John O’Donnell

On Mary O’Donnell & Thomas Kelly’s marriage in Letterkenny, Co Donegal in 1911, both were of “no fixed residence” which makes me wonder if they were travellers. May make them very difficult to trace, especially with such common names.

I had a look in the 1901 & 1911 censuses for a John O’Donnell,  blacksmith, (anywhere in Ireland) but did not find one who could be Mary’s father. Searched for a possible birth for Mary c 1893 to a blacksmith father, but without success.

Based on the occupation given on the marriage certificate, I wondered if this might be Thomas Kelly in the 1911 census, just a few months before the wedding. He lived in Derry city which is just a few miles from Letterkenny.  Born in Mayo:

http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/pages/1911/Londonderry/Londonderr…

it’s possible but it says on his marriage certificate he was 20 when he married it says on the census the person is 21

I wouldn’t get too hung up about ages in Irish records. They vary all the time. A year or two out is nothing unusual. Most people didn’t celebrate birthdays in Ireland in the 1800s and early 1900s and if officialdom asked for an age they often just guessed. The older they got the greater the discrepancies.

But it may not be your man. Just he’s the nearest dealer I can find to Letterkenny. But if he were a traveller, he could have gone anywhere.  Both Kelly & O’Donnell are common names found all over Ireland. And I am sure many travellers never made it into the censuses at all. Needle in a haystack at the moment.

You could contact Letterkenny Cathedral and ask if the church copy of the marriage contains any additional information. By 1911 many RC marriage records noted both parents names and their addresses, and if they were alive or dead. That might help you.

Birth of Mary daughter of Thomas Kelly and Mary O'Donnell

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Death cert for a John McDonnell in Belfast 1911, of interest is that he is a widower and a dealer. I have noticed that the names O'Donnell and McDonnell are used commonly and may apply here. I can not be sure this is your John but possibly. I also could not find any other birth certs for Thomas and Mary in the years after Mary's birth above, I wonder did they leave Letterkenny and where they might have gone.

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