Searching for Neary/Loftus Family

There's a good match for Jane's birth going by parents names and location, but slightly earlier than the date you have - ages and dates reported later were not always accurate so not at all unusual to find someone older (or younger) than they reported in later records.  Jane Neary born 30th February 1878 (IrishGenealogy) at Castletown Co. Sligo to Pat. Neary and Bridget Loftus, she's the first entry on the register page. The registration disrict is Dromore West in West Co. Sligo beside the border with Co. Mayo at Ballina.

Jane appears to be the eldest child as her parents Patrick & Bridget married just the year before on the  14th Janauary 1877 at Attymas RC Church.

EDIT : Something I've just spotted - there seems to be at least two couples with the name Patrick Neary (Nary in some records) and Bridget Loftus in the same area and about the same time.The 2nd couple married in 1861 in Castleconnor Co. Sligo and had children in the same area between about 1863 and 1872 at least..

Thank you so much for your response.   I do have a copy of Birth Registered in the District of Castleconnor that has a Jane Neary born Feb. 30, 1878.    It is very confusing trying to find more information about my grandmother when dates of birth vary on documents. 

All documents that I have found of her in the United States has her name as Jennie V. Neary (Egan or Maguire (McGuire). The 1900 Census of Philadelphia her birth date is January, 1878.  On her marriage certificate to Peter Egan , it shows her birth date as January 7, 1879 and born in Sligo.  Then, on her marriage to William t. Maguire it shows her birth date as June 3, 1883.    Her death certificate shows her birth date as January 1, 1881.  

Another item I have is a letter written to my mother in 1935 from a cousin Bea Quinn McHale who was living in Ballina on Hill Street with her husband John and 6 children.  She was asking for some clothing for her children.  It was a very poor time for the family.  Also, in the letter she referred to my grandmother as Aunt Janie and commented on her death in 1929.  Bea McHale said that her mother and Aunt Janie were sisters.  Her mother's name was not mentioned.  

Are you certain about the date on Jane Neary's birth registration? There are but 28 days in February unles it was a leap-year. No one was born on 30th of February in any year!

I realize the date of Feb. 30 is wrong but I found it on a on the birth registration No. 197.  So many varied dates.

Bridget

The  birth registered in Dromore West Superintendent's Reistration District of Jane Neary allegedly born 30th February wasn't registered until 14th May. All other births on the page, registered around same time were births in April and May. The date of birth entered for Jane was probably invented and calculated backwards from 14th May in an effort to avoid a fine for late registration. The parent may have said or meant to say 13th February and it was mistakenly written as 30th. The clerk's handwriting wasn't great; perhaps his arithmetic wasn't of a high standard either.

There was a baptism of Jane Nary in Castleconnor parish on 13th January 1878. Parents were Patrick & Bridget (Loftus). Sponsors Michael & Sarah Loftus. Abode was Castletown or Castleconnor. This may have been the same child as the Jane Neary registered with the fictitious February birth date. If both records relate to the same child she wouldn't have been the only Irish baby apparently baptised before she was officially born. 13th of January would have been an easy date for the parents to remember as it is exactly a week after the feast of the Epiphany. Choosing the 13th day of February as her birth date when registering her birth may have been logical in their minds.

My own Loftus ancestor had conflicting dates of birth but only by a few days. Civil registration has 16th May, baptism register has her born on 21st. She was baptised on 26th of same month so baptism register is more likely to be correct. I assume that whichever family member was present at her baptism would have known whether she was 5 or 10 days old at the time. By the time her father got around to registering her birth he may have forgotten the exact date. One of her younger sisters doesn't seem to have been registered.

Unfortunately the priest at Castleconnor parish didn't record date of birth in register. I was hoping that it would have an alternative birth date for Jane which matched one of the others.

Attymas baptism register is very untidy and hard to read.

Approaching from a differnt angle and the opposite direction timewise. Could Bea Quinn have been Bridget? Do you get an idea of approximate ages of  her chidren in the 1935 letter? Don't post their names in case any are still alive. Did she say if her husband was alive or what he worked at? Any idea when she married John McHale?

Thank you for your response. 

