Irish in Spain (XIII): Two C18th O'Brien Baptisms in La Coruña

At La Coruña's parish of San Jorge on 4 May 1745, the baptism of Elena Mónica María Luisa O'Brien took place. Her parents were Don Luís O'Brien and his wife Doña María Geraldino. The infant's godparents were Don Pedro Estafort and Doña Elena Estafort, (Stafford, I presume) both unmarried and residents of La Coruña's parish of San Nicolás.

This couple also had at least one more child baptised at the same church: a daughter, María Tomasa Catalina, christened on 7 March 1748. Her godparent was one Don Tomás Geynan, resident of El Puerto de Santa María (Cádiz).

SOURCES: Diocesan Archive of Santiago de Compostela, Baptisms of San Jorge in the city of La Coruña: register 1733-1747, P. 421V and 1747-1760, P. 32V

Irish in Spain (XII): Some Irish Marriages in C18th Sanlúcar de Barrameda

Until recently I was unaware that Sanlúcar de Barrameda was among the Spanish localities that hosted large Irish expatriate colonies in the early 1700s. I spotted the following entries in the course of some recent work in its parish registers:

Marriages 1715-1724:
P. 9V, 10 Dec 1715: Pedro Eston, native of the city of 'Dublino' in Ireland, son of Juan Eston and María Thaf, to Doña Catalina Narcisa de Ávila, widow of Bartolomé Álvarez, resident of this city.

P. 231, 31 May 1722: Don Ricardo Nugent native of Dublin, son of Don Thomas Nugent and Doña Isabel Nugent; to Dª Francisca Ortiz Marujan, legitimate daughter of Don Luis Jose Ortiz & Dª Andrea Marujan Contreras, natives and residents of this place.

Marriages 1724-1732
P. 143, 9 Aug 1728 Patricio Walsh legitimate son of Thomas Walsh & Margarita Walsh, to Catalina Fare d. of Gerardo Fare + Catalina Guarde natives of Ireland and residents of this city. Witnesses P. Fr. Carlos French of the Orden de Predicadores and Don Pedro Pichardo.

P. 211, 19 Jul 1730 Don Patricio French native of the city of 'Galbia' in Ireland, legitimate son of Don Gerónimo French & Doña Susana Ormsby; to Doña Mariana Croquer Daughter of Don Juan Ignacio Croquer y Luisa Alvarez, native and both residents of this place.

P. 116, 28 Aug 1727 Diego Esmith, son of Thomas Esmith and of Cathalina Brum, to Margarita Lorenza, daughter of Guillermo Lorenzo and of Ana Guinsi, native of the city of Dublin and all residents of this place. Witnesses Don Carlos French and Don Juan Grove, both Irish, clergymen.

Possible names and surnames intended by some of the above entries include: Easton, Farrell or Farrill, Ward, Smith, Lawrence (Guillermo Lorenzo = William Lawrence), Quincy or Quincey (Ana Guinsi = Anne Quincey). Galbia is, I presume, Galway.

SOURCE: Diocesan Archive of Asidonia-Jerez, Parish Records of Sanlúcar de Barrameda, Marriage Registers 20 and 21.

Irish in Spain (XI): A C18th Husband & Wife between Málaga, Cádiz and Cuba

Daniel O'Driscoll, a native of Ireland stated to habitually reside in Cádiz, married Ana Michaela Murfy at the 'Sagrario' of the Cathedral of the city of Málaga on 23 October 1797. He was the son of 'Don Juan O'Driscoll' and 'Doña Leonor Macarthy', the bride being the daughter of 'Don Miguel Murfy' and 'Doña María Porro'. The wedding was conducted through a Power of Attorney granted by the groom to his father-in-law on 11 October 1797 before Cádiz notary Félix Araujo.

Though I've seen many Irish families in the sacramental registers of Spanish cities, what made this find particularly interesting was the death record of the groom - the above entry was taken not directly from the relevant marriage register, but from a transcript in the paperwork presented by the bride when she sought to remarry years later. It included another record stating that Daniel O'Driscoll, native of Ireland, in this case a son of 'Jeremías' O'Driscoll and María 'Macarte' had been admitted to the Hospital of San Felipe and San Juan, in care of the Hospitaller Order of St John, in Havana, where he died on 31st January 1803, aged 29. Fourteen years later his widow, who then resided in El Puerto de Santa María (Cádiz) filed paperwork to marry a Dr. Nicolás Meca. 

