Smith family, Blessingtown

Thank you Miriam for replying.  The 1911 census has Catherine (Smith) Corrigan and sister Esther (Smith) Hawe both born Ireland, Bllessingtown.  Both transcriptions were Blessingtontown? on ancestry.  Checked on LDS familysearch and they have Blessingtown, Ireland, County Mayo.  Have checked Griffiths for both counties and there is nothing definitive.  Google turns up most hits of Blessington, Wicklow.  This link also turned up https://www.townlands.ie/mayo/kilmaine/kilmainemore/kilmaine/blessingto…

This is the only hint I have found for any of this family, other than Ireland.  The direct ancestor I have been searching for is Mary Ann Smith, the one that is missing.  Her first husband died, she remarried and she took her son with her.  I found her daughter with one of the sisters on the 1881 census.  Put together a history of this family in search of one person and I am just more confused. Have no idea where to look now.

Judy

Which religious denomination were they?

Baptism registers for Kilmaine R.C. parish date from 1854 and marriage register from 1855. https://registers.nli.ie/parishes/1072 Any idea of when Mary Ann may have married John Sherriff? Did they have children born in Ireland? Where & when did John die? Civil registration of births and deaths began in Ireland in 1864. Registration of Catholic marriages began 1864, non-Catholic marriages 1845.

Blessingtown is in Kilmainmore civil parish. KIlmainmore borders County Galway. The townland is only 81 acres.  Patrick Smith and Margaret Smith are in Griffiths' Valuation for Knockatotaun townland in the same parish.

Where did the family live in Lancashire?

Thank you Maggie May. The family was Catholic and first record I have of them is 1871 census of West Derby, but without daughter Mary Ann born about 1843, Ireland. First sighting of Mary Ann was birth of my grandfather in West Derby, 1877 and a copy of her marriage to Michael McDonnell, West Derby, 1876. She was a widow, surname Sherriff, father Joseph Smith, builder. One witness (cannot decipher first name) is a Corrigan. Coincidentally a sister of hers married a Corrigan in 1871. 

Cannot find a marriage for John Sherriff and Mary Smith.  I do have an entry for 1871, Liverpool for a Sheridan family John, Mary and children George, John and Mary.  Can find baptisms for all 3 kids with John Sherriff and Mary Smith as parents. Godparents are Smith or Corrigans.

1881 finds the McDonnell family with George Sherriff as step son, 2 MacDonnell children and a widowed mother-in-law Mary Smith (assume patriarch Joseph passed away between 1871 and 1881).

Back to the Smith children born in Ireland. They remained in Lancashire, one married a Corrigan, moved to Sale, Cheshire.  Another sister married a Hawe and is found in 1881 in York with niece Mary Sherriff, 10 years old.

1911 finds the Smith/Corrigan/Hawe sisters and families in Ashton upon Mersey with birthplace of Blessingtown, Ireland. Mary Ann Smith/Sherriff/McDonnell daughter Mary is in Liverpool married to Robert Sibbring with 7 kids. 

Long winding story and has had me going in circles for months.

Thanks for any suggestions or pointers. 

Judy

Re. John & Mary Sherriff. Are you saying that you think the Sheridan family in Liverpool  on 1871 census were the Sherriff family? Were John & Mary's children all born in England? 

Not really Maggie May.  The similarities between the families are amazing and Sheridans are very easy to trace. Not so with the Sherriff family, which leads me to believe John and Mary Ann Sherriff were married in Ireland and the Smith and Sherriff families came to England around the same time after 1861.  Just cannot pin them down in Ireland, other than Blessingtown.  I believe John Sherriff dies in 1874 so there are few clues for him.

Judy

Hi JBuller:

I'm coming to this thread very late, but the fact that you were able to find that Blessingtown was a townland in Mayo, and that your ancestry was from Mayo according to the family lore, it is worth looking closer at that area.  You should check out the sources available for research through John Grenham's site:  https://www.johngrenham.com/c_parish/c_parish_main.php?civilparishid=1773&county=Mayo&civilparish=Kil dmainemore

The RC Church registers are available online for free to view at the National Library of Ireland.  The reference is here:  https://registers.nli.ie/parishes/1072

If the family were Church of Ireland, those registers are available on Roots Ireland (subscription site), at the Representative Church Body of Ireland library (RCBL) and also at the National Archives (on microfilm).  

If you have any further information that you would like to share, please do so.  You might also consider creating an Ancestor profile by using the link below:

https://irelandxo.com/ireland-xo/history-and-genealogy/ancestor-database

All the best,

Jane

Thank you for the suggestions and links Jane. Will have to keep digging. 

Would creating an ancestor profile be possible?  Most of them just state Ireland as a birthplace. 

Thanks again for your suggestions. 

Judy