Wicklow Church of Ireland marriages have just gone online on the pay-per-view site www.rootsireland.ie but any hopes that I may have got any further back with my Manning ancestors seems to have been in vain. There is nothing obvious amongst the Manning marriages that helps me.
I was told that my great-grandmother, Susanna Manning, came from the Meeting of the Waters in Ireland. Her parents were William Manning and Susanna Manning, who I was told were cousins.
When www.rootsireland.ie put on line the Church of Ireland baptisms for Wicklow, I was able to find the baptism of Susanna (junior) and many of her siblings. They were all baptised in Ballinaclash, and their abode was specified as Ballynatone Lower/Ballynatone/Ballinatone. This isn’t exactly at The Meeting of the Waters, but it’s not far from it. By pure fluke I found the marriage of William Manning and Susanna Manning at St Peter’s in Dublin (why did they marry in Dublin?) on the free site http://www.irishgenealogy.ie/. They had married on the 3rd August 1842. This was before civil registration, and their marriage entry did not name parents. All I had was that William Manning of Rathdrum had married Susanna Manning of Corballis and that the witnesses were Richard Manning and Sally Manning.
Unfortunately, the only C of I baptism of a Susanna in Wicklow seems to be the wrong one. There is a Susanna born 1826 or 1827 (rather young to marry in 1842, but possible), but lots of online sources say this Susanna died in 1847. It also wasn’t in Corballis. There are still too many William Mannings to possibly know which is which. So for now, at least, this stays a brickwall.
In case anyone is interested, the children of William and Susanna Manning are
· Sarah Manning – born 1844
· Richard Manning – born 1846
· Maria Manning – born 1848. Known as Minnie? Married the Rev. Edward Cassian Crotty in Madagascar (what was she doing in Madagascar?) and immigrated to Victoria, Australia 1887, where she died in 1920. My grandfather remembered their children. Not surprising as they were his 1st cousins
· George Manning – Born 1850, died 1900 in Victoria. I don’t think he ever married, but am not sure
· Emily Josephine Manning – born 1851. She married Edmund Manning (son of Abraham Manning and Elizabeth) on 20 Sep 1876 at St Thomas’s in Dublin. The witnesses were Robert Manning and William Manning. I would guess that he was some kind of cousin of hers, but don’t know. They arrived in Victoria in about 1877 and their children were born there. She died at the young age of 41 in 1892.
· Ambrose Manning – born 1852
· William Manning – born 1854
· Robert Manning – born 1856. Went to Victoria (probably in 1878) and set up business as a Draper in Echuca in Victoria. In 1884 he married Annie Craig Jamieson in a double ceremony, when his sister Susanna married William James Spiller. He eventually moved to Western Australia.
· William Manning – born 1857. Died in Melbourne in 1938. I don’t think he ever married
· Susanna Manning – born 1859. My great-grandmother. She arrived in Victoria about 1883 and married William James Spiller in 1884. She died in 1941
· Alfred Manning – born 1862
· Herbert Manning – born 1869. Moved to Victoria and married Florence Tamson Jamieson.
· Edward Manning – born 1869
As you can see, at least 7 of the children moved to Victoria. I spent years looking for their arrival as a group until I realised that it was a case of what Dr Perry McIntyre described as “serial migration”, which I think is a fantastic phrase.