SOURCE: Archivo General del Arzobispado, Expedientes Matrimoniales Ordinarios, Legajo 1142.

Irish in Spain (X): Some C18th Marriages in the City of Málaga

At Málaga's parish of Santiago on 16 Nov 1733, 'Don Ricardo Colvel' widower of 'Doña María Caliwill' married 'Doña Leonor de Burc' widow of 'Don Patricio Fisomons'. Bride and groom were both residents of the city. [Marriages, Book 12, P. 14]

Also there, on 15 July 1736, Don Daniel Donoban, of 'Ross Carbry', Ireland, Bishopric of Cork, legitimate son of Daniel Donoban and Cathalina Reagan his wife, married Doña María Talbot, legitimate daughter of Guillermo Talbot and Doña Maria Kins Kalagh his wife. The witnesses were Patricio Canisbro, Patricio Ronan and Diego Magdemara. [Marriages, Book 12, P. 61 verso]

These two families intermarried again: at the same parish, on 12 Nov 1742, Don Timotheo Donoban, native of Cork in Ireland, son of the same Daniel and Cathalina, married Doña Cathalina Talbot, a native of Dublin, son of the same Guillermo Talbot and María 'Quinchelli'. The ceremony was performed by Friar Eguardo 'Makena', described as a 'lector jubilado en el Convento de San Agustín'. [Marriages, Book 12, P. 111 verso]

The 'Patricio Ronan' who witnessed the 1736 marriage above, may have been the same man who himself married at Málaga's Cathedral three years previously: on 21 June 1733 Don Patricio Ronan (though the margin reads 'Ronar'), native of 'Dungarbainel' in Ireland, legitimate son of Don Thomas Ronar and Doña Juana Lincon, married Doña Margarita Plunket, resident of Málaga, widow of irishman 'Don Francisco Chamberlan'. The witnesses were Don Timotheo Magdemara and Don Diego Magdemara, residents of Málaga. [Sagrario, Marriages 1729-1752, P. 37]

I'm not going to hazard a guess at the Gaelic spelling of any of these names, but their English renderings may be: Richard Coldwell (or Richard Caldwell?), Mary Caldwell, Eleanor de Burgh, Patrick Fitzsimmons, Daniel Donovan, Catherine Reagan, Mary Talbot, William Talbot, Mary Kinkelly (or Mary Kilkenny?), Timothy Donovan, Catherine Talbot, Patrick Ronan, Thomas Ronan, Joan Lincoln (or Jane Lincoln), Margaret Plunkett, Francis Chamberlain, Timothy Macnamara, James Macnamara. The registers containing the records cited above are to be found in Málaga's excellent Cathedral Archive.

Irish in Spain (IX): Plunkett and Macdonnell, 18th century Tarragona

On 7th July 1717 at the Cathedral in Tarragona, Balthazar Plunkett, 1st Lieutenant in Diego 'Magdonel''s company of the Vendome Infantry Regiment, a native of Gibstoun in Ireland and the son of 'Don Joan Plunquet' deceased and 'Doña Rosa Plunquet i Dilon', married Teresa Fitón of Tortosa, the daughter of Dr. Francisco Fitón, deceased physician, and María Fitón i Bisiano, deceased.

These names are rendered in Catalan format with phonetic spelling but I assume the persons referred to would have been known as James MacDonnell (or perhaps Jacob MacDonnell?), John Plunkett, and Rose Dillon; and the locality to which it refers is likely Gibbstown, Co. Meath.

SOURCE: Marriages 1717-1741, Tarragona Cathedral, p. 5 verso, at the Arxiu Històric Arxidiocesà de Tarragona.

Irish in Spain (VIII): Two Irish Ladies Who Died in Cádiz in 1759

On 4 January 1759, Ana Donovan (also written once as Inés Donovan, so perhaps actually Agnes?) aged 54, native of Kilkenny, died in Cádiz, her burial taking place the next day. On 30 January 1759 Maria Dodd, aged 47, native of the parish de "Butifinensis" in County Cork, Ireland, the widow of "Guillermo Shee" (William Shea) was buried.

