Among the neighbors of Grandpa James White, could often be found the family of Michael Driscoll from Ireland. In Palmyra, New York and later in Manchester, New York, there were the Driscolls right along with the Whites. I had a feeling there was a connection. Years passed while I attempted to find the link between these two families, and now DNA has provided an answer. In Palmyra, St. Anne's marriage records contain the nuptials of Mary White and Dennis Driscoll. Great, right? Well it was, but while the first names of Mary's parents were John and Mary Ann, my James' parents were James and Margaret Keyes. Why is it never easy? That record also gives the name of Dennis' father as John Driscoll who I now believe was a brother of the Michael who seemed to always live near my James. Enter DNA; a match with a tree containing the surname Driscoll came to light a few days ago, and the owner actually answered my email inquiring about her tree.
As we compared notes, the emails flew and the puzzle began to take shape. Me sharing the marriage record of Mary White and Dennis Driscoll, she sharing that someone long ago had mentioned a great-grandmother with the maiden name of White, the information we were sharing was all beginning to fit. I now tend to think Mary White Driscoll was the daughter of my James' brother John who stayed in Ireland. When my grandpa James' son was baptized in 1857 his godmother was Mary White, strengthening their connection.
Then other names began turning up, names I knew from earlier research. Like the name Mary Floodman, at whose home it turns out Mary White Driscoll died. Mary Floodman was the former Mary Lawlor, granddaughter of Sarah Keyes (there's that surname again). Mary Floodman in the New York State Census of 1915 referred to Mary as her aunt, (she was probably a much older cousin, but often in such cases the elder was given the title of aunt). My father remembers people named Floodman visiting his grandmother, Ellen White O'Hora, the granddaughter of Margaret Keyes many decades ago and he id'd the photo below. More proof!
 |
| Ellen White O'Hora nd Mary Lawler Floodman |
We began tracing the children of Mary and Dennis Driscoll, one of whom was William Driscoll. A search of the 1892 New York census turned up William Driscoll, of the right age, living with none other than James White! Not my grandfather James White, but his nephew, the son of his brother William White. I had seen this census before, but had no idea who William Driscoll might have been, why he was living with the Whites, or why when James' wife Margaret Touhey died, her obituary referred to William Driscoll as her "foster son". I knew now.
Mary and Dennis seemed to disappear after 1880; returning to St. Anne's records I found the burial of Dennis Driscoll in 1880, he had died after the census that year, but no trace was found of his wife Mary White Driscoll. Then an email from my new cousin arrived-- in the 1900 census of Canandaigua, New York, in the home of Catherine Driscoll McAnniff ,(eldest daughter of Mary and Dennis), and her husband Joseph was living Mary McDuff, Mother-In-Law. No wonder it took so long to find Mary, she had remarried and had a new surname. And a new child too; nine year old Joseph McDuff who was born in Pennsylvania. Young Joseph's marriage record in 1916 gives his father's name as Martin MacDuff from Scotland and his mother as Mary White from Ireland.
I'd long believed Mary White was a close relative and that the Driscolls were an important part of the story, now I have my proof.
No comments:
Post a Comment