiously speculative message, that the links could be simply coincidental and nothing more.   So in these circumstances it was kind of McCoy to respond at all, and I appreciate this.

A brief note on the London marriage of John Dalley and his profession as a gardener has now been accepted for publication by a local history society here.  As advised, I did not include mention of the Dublin marriage, and merely stated that John may have been an immigrant to this country, since Dolly or Dalley is an Irish name, referencing Lysacht.

Janice