SOURCE: Cathedral of Cádiz (Sagrario), Burials, Book 16, Pp. 14 and 17 verso

Irish in Spain (VII): An O'Reilly-Dymock Family in C18th Málaga

On 18th November 1725 at Málaga's church of San Juan Bautista, Gabriel O'Reilly married Elizabeth Dymock. He was born at Troyes (France), the son of Michael O'Reilly and Mary Tallon; she was from "Dunan" (Doonan?), Ireland, the daughter of Francis Dymock and Catherine Quigly.

This couple had at least one child; a boy, Miguel Máximo, was baptised to them at Málaga's cathedral on 30th May 1728. That record simply describes their origin as 'of the Irish nation'; it states that they resided in Málaga's Espartería street and that the infant's godparent was Friar Prosper Colan, an Augustine monk. Names in these records are given in Spanish and surname spelling is inconsistent, so O'Reyli, O'Reylly, Dymoke; Miguel, María, Isabel, Francisco, Catalina.

SOURCES: Marriages 1722-1733, Church of San Juan Bautista, P. 93 verso; Baptisms 1720-1729, Cathedral (Sagrario), P. 257 verso. Both churches in Málaga, records now at the Málaga Diocesan Archive.

Genealogical Oddities (XXXIX): An 18th Century Irish Marriage in Cadiz

On 27 October 1751, at the chapel in Cádiz' La Carraca arsenal, Diego Conway (ie., James Conway), native of 'Ross in Ireland', a son of Paul Conway and Isabel or Elizabeth 'Flanaly', married Maria Olfield, a native of Dungarvan in the province of Munster, and the daughter of Thomas Oldfield (or Olfield) and 'Ana Geraldino'. The witnesses were Bartholomew Boylan, Matthew Mullan and Edward Duff, and the ceremony was performed by Franciscan friar Anthony Kerigan.

SOURCE:  Arsenal of La Carraca, Cádiz, Marriages 1739-1781, Page 64; Navy Museum Archive, Madrid.

Genealogical Oddities (XXIX): An Anglo-Irish-Italian-American 19th Century Spanish Baptism

On 11 June 1805 at Ferrol's navy parish of San Francisco, a child named Manuel Alejandro Rufino was baptised, a son of Don Diego Clarke, Captain of the 1st Battallion of Spain's Hibernia Regiment, a native of Saint Augustine, Florida (who was then away from Ferrol, in Bilbao) and his wife María Concepción Quartenaro.

The paternal grandparents were: Don Thomas Clarke, native of 'Nousenten' England and Doña Honora Comines, native of 'Aulon, Kingdom of Ireland'; maternal grandparents, Don Melchor Baltasar Quartenaro, native of the city of Palermo, and María Concepción O'Donabún, native of the city of Málaga, all four deceased. The infant's Godparents were Don Alejandro O'Donnell, a Captain of the same Regiment, and Doña Nicolasa Lestache.

The father belonged perhaps to the same Northamptonshire Clerke family as William Clerke, a merchant active in Tenerife towards the middle of the 17th century, supposedly a convert to Catholicism and who is known to have kept in touch with his family in England after his migration; other names mentioned here are perhaps also rendered as Comyn or Commyns, and O'Donovan.
The entry was placed in this register in 1819, by which time Diego Clerke resided in Valladolid; a notation states that this after-the-fact record was made owing to the loss of the 3rd Battallion's register.

SOURCE: Military Parish of San Francisco, Ferrol, Baptisms 1815-1835, Page 88 verso; Navy Museum Archive, Madrid

Irish in Spain (VI): Goold of Dublin marries, in Galicia, Halloran of Kerry

On 12 May 1776 at the Parish of the Esteiro Shipyard near Ferrol in Galicia, Fr. Mardin de Haset, an Augustinian, and then chaplain of the Ultonia Regiment, married Don Diego Goold to Doña Ursula Haluran. Presumably the standard form for these names would have been Gould and Halloran. In any event, the groom was a son of Edmund Goold and Frances Anne O'Reardon, both of Dublin: the bride's parents, Maurice Haluran (Maurice O'Halloran?) and Anne Fitzgerald, both deceased, are stated to have been residents of County Kerry, but their town is given as 'Villa de Palacio', and I cannot venture a guess as to what was intended by this - it literally translates to 'town of Palace' or 'Palacetown. The witnesses were Don Timoteo O'Scanlon and Don Luis O'Brien.

