O'Briens of Portlaw

Portlaw Co. Waterford is a town, and most of the town is located within a townland named  Coolroe. This is part of the civil parish of Clonagam.  (civil parishes are used as the main divisions on this site). The other location you mentioned, Curraghmore, is a townland located immediatly west of Coolroe, and contained Curraghmore house and estate.

The Church of Ireland parish for the area was also named Clonagam, and the Catholic parish Portlaw, or sometimes listed as 'Portlaw & Ballyduff'.

There was a large Cotton Mill and factory in Portlaw which might account for movement of people between Wales and the town.

p.s. if James and Johanna married in Wales then I think that would be the best place to start your search back in time, as their marriage cert should show useful details, including names and occupations for their fathers, and could help locate them on the 1861 England/Wales census if they were there at that time.

believe these may be the marriage references from FreeBMD.

Registration District : Cardiff / Quarter-Year : June 1864 / Vol. 11a / page 435

There are four names with the references - two of which are James Bryen and Joanna Keating.

You can order civil marriage certs for England & Wales from GRO UK website. They cost about £ 9 STG

Thank you so much for the information on Portlaw.

On all information (U.S. Census, births, deaths, etc.) I've located on James O'Brien and Johanna Keating, the place of birth is always stated as "Ireland." I assumed that they were both born in Ireland and have found it odd that they would marry in Wales.

I did track down a marriage cert for a James Bryen and Joanna Keating for 18 April 1864:

James Bryen, age 21, Tailor Journeyman, Residence 5 Dudley Place, Cardiff, Father David Bryen, Laboourer

Joanna Keating, age 22, (no profession), Residence 5 Dudley Place, Father Michael Keating, Tailor, Deceased

Date marriage date and ages seem about right, and James is listed as a tailor, but here again - why would they list the same adddress as current residence?

Much appreciate any help to solve this mystery!

I've seen the same address for bride & groom quite often, both on Irish and  English records - sometimes so an address of convenience or to save on fees since they lived in the same parish.

Do the names of the witnesses on the marriage provide any clues ?

These can be friends, neighbours or work colleuges but sometimes family members, siblings of the bride & groom etc

Might be worth searching for them on the Wales 1861 census, particularly Joanna and her father the tailor. Hopefully he might have been alive in 1861...  Might also be worth looking for records of other Keatings in in the Cardiff area on census and civil records, so see if there's any evidence of Johanna's siblings.

The O'Brien/ Bryen side might be more difficult to search because it's far a more common surname and numerous variatons in spelling.

Thanks so much - you've clarified a couple of baffling points.

Do you happen to know if the 1861 Wales census is online (preferably accessible for free!)?

Unfortunately, I am not able to subscribe to so many of the wonderful resources out there for this kind of work.

Thanks again for your time and assistance.

Transcripts of many of the England/Wales census returns are available free on FamilySearch, not sure if the 1861 is among them. Will have a look and let you know by replying here..

You dont get all the details or to see the images though on the free searches, which you you sometimes need to put together family groups properly

Thank you, kind sir.

I will be away for a few days but look forward to discovering any further information, if any.

Best Regards.