Mathias Driscoll & Mary Sullivan Driscoll
This was a difficult family to trace due to the common names. Apparently every Irish family felt the need to have a Mary and a Jennie in their family. “Driscoll” is a fairly common surname; and Mathias and/or Driscoll was spelled differently in many of the records (Mathias, Mathius, Matthius, Driscoll, Driscole, Driscall to name a few)
My dad’s family history shows that Catherine Jane (aka Jennie) Driscoll's father was Dennis Driscoll. I was able to get a copy of her birth certificate that shows her father was Mathias Driscoll. The marriage record I found for Mathias Driscoll and Mary Sullivan states that Mathias’ father was Dennis Driscoll.
Mathias was born on May 14, 1832 in County Limerick, Ireland. My dad’s notes say he was from County Cork, but the naturalization papers say he was from County Limerick. According to the Naturalization documents, Mathias came to the United States in 1850 arriving in Boston, Massachusetts on 3 May. He was 17 years old, just days short of his 18th birthday. He became a citizen on 4 April 1856. I found a copy of his Naturalization documents at the National Archive and obtained a copy. They can be found here. Unfortunately, the naturalization documents did not document the ship on which he arrived. I have not been able to find him on any passenger lists so far. He might have come to the U.S. with family or by himself.
On 28 Feb 1856, Mathias married Mary SULLIVAN, daughter of Benjamin and Catherine SULLIVAN . Mathias and Mary had 3, possibly 4 children. In the 1860 census I find who I think are Mary Driscoll and her first 3 children living with her parents, Benjamin and Catherine Sullivan, and her sisters, Bridget and Catherine Sullivan.
There is a Mary “Glisty” (age 27) and her Massachusetts born children - Mary, age 4, Dennis, age 2 and Jane, age 3/12. (I’m confused about the “Glisty” as last name or maybe abbreviated middle name. It may not be transcribed properly but it doesn't look like Driscoll. ) All the ages match the birth records I have for their children except for Dennis. I have never found a birth or death record for Dennis. He is not listed with the family in the 1870 census. Irish tradition at this time usually has the first son named after the paternal grandfather; so a boy named Dennis isn’t unlikely. But he seemed to have disappeared between 1860 and 1870.
Curiously enough, Mathias is not listed with the family in any of the census records. His occupation is listed as operative which usually means he worked in a textile mill. There are plenty of Mathias Driscolls listed as boarders in other parts of Massachusetts so he may have been working in a location apart from his family. But without family information on the census with him I have no way of identifying the correct Mathias Driscoll. I’ve been told that around 1863 Mathias left his family to look for gold out west and he became very wealthy. I’ve never found any documents to support this particular story.
Mathias and Mary’s children were:
- Mary Ellen b: 7 Mar 1857
- (?)Dennis b: abt 1858
- Catherine Jane b: 23 Feb 1860 d: 8 Apr 1953
- Hanora (Anna) b: 5 Aug. 1862
In the 1870 census, Mary Driscoll was working as a weaver in a cotton mill. She was living with her three daughters, Mary, Jennie and Anna. I couldn't find them after the 1870 census so I assume they were no longer living as a family unit. The youngest daughter, Anna, would have been about 18 or 19 years old in 1880. I found several Anna Driscolls living as "servants" in other households.
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