SOURCE: Parroquia de los Reales Astilleros de Esteiro, Matrimonios 1768-1778, Archivo del Museo Naval, Madrid, AMN 1391-16, P. 186 verso

Irish in Spain (V): O'Ryan of Seville, and Mexico

At the Cathedral in Mexico City in March 1822, Don Daniel O'Ryan, a 33-year-old native of Seville, son of Don Baltasar O'Ryan and Doña María Rafaela (Vanhez?), married Doña Manuela Payno, an 18-year-old Spaniard native to Badajoz.

Daniel was probably a son of this Baltasar O'Ryan, who won a Royal Warrant from the Royal Chancellery of Granada in 1806 upholding his gentry status, or hidalguía. 

SOURCE: Informaciones Matrimoniales 1822, Asunción-Sagrario Metropolitano, México; www.familysearch.org

Irish in Spain (IV): A Limerick Meagher in 18th Century Ferrol

On 18th December 1779, Luis Meagher y O'Brien, native of County Limerick, Ireland, married at the Naval chapel of Ferrol's Esteiro shipyard. The groom, referred to as Don Luís, was stated to be the son of Don Dionysus Meagher and Doña María O'Brien, deceased residents of Ferrol; the bride, Doña Margarita 'Laugna', was stated to be subject to military jurisdiction (hence the parish at which the marriage took place) and a daughter of Don Juan 'Laugna' and Catalina Smith. The witness was one Guillermo Cail.

Mónica Amenedo Costa, of Spain's University of La Coruña, has published a valuable study of the spelling corruptions of foreign surnames that occur in contemporary records, and suggests that 'Juan Laugna' actually refers to one John Loughnan. As for Lewis Meagher, he's been mentioned in other studies, such as that of Alfredo Martín García, which suggest that Meagher didn't fit the traditional image of Irish 'wild geese', inasmuch as he seems to have accepted the post of British vice-consul in the area; and he was also subsequently American consul to Santander. As far as I can tell no publication mentioning Meagher has yet disclosed his parentage, which is given above in the hope that someone can attach him to their tree as appropriate.

SOURCES: Iglesia Castrense de San Fernando de Esteiro, Matrimonios 1778-1792, Folio 58,  Archivo del Museo Naval, Madrid, AMN 1468-02B; Revista Electrónica de Lingüística Aplicada (ISSN 1885-9089). 2009, Número 8, páginas 211- «CUADERNOS DE ESTUDIOS GALLEGOS», Tomo XLVIII, Fascículo 114, Pp. 131-160, Santiago 2001.

Irish in Spain (III): Anglins from Dungarvan

A 17th-century Anglin family from Dungarvan, County Waterford is documented by two items found in Madrid's notarial archive: the will of one of its members, and the subsequent paperwork resulting from the will's execution.

On 24 December 1718 Thomas Anglin made his will before notary Domingo de Munilla y Zuazo in Madrid. Thomas was the Surgeon to the Italian Company of Guardias de Corps, under command of the Duke of Populi. He states that he was the son of John Anglin and Margaret Gambon of 'Dongarban, Guatrefort', both deceased. Thomas seems to have been unmarried and left no children; after sundry bequests, funeral arrangements and the like, he names as his executors Don Eduardo Crean and Don Juan Caral, both Irish residents of Madrid, and Diego Duly (perhaps recte James Dooley?), Standardbearer in the said Italian Company, and Francisco Genar, another one of the Guards. Finally, he designates as his heir his brother John Anglin, then in Ireland; after him, the testator's nephew Thomas Anglin, then residing at Ocaña in the diocese of Toledo.

Dr. Thomas Anglin died before September 1720, in which month an inventory of his estate was approved by his nephew, also Thomas Anglin, but the latter being (by 1725) a priest at the Colegio de San Jorge de los Irlandeses in Alcalá de Henares. The younger Thomas was acting with a power of attorney granted by his uncle John Anglin and said to have been recorded on 16 September 1720 before notary Juan Pérez Muñoz in Madrid.

A complication arose however from the fact that Dr. Thomas Anglin left some money - 60 gold doubloons - to one María Thomasa Anglin, a minor, and 6 doubloons to her mother, Doña Ana María Benavente. Neither was apparently present at the time the estate was handled in September 1720 and Eduardo Crean held some funds back which he was - eventually - to deliver as specified in the bequest. But on 23 March 1724, María Thomasa died; she had been in the care of a Spanish couple, for reasons not specified in these two records. In 1725 her mother began proceesings before Diego Bustillo Pambley, a Madrid official, to demand - as her daughter's heir - the money left by Dr. Thomas Anglin. But Crean presented a list of expenses derived from the child's upkeep, and in the end Ana María de Benavente settled for thirty doubloons.

