Leigh,

Maybe

Regards- Mary

Lois,

Maybe 1911 census. I selected two names census included a number of nuns.

Residents of a house 2 in Ballina Ward (part of Urban) (Ballina Urban, Mayo)

Mary De Pazzi50FemaleMember of CommunityRoman CatholicStapleton

Sister Mary ?50FemaleMember of CommunityRoman Catholic Born in Tipperary

Regards- Mary

Leigh,

I apologize for not using the correct name in the previous message. Do you know if Margaret might have left Ireland and did missionary work?

Regards- Mary

You can contact the archivist for the Sisters of Mercy in Ireland, as below.

Mercy Congregational Archives

Catherine McAuley Centre

23 Herbert Street

Dublin D02 HD68

Telephone: 01 6387521

E-mail info@mercyarchives.ie

Sister Stapleton in 1911 census:   https://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/pages/1911/Mayo/Ballina_Urban/Ballina_Ward__part_of_Urban_/699535/

Her name appears to be Benignus, not Stapleton.

Five children listed in rootsireland.ie for William Costello and "Judith" (variation of Joanna) Costello.  Mary is a bit older than what you believe.

ViewChurch BaptismStapletonWilliam1844Co. Tipperary

ViewChurch BaptismStapletonPatrick1847Co. Tipperary

ViewChurch BaptismStapletonMary1848Co. Tipperary

ViewChurch BaptismStapletonPatrick1853Co. Tipperary

ViewChurch BaptismStapletonJohn1859Co. Tipperary

Date of Marriage: 27-Jan-1844  

Parish / District: UPPERCHURCH, Co. Tipperary

Husband                            Wife

WilliamStapleton      JudithCostello

Roman Catholic                Roman Catholic

Witness 1                    Witness 2

Wm Stapleton         JudyGrady

Address:

Notes:

* Wm ** Judy

Patricia, just a note on the Sr Mary Benignus you found.  Many religious sisters, including Mercy Sisters, take the name Mary followed by a saint's name, so in this instance she's adopted the name of the Irish Saint Benignus.  I have already contacted the Mercy Archives regarding some relations so they should be able to provide a birth name and also the names of her parents.

Her name appears to be Benignus, not DENIGAN.  (Earlier, I wrote Stapleton in error.) Sorry.

Sorry Patricia, now I understand.  I didn't realise there was a transcription error in the census record until I went searching for it myself.  I was going to send an email to the Mercy Archive to see what they say about this Sr Benignus and I also came across an obituary for her in 1930 in the Ballina Herald but unfortunately it doesn't say anything about where she was from or who her family were.

Attached is the obituary.

Regards,

Patrick

BallinaHerald1930-01-11_Obituary_Sr-Mary-Benignus-Stapleton.png

Patrick,

Thank you for finding the obituary. I still wonder if I found the right Margaret?

4335618.pdf (irishgenealogy.ie)

Perhaps the ship ledger shows where Mary Clare Price was heading in 1919.

Regards- Mary

Leigh,

Perhaps Mary Clare went to Ireland when she married Cyril Harvey??

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Australia and New Zealand, Find a Grave® Index, 1800s-Current - Ancestry.com

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Marriage Registration England and Wales

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Leigh, just to let you know, I've sent a quick email to the Mercy Archive to see if the Sr M Benignus Stapleton that Mary found is in fact the same person you're looking for.  The archivist, Marianne Cosgrave, is on leave at present but when she returns she will have a look, so I would expect a reply in about two weeks' time.  If this is indeed your ancestor then she is definitely a Mercy Sister as they were the dominant congregation in Mayo and the sites of Ballina and Belmullet both fit for this order.  From what I see in news archives is that Sr Benignus appears to have been involved in setting up the site at Belmullet.

We are of course assuming that your Sr Margaret Stapleton was a Mercy sister, but do you perhaps have any details on what order she might have been from?

Regards,

Patrick

Wow thank you all for your contributions. I will have to try to access the links you all have forwarded at another time .. I was so intrigued that I moved away from this reply and lost my original 'war and peace!'  Ouch!

So, my second attempt and a little more concise. I have Mary Clare's Birth and Death certificates as well as her Service Records and all other information I have gleaned from my mothers' research, such as it was. Unfortunately, mum had a habit of jotting notes down on scraps of paper to rewrite later and I don't have the completed material.

This is what I know. Mary Stapleton was born 1856 Thurles Tipperary and came to Australia in 1878. Mary had six children, one was my Grandmother Mary Clare and another child by the name of Margaret. (I believed named after her sister in Thurles.) Mary suffered from influenza on Salonika and was sent to the UK after recovering sufficiently where she was granted 21 days leave commencing 18/2/1919. I believe she travelled to Ireland during this time to visit her aunt Margaret who was a Roman Catholic Sister (Nun). [mum's notes] Personally I wouldn't visit an Aunt on my honeymoon MaryTv!

MaryTv ...I do like what you found re Sister Stapleton aged 44 yo and no I don't know if she was a missionary. Thank you, Patrick, for your email on my behalf I look forward to the outcome.

Once again thank you all

Cheers Leigh

Hello Leigh,

I'm afraid the Sr Benignus Stapleton that Mary found does not match the details you have regarding her parents etc.  She was born in 1850 in Templetuohy in Co. Tipperary, her birth name was Mary, and her parents were Thomas Stapleton and Honoria O'Meara.  It is possible that this religious sister is connected to your family but it's impossible to say.  Templetuohy is relatively close to Thurles (about 15 km) and would have been within the Thurles Poor Law Union.

Regards,

Patrick

Leigh,

Here are two more Stapleton nuns. They were teachers. Would a sister or cousin of Margaret have also joined the convent?

Regards- Mary

Leigh,

They might have been Presentation Sisters.

Scoil Dara, Kilcock | CEIST | Catholic Education | An Irish Schools Trust

A Brief History of Kilcock – Kildare Local History . ie

Mary

Thank you all again, to be honest I don’t know how to proceed? I did have my hopes set on Patrick’s email however but thank you Patrick.

Firstly I think I need to digest all the towns and place names you all mentioned and go over the links supplied. 
cheers again

Leigh