Birth Certificate Mix Up?

I try to collect the birth records for all children born to a couple.  An exact date of birth helps identify the children in later records.  The location of the births over the years reveals the migratory pattern of a family.

I copied the birth certificates for seven children born to Patrick Francis ODonnell (1857-1931) and Delia Joyce (1862-1929) in Bayonne, Hudson County, New Jersey:

Francis Patrick ODonnell, January 25, 1888
John ODonnell, July 9, 1890
James Richard ODonnell, June 3, 1892
Marguerite ODonnell, October 18, 1894
Joseph Peter ODonnell, June 11, 1897 ("William" on birth certificate)
Mary Ellen ODonnell, June 1, 1899
Katherine ODonnell, March 5, 1904

Baby number 1, Frank born 1888

Baby number 2, John born 1890

Baby number 3, James born 1892

Is this baby number 4?  Maggie born 1894

Baby number 5, William born 1897
Thereafter known as Joseph

Baby number 6, Mary born 1899

Baby number 7, Katharine born 1904

When reviewing these birth certificates later, I realized that I had the wrong Marguerite ODonnell.  I had a birth record for Maggie ODonnell, born October 18, 1894 in Bayonne to James ODonnell and Ellen Gallagher.  On my next trip to the New Jersey State Archives, I searched for the birth record of the correct Marguerite ODonnell.  I did not find it.

Upon further review, I think that the birth certificate for Maggie, daughter of James and Ellen, is actually the record for Marguerite, daughter of Patrick and Delia.  This birth certificate flows in order with the rest of the children- Marguerite was child number 4.  The midwife was the same- A Weyel.  The address appears to be similar to where the other children, except the first one, were born- Rail Road Avenue in Centreville, Bayonne.  And October 18, 1894 is the birthdate used by Marguerite ODonnell.

Patrick ODonnell, wife, and children in 1910.

Only six children are listed.  John ODonnell had died the year before.

The midwife may have confused Patrick and Delia's daughter with another baby born around the same time.  In the 1900 census in Bayonne, there is a Margaret ODonnell, born in August of 1894, living with her parents, John and Helen.

Irish Records!

For the first time I viewed Irish records for family in the United States!

My Irish studies get stuck once we reach the generation that left Ireland and settled in the United States.  Rarely does a record reveal anything more specific than "Ireland" as the place of birth.  The lack of a specific area in Ireland to look for records, combined with the prevalence of certain common Irish surnames, results in short Irish family trees.

Death certificate for Daniel Donovan, died from railroad injuries in Bayonne, New Jersey on March 5, 1890.
Note that the birthplace for him and his parents is simply "Ireland."

To help my DNA studies, my maternal grandmother's first cousins tested their (autosomal) DNA at 23andMe.  (Their mother and my grandmother's father were siblings.)  All of their ancestral lines trace back to Ireland.

Both cousins showed a close match via comparisons at GedMatch, where people can upload their DNA results from the three major testing companies, 23andMe, FamilyTreeDNA, and AncestryDNA.

This DNA cousin and I compared family trees.  The connection- the common ancestor- should not be very far back.  The DNA cousin had the surnames Donovan and Coughlan in her family tree.  My cousins' grandparents were John Coughlin (1854-1906) and Margaret Donovan (1855-1906), both born in Ireland, died in Bayonne, Hudson County, New Jersey.

Margaret Coughlin died in Bayonne in 1906.
Her parents were listed as William Donovan and Ann.
Burial at Holy Name Cemetery in Jersey City.

Usually, I would be stuck at the "from Ireland" part.  But the DNA cousin had a specific location in Ireland for her Donovan and Coughlans:  Skull (or Schull) in County Cork.

I had to find family for the Coughlins and Donovans in Bayonne.  A link came with Margaret:  she was buried at Holy Name Cemetery in Jersey City in the same plot as a child, William Donovan, who died in 1900.  [You can search burials for Holy Name Cemetery at the website of the Archdiocese of Newark.]  I did not find a gravestone for their plot.  (I searched before the snow.)

Here is little William Donovan in the 1900 federal census in Bayonne with his parents, Lawrence and Mary.

William Donovan, age 2, living with his parents and brother in Bayonne in June of 1900.
William died five months later.

This is William's death certificate.  The date of death coincides with the William buried with Margaret Coughlin in Holy Name Cemetery, and the address is the same as the census, so we know that we have the correct William.

Death Certificate for William Donovan, died November 27, 1900 in Bayonne at age 4 years.
His parents are listed as Lary and Mary.

Little William's parents were Lawrence Donovan and Mary O'Reilly.  They were married in Bayonne in 1896.  On the marriage certificate filed with the state, Lawrence's parents were listed as William Donovan and Ann Daly.  (Mary's parents were Francis O'Reilly and  Rebecca Nolan.)

Lawrence's residence in Jersey City was a "temporary stopping place."

If you can find a marriage record for an individual, you have a better chance of seeing full names of both parents, as the person was alive when this record was created.  In comparison, the information in a death record is entirely dependent upon the recollection or knowledge of someone who may have little information about the deceased's family.

So I now had Lawrence Donovan, son of William Donovan and Ann Daly, of Ireland.  Perhaps Margaret Donovan, wife of William Coughlin, was Lawrence's sister.

The DNA cousin sent me copies and links of church records from Schull East in County Cork.  A couple by the names of William Donovan and Anne Daly had several children baptized between 1855 and 1875, including a son, Lawrence, in 1862 and a daughter, Margaret, in 1855.

Lawrence of William Donovan and Anne Daly
Baptized December 28, 1865

Margaret of William Donovan and Anne Daly
Baptized January 3, 1855

Going through the church records in Schull East, I found baptismal records for eight children of William Donovan and Ann Daly:
Margaret, 1855
Thomas, 1856
Mary, 1860
Lawrence, 1862
Ann, 1865
William, 1867
Ellen, 1869
Timothy, 1875

The baptismal record for the last child that I found in Ireland, Timothy, was in a different format and provided a specific place name, Cappanolly.  To find this place today, search for Cappaghnacallee.  (Thank you TCO and TS.)

This family in the 1885 New Jersey State census- index at FamilySearch.org:

William Donovan and Mary Daly from Schull immigrated with their children to the United States.  Ann died in 1893 and William died in 1897 in Bayonne.

William Donovan's parents were listed as William and Mary.  If we search for this couple in Schull, we find William Donovan in the tithe applotment book for Cappanacollie in the year 1827!

Welcoming a Cousin from a German Branch

A third cousin of my father reached out to me.  He and my dad share a set of great great grandparents, David Uhl (1834-1884) and Clara Patschke (1840-1914).  David was from Gelnhausen and Clara was from Zeitz (both places now in Germany).  They married in Newark, Essex County, New Jersey in 1865.

Here is the family in the 1870 federal census: David, Clara, and their two children who had issue:

I am descended from David and Clara's daughter, Clara Uhl.  She married Herman Lutter.  Our third cousin is descended from their son, Henry Uhl, and his wife, Emma Holzhauer.

Two of David and Clara's children died young: David in 1871 and Nellie in 1882.  Another daughter, Lillie Uhl, married John Kuhl, but had no known children.

Family heirlooms trickled down to our third cousin, who kindly sent scans.  I was thrilled to see a Reisepass [passport] issued to David Uhl in 1854 for his travels from Gelnhausen to America.  David was 19 years old, had brown eyes, and stood five feet, four inches tall.

Signature of David Uhl

From David Uhl my branch received a hatchet with his last name, UHL, carved into the handle.

Our third cousin also received some of David Uhl's tools and belongings, branded with a similar UHL mark.