Taken together the two records suggest the following family composition. One wonders if they left other descendants, in Spain or in Ireland:


SOURCES: Records of Notary Domingo Munilla y Zuazo, 1718, P. 221; and of Notary Pedro Pareja, 1725, Pp. 280-281; Volumes 14222 and 15527 respectively at the Archivo Histórico de Protocolos, Madrid.

Irish in Spain (II): Everard, Morphy, and some other natives of 'Goaterfordia'

Arms of the City of Waterford (Wikimedia)

I've previously mentioned records pertaining to Irish men at arms in Zaragoza as an example of unexpected Spanish sources for Irish references. Here's another record drawn from the same record set, one in which the actual intended content of the record is made almost unintelligible by the cleric's inability to spell Irish surnames and place names.

The applications for a licence to marry in the Diocese of Zaragoza in 1730 include that filed on March 11th that year by Don 'Reynaldo Macdonel' (Reginald MacDonnell?) a Lieutenant in the Regimiento de Irlanda. He states that he is aged 41, left Ireland in 1718 for Cadiz, and has resided in Zaragoza for 5 years. He wishes to marry María Josefa Everardo, at Zaragoza's parish of San Pablo.

Attached to the application is a transcript of the bride-to-be's baptism record, from Bilbao's parish of San Nicolás. It indicates that on 30 May 1713 was baptised 'María Josepha, hija legitima de D Raimundo Eberardo y Dª María Morfil vecinos de Bilbao', the paternal grandparents being 'Don Phelipe Eberardo y Doña Margarita Ocan naturales y vecinos de Goaterfordia, Reyno de Irlanda' and the maternal grandparents 'Don Fernando Morfil y Doña Catalina Gis Patris residentes de Baterfordia'.

Somewhere in this soup there seem to be references to families surnamed Everard, Ocan, Fitzpatrick and perhaps Morphy, which may be perhaps be easily identifiable to those more familiar with records of 18th-century Waterford (though admittedly Goaterfordia sounds like a much more intriguing locality to visit).

Curiously enough, bride and groom could provide only the same witnesses to their freedom to marry: Don Juan Besquil, Captain of Dragoons, native of Cort (Cork?), Ireland, aged 61 and 8 years a resident of Zaragoza, and his wife Doña Ana Morfi, an aunt of the bride, native to 'Batafort' (sigh) in Ireland, 8 years in Zaragoza and aged 'above 40'.

SOURCE: Registro Diocesano de Matrimonios 1730, Archivo Diocesano de Zaragoza

Irish in Spain (I): Beyond the standard Military sources

While some record sets have been thoroughly mined for reference to Irish settlers in Spain, there are still many waiting to yield up their secrets.

The sacramental registers of certain Spanish military regiments such as the Regimiento Ultonia or Regimiento de Infanteria Hibernia will already be well known to researchers with an interest in Irish emigrés. Where they exist, however, it's important to also search the records of the military chapels established in the cities in which these units are known to have been quartered, or cities generally known to have hosted significant Irish populations. No small task, to be sure! The results however can be well worthwhile.

A single example, pulled from the register covering marriages between 1762 and 1779 at the military parish (Parroquia Castrense) of San Fernando near the city of Cádiz, which register is today held at the Archivo Eclesiástico del Ejército de Tierra in Madrid: on 13th November 1768, Don Demetrio O'Sullivan (Diarmuid O'Sullivan, I suppose), Captain of the Regimiento de Infantería de Irlanda, native of Kerry, and a son of Don Tadeo O'Sullivan (Thaddeus O'Sullivan) and Leonora O'Connor, married Doña Margarita MacCarthy, native of Cork; daughter of Don Florencio MacCarthy and Doña María O'Leary. The record indicated that she was married from this parish because she was, it seems, the ward of one of its parishioners ('subdita de esta jurisdicción, comensal de Capitán del Regimiento de Infantería de Ultonia'). The witnesses were named as Don Guillermo Teh Gibbon, Don Juan Goold and Don Gil O'Sullivan.

SOURCE - Archivo Eclesiástico del Ejército de Tierra, Register No. 1943, P. 46.