Bea's name could be Bridget.  The letter was written on Nov. 12, 1935 from Hill Street in Ballina.   While asking for clothing, Bea list the ages of her children  - oldest girl is 15 years , since August another girl is 8 a boy is 10 and another girl will be 5 in May.  Bea also states that she is expecting another baby in December.

Her husband is alive at the time the letter was written and she states that "Johny hasn't done a turn of work for the past 4 years".  

Bea also mentions that she has a sister named Margaret who moved somewhere in New Jersey and another sister moved to New York and married.  She says that they never write to her.

She also asked if a Uncle Patrick had been in touch since Aunt Janie died in 1929.  I did find a Manifest of Immigrant for 1894 .  It was the SS Mongolian sailing from Londonderry 12, Jan 1894 and arriving in Portland, Maine Jan. 25, 1894  with a Patrick Neary age 28, single and a Coachman.  His last residence in Ireland was Catletown.  It also says that he had been in the United States,(Portland)  in 1893.   

There is also a Jane Neary age 16 listed from Castletown on the same Manifest under Patrick's name.   She is  single and a servant.   This is her first trip to the U.S.   I can not find a Jane Neary in any U.S. Census but find Jennie Neary in the 1900 U.S. Census in Philadelphia work as a servant for the Wright Family. 

I don't see any other Jane Nary or Neary birth registered 1877-8 which might have been the child baptised 13th Jan. 1878. The Jane Neary aged 16 on 1894 ship's manifest would have been born around 1878, if she gave her true age. 

A Patt Nary was registered in Castleconnor District, Dromore West Sup. Reg. District 1866. Born 22nd Nov., Castletown. Parents Paddy Nary & Bridget (Loftus), abode Castletown. Paddy's occupation was herd. This would fit the age of the Patrick on the 1894 ship manifest. He wouldn't have been the only Patrick Nary/Neary of a similar age though. So the Patrick who went to U.S. in 1894 had been there once already, returned to Ireland, then left again after a stay of less than a year. Is there any clue as to his destination?

There were 22 Nary births registered in Dromore West 1864-1890 and 30 with surname Neary. Those registered as Nary with parents Pat & Bridget  included Andrew born May 1865 and an unnamed male born Feb 1869 who may have died shortly after. None of the Nary/Neary girls registered in Dromore West had parents Bridget & Patrick. Bea's mother may have been born before civil registration, or in another district or the parents didn't get around to registering her. Other possibilities are that she was a child of a previous or later marriage of Pat or Bridget or that they went to Britain for a while and she was born there. Birth registration indexes for England & Wales can be searched with a combination of baby's surname plus mother's maiden surname on GRO Index or on Free BMD. Free BMD is compiled by volunteers and is incomplete.

*No civil registration marriage of a Bridget Loftus to a Patrick Nary/Neary in Ireland. If they married in Ireland it was probably before 1864.  There may have been 2 couples Pat Nary/Neary and Bridget Loftus in same area around same time as Shane pointed out. If you draw a blank with parish registers, check for a marriage in Britain as another possibility. People went back and forth for work, sometimes as casual workers but some stayed in one side of the Irish Sea for a few years. *See PS. 

One death registration to consider is Bridget, wife of Patrick, aged 54, Castleconnor district,  Dromore West, 1897. Ages recorded at death in Ireland at the time were not always accurate and in the cases of old people in particular could be out by a decade. E.g. there was a Patrick Neary death registered in Castleconnor District 1893. His age was recorded as 93 but that could have been a guess. Bridget and/or Pat may have moved to live with relatives and died in another district.

Other female names beginning with B: Belinda, Bertha, Beesey/Beeza. I think the last 2 are Bridget.

If Bea's eldest child was 15 by late 1935 then Bea would have married 1920 or before. You can search marriages on Irish Genealogy site for that period. Try without Bea's forename in case she had another name.  Search British marriage records too. As well as the sources I've mentioned, Scottish records are on Scotland's People website. Bea's husband would have had to go wherever there was work, if he was fit. Unemployment was high in Britain in 1930s and there was the Means Test for men who applied for the dole (unemployment allowance). Bea's children's births were too late for you to search on Irish Genealogy. GRO Index for English & Welsh births also has a cut-off date of 100 years. However, some volunteer sites, local indexes and those on pay sites have indexed some births in England & Wales after 1918.

