More on the Manning family - parents identified

I have previously written about my Manning ancestors from Rathdrum in Co. Wicklow, Ireland. (see the post here).   

I had identified that my ancestors, William & Susanna Manning, were married on 3 Aug 1842 at St Peter, Dublin, and had the following children (all except the first from the parish register of Ballinaclash):

·    Archibald, born about 1843 in Dunamore, Co. Wexford, moved to Australia, probably about 1864. Married Mary Catherine Dunne in 1871 in Echuca, Victoria. Died in an accident on the Murray river 11 Dec 1881.

·    Sarah, born 30 Nov 1844 at Ballinatone, bap 29 Nov 1846.

·    Richard, born 3 Jun 1845 at Ballinatone, bap 29 Nov 1846, buried 28 Nov 1862.

·    Maria, born 28 Mar 1848 at Ballinatone, bap 28 Nov 1852, married the Rev. Cassian Crotty 11 Nov 1876 in Madagascar, returned to Co. Wicklow, then to Nottinghamshire, then arrived in Australia in Jun 1887 and died 25 Jun 1920 in Melbourne, Victoria.

·    George, born 28 Jun 1850 at Ballinatone, bap 28 Nov 1852 at Ballinaclash, arrived in Victoria about 1863, married Betsey Barnes 28 Apr 1877 in Sandhurst, Victoria and died 11 Nov 1900 in Brunswick, Melbourne, Victoria. [N.B. Sandhurst is now called Bendigo]

·    Emily Josephine, born 5 Apr 1851 at Ballinatone, bap 28 Nov 1852 at Ballinaclash, married Edmund Manning (son of Abraham Manning & Catherine Saul Manning) 20 Sep 1876 at St Thomas, Dublin.  Came to Australia about 1877 and died in North Fitzroy, Melbourne, Victoria on 29 Aug 1892

·    Ambrose, born 27 Nov 1852 at Ballinatone, bap 28 Nov 1852 at Ballinaclash, emigrated to Victoria, possibly in 1879, died in Warracknbeul on 29 Jan 1930.

·    William, born 1 Nov 1854 at Ballinatone, bap 2 Nov 1854 at Ballinaclash and died 3 Nov 1854.

·    Robert, bap 1 Jan 1856 at Ballinaclash, arrived in Victoria about 1874, and married Annie Craig Jamieson 5 Feb 1884 in Carlton, Melbourne. By 1900 he was living in Western Australia. He married Madge Jamieson in 1923 in Sydney, and died in Claremont, Western Australia, on 29 Jun 1938.

·    William, bap 26 Aug 1857 at Ballinaclash, arrived in Australia about 1879 and died 9 May 1938 in Heidelburg, VIC.

·    Susanna, born 1 Nov 1859 at Ballinatone Lower, bap 8 Jan 1860 at Ballinaclash. Probably arrived in Victoria in 1883, and married William James Spiller on 5 Feb 1884 at Carlton. Died 13 August 1941 in East Malvern, Victoria.

·    Alfred, born 25 Feb 1862 at Ballinatone Lower, bap 3 Apr 1862 at Ballinaclash.

·    Edward, born 10 May 1865 at Ballinatone Lower, bap 26 Sep 1865 at Ballinaclash, drowned in Dublin in 1882.

·    Herbert, born 24 Jun 1869 at Ballinatone Lower, bap 11 Jul 1869 at Ballinaclash, married Florence Tamson Jamieson 8 Apr 1894 in Victoria.

                                

The church of the parish of Ballinaclash, located at Ballinatone

When I wrote about the family before I had no idea when either William or Susanna were born or died. As both those names are common in the Manning families in Co. Wicklow, I could get no further with their ancestry.

When I went to Ireland in 2014 I had the chance to look at the registers of Rathdrum Church of Ireland, held by the Representative Church Body in Dublin, and extracted all the entries for the name Manning. I also checked the microfilms of the Ballinaclash register at the National Archives of Ireland. It was from the latter that I found the death/burial of the above children.  I also found the following two burials:

22 Oct 1872 - Susanna Manning, Ballinatone, age 50

11 Oct 1881 - William Manning, Ballyteigue (N of Rathdrum), 71 years.

This looked promising.  Could it be my Susanna & William? Even though the family was living at Ballinatone when most of their children were baptised, when their daughter Emily married in 1876 she was described as being "of Ballyteigue". It looked feasible that William might have moved to Ballyteigue (to live with some relative or other?) after his wife's death. Widowers at that time seemed to be incapable of looking after themselves.

When Emily died in Victorian in 1892 her death notice read:

MANNING -On the 29th inst., at her residence, Queen's-parade, Clifton Hill, Emily Josephine, beloved wife of Edmund Manning, and third daughter of the late William Manning, Ballyteigue, Co. Wicklow, Ireland ; aged 41 years. (The Argus, 30 Aug 1892 p1)

Again, there is the Ballytiegue reference.

That brings us to William's death.  He was definitely deceased by 1884 when his daughter Susanna married William James Spiller. We know that there was a William Manning buried at Ballinatone, no doubt with his wife, but there are no Manning headstones in that churchyard, so it is still only circumstancial and we have no absolute proof that they are the right people.

The next step was to get their death certificates.

Susanna' death certificate states that she died on 2 Oct 1872 at Ballinatone, that she was aged 50, a Farmer's wife, and she died of cancer of the womb. The informant was William Manning, Present at death, Ballinatone. No doubt, that was her husband, William.

The death certificate for William shows that he died on 9 Oct 1881 at Ballytague [sic]. He was a 71 year old widower, Farmer, and died of spasmodic asthma & bronchitis.  The informant was Archibald Manning, Brother of Greenane, present at death.

This surely refers to William Manning, bapt in Rathdrum 26 Aug 1810 son of "Archb'd & Mariah, Ballyteague".  That William had a brother Archibald of Greenane (born about 1814). That allowed me to build up the following family for William. William was the son of Archibald Manning, born about 1784. He married Maria Bates at Rathdrum on 21 Dec 1805.  There is no baptism for Archibald in the Rathdrum registers, so that became a dead end.

And what about Susanna?  Her age at death indicated that she was born about 1822, but there was no corresponding baptism in the Rathdrum Registers.  

My next breakthrough came from newspapers. The first was an announcement of William & Susanna's marriage:

"On the 3d instant, at St. Peter's Church, by the Rev. Dr. Porter, William Manning, Esq., of Rathdrum, to Susannah, only daughter of Richard Manning, Esq., of Corballis, near Rathdrum." (Warder and Dublin Weekly Mail, 6 Aug 1842, p7)

So Susanna was the daughter of Richard Manning. Another marriage announcement gave me Susanna's mother's name:

"On Thursday last, in Rathdrum Church, by the Rev. Mr. Powell, Rector of that Parish, Richard Manning, Esq. son of Thomas Manning, Esq of Corballis Castle, County of Wicklow, to the amiable Miss Sarah Manning, eldest daughter of Robert Manning, Esq of Mount Corballis, near Rathdrum." (Saunders's News-letter and Daily Advertiser, Thursday 24 Aug 1820).

Without a baptism for Archibald (father of William) or Richard (son of Thomas) more work needed to be done. Likewise, more work needs to be done to verify which Robert is Sarah's father.