*Edit. PS. I've re-read Shane's post again, properly this time and seen the 2 Patrick Neary/Nary & Bridget Loftus marriages 1861 and 1877. So which children belonged to which couple?  Patrick, the son who was 28 on the voyage to U.S. in 1894 was too old to be from 1877 marriage. The Jane born 1878 could have been from either marriage. Patrick's occupation was herd on some birth registrations.  Were either Patrick or Bridget on a census? 

Possible births of Bea Quinn's sisters. Jane 1892;  Mary 1894;  Bridget 1895. Registered in Castleconnor district, Dromore West. Parents Brian  & Sarah. Sarah's maiden name was Neary. Residence was Castletown for births of Sarah and Bridget  and Ballymoonan ? at time of Mary's birth. One of those 3 girls may even be Bea. (I have 2 cousins  Mary who were always known by their middle names.  I didn't know they were Mary until I heard it at their weddings.)  I looked only for births of  girls since we know that Bea had sisters.

This looks a fit for marriage. Jan 1891 Dromore West. at Castleconnor R.C. Chapel. Bernard Quinn & Sarah Neary. Both were full age. Residence of both was Ballymoon... ? Sarah's father was Patrick, deceased, occupation labourer. Brian and Bernard  are versions of same name.

As Sarah was of full age at her marriage she would have been born 1870 or before.

Edit. Missed Margaret's birth which was 1893. Sarah was a busy lady.

Jane married 1914 Dromore West.

A baptism for a Sarah Neary in Castleconnor parish. 13th Sept. 1863. Parents Patrick & Bridget (Loftus). Residence Castletown. Sponsors Anthony Clarke & Mary Loftus. Sarah's sister Honoria (twin?) was baptised same day. Her sponsors were Owen Kilroy & Jane Loftus. Witnesses at Sarah Neary's wedding were both Kilroy. Honoria might turn up in other records as Honor, Ann/ie, or Nora, or Hanora or Hannah. (Both my Honorias were known as Ann or Annie.)

The marriage of Patrick Neary to Bridget Loftus at Castleconnor parish church which Shane found was 12th July 1861. Witnesses Michael Loftus & Ellen somebody.

Sponsors at baptism of Andrew Neary in May 1865 were Michael & Sarah Loftus, same names as at baptism of Jane 1878. Not necessarily same people.  I noticed that the priest wrote Neary at earlier baptisms and Nary for Jane. It may have been a different priest.

This note is in Attymass baptism register. "A small registry kept in the chapel which contained the records of the baptisms of 1880 was accidently destroyed. The above was taken from it partly destroyed. Dates not quite certain."

I  don't know if "the baptisms of 1880" meant the year 1880 or the decade.  1882-5 are missing. Records for previous years seem incomplete, with many right-hand pages blank. Pat Nary and Betty Loftus are on the  same line on a page which may be 1881 or 1882 but there is no child's name.  

Bridget, have you sen this Loftus genealogy website? www.loftusweb.com/about.htm

It's one I bookmarked a while ago in connection with my own Loftus research. Click on Lost and Found on menu bar at side. Among posts in this section is one headed "Loftus 1845 Castleconnor Sligo" This concerns a family who left for Philadelphia in 1845. Father was a Fenaghty, mother a Loftus, forenames unknown. They travelled with 4 sons. Parents died on voyage.

This site has a list of Loftus births/baptisms compiled  from IGI (International Genealogy Index) and some marriages. It's only partial. There's only 1 birth from a possible 6 for my Loftus family and no marriages.

I don't know if the Loftus site is still live. 

Thank you so much Maggie May.  I will try to pursue this. 

Bridget

i have an ancestor called Patrick Neary from sligo who married a Jane Neary, they also had a daughter called Jane Neary, it was around about that time discussed. 

i wonder if theres a connection

ive managed to trace the line back 7 generations anyway but only with my direct line, not sure what happened with the other branches