I recently broke through one of my genealogical brick walls and found the Irish townland where my maternal two times great grandmother was born and added more ancestor’s names to my family tree. Using DNA testing, I analyzed family trees of DNA matches. I also used the good, old-fashioned way and contacted a distant cousin who shared his mother’s notes with me.
I am now certain that my two-times great grandmother, Sarah Attridge, who lived many years in San Francisco, was born in the Rossmore, Durrus in West County Cork Ireland in 1854. Durrus is a small village about six miles from the more well-known town of Bantry, County Cork. Sarah had at least six siblings, five sisters and one brother. Most of her sisters immigrated to the United States. Her one brother remained in County Cork.
I’ve always known my father was Irish and having the surname O’Rourke made it rather obvious, but I also had a two-times great grandmother on my maternal side who came from Ireland. I remember my grandmother talking fondly of her grandmother. Sarah raised my grandmother after her mother abandoned the family a few years after my grandmother was born. But when my grandmother was alive, I had no interest in genealogy, so I never bothered to ask her where her grandmother was from. I never asked many questions about her at all. I didn’t even know her name until about ten years ago when I began my genealogical journey.
When I learned her name, I tried to find information using Ancestry.com’s databases and Family Search, but I always came up empty. Unlike my father’s side, my maternal grandmother was Protestant and her family worshiped in the Church of Ireland. I was only used to searching Catholic Parish records. Locating Church of Ireland records was new to me. Another complicating factor was, as I found out later, my maternal Irish ancestors’ records were burned in the 1922 fire that destroyed the Public Records Office in Dublin during the Irish Civil War. My two-times great grandmother’s parish was one of the Church of Ireland parishes that sent their records to Dublin for safekeeping. Ironically, they were destroyed, while most of the Church of Ireland parishes that kept their records survive to this day.
After Sarah immigrated and married my two-times great grandfather Robert Patterson, I was able to find a lot of records. One census record indicated that she came from Northern Ireland, but others indicated only that she was born “Ireland.” I also found the passenger list for the ship Republic, the ship Sarah traveled on to the United States. Sarah arrived in New York Sept. 22, 1873. She was 19 years old. Also on the ship was 21-year-old Eliza Attridge, who I assumed to be Sarah’s older sister.
How I did it
I used Ancestry.com’s DNA match feature and searched for the surname “Attridge.” I had five DNA matches with the name Attridge in their family tree and four of those matches were estimated to be at least fourth cousins. Unfortunately, while all four had family trees, only two of four had public family trees. The other two matches had private trees, meaning I would have to contact them and ask for access.
So I started with one of the matches I could view. She had three Attridge’s in her tree, but no Sarah. So I reached out to my DNA match. Her name is Pat Craig and she lives in England. She did not know much about her Attridge ancestors, but luckily she is very interested in genealogy and set out to help me. Her family tree includes more than 7,000 entries.
Pat told me her family was from Durrus, they were Protestant and she recently found them as well. None of her Attridge ancestor names were familiar to me and all were born in the late 1700s and early 1800s a good 50 years before Sarah was born.
Contacting a cousin
I contacted a distant cousin whose 94-year-old mother, Sarah’s granddaughter, had notes on the family. He was able to tell me the names of at least some of Sarah’s siblings — Mary, Maggie, Annie, Elizabeth, Arthur and Jane. He also had the name of Sarah’s mother — Anne Attridge, but no birth name. In addition, my cousin’s mother had written that Sarah was born near Bantry Bay in County Cork.
I relayed this information to Pat and after more emails and discoveries both online and in ancestry’s databases, we concluded that the Attridge’s were from Rossmore and that Pat and I are fourth cousins, once removed. Our common ancestor is Thomas Attridge born in 1785 and his wife Mary Varian.
Other things I learned
- Sarah’s parents, Arthur and Anne Attridge, were both born Attridges. They were most likely related. In those days, people often married distant relatives.
- Sarah’s sister Mary emigrated the the United States in 1886 and also lived in San Francisco. She married a man named Samuel Linderman and had two boys, one who died as a child.
- An Arthur Attridge appears on the 1901 census of Ireland in Rossmore, Durrus, County Cork. He is 39 years old, which would be in line with Sarah’s brother’s age. Arthur has one son on the 1901 census, also named Arthur Attridge.
I never found Sarah’s birth record as she was born before civil records were instituted in Ireland. Here is the birth record of her sister Mary. The parents are Arthur Attridge and Anne Attridge. 
Here is a record of Sarah’s parents’ marriage. Arthur’s father’s name is also Arthur and Anne’s father’s name is Thomas Attridge.
Nice work, Lois, it must have been very exciting as you closed in on that cousin match!
Thanks Dermot. I am interested mostly in my Irish ancestor’s on my father’s side. But it always bothered me that I didn’t know where my maternal grandmother’s grandmother was born. I knew she was Irish and my grandmother spoke of her often. I would work on this on and off until I finally decided to query my DNA matches. That is when I finally made headway.
Interesting article–you hadn’t written for so long I thought you lost interest in the blog. Too bad, after dealing with the lack of records for the Catholics in So. Down, you ended up without Church records for the Protestant side as well. Oh well. Attridge is a pretty rare name in Ireland, isn’t it? Almost all in Cork on Griffiths, just one each in Waterford and Kilkenny.
— Ed H
Hello Ed. I didn’t lose interest. I just struggled with topics to write about. I will do better in 2018. Yes, I would say the name Attridge is pretty rare in Ireland. It’s very “English” sounding. I suspect the Attridges were part of the Munster Plantation in the late 1500s, given that they were mostly Protestant. However, I did run across many Attridges who were Catholic.
Quality is always better than quantity. No need to try to do “better.” Next place to look for Attridge is
https://www.johngrenham.com/surnames/.
Is Pat Craig the same person as Pat Crowley? I found a large spreadsheet on the Protestants in that area, authored by a Pat Crowley.
No, Pat’s father was a descendant of the Baker family in Durrus. She has Attridges, Bakers and Johnsons of County Cork in her father’s line. She lives in England.
Lois
I’m so happy to find your blog
I’m addicted to ancestry. Com
I’m from
Schull co cork Attridge’s were here for 9 generations
Hi Sarah,
I notice that you have the same name as my two times great grandmother and your middle name is the same as her sister. I’m wondering if you are related somehow. I never knew Sarah Attridge as she passed 24 years before I was born, but my grandmother always spoke fondly of her.
Since I wrote this blog post, I’ve found direct descendants of Arthur and Anne (Sarah’s mother and father) living in England –Richard and James Attridge. They came up as DNA matches to me in Ancestry.com!
Lois
lois please send me an message on ancestry .com im on there now.. maybe i had no idea til now of the connection.. I understand it now.. my ancestors are yours as well
Hello Sarah, I am Maureen Thompson- grand daughter of Arthur Attridge and Hannah (Love) Attridge. Arthur was an only child. He and Hannah had 13 children: Kathleen, Arthur, Tom, May and Billy, Jack, Sadie, Hannah, Frank, Lizzie(Elizabeth), Violet, Herbie and Percy. Hannah died from post birth complications from the last child Percy.
Your connection with James and Richard is their father Frank (my uncle) He passed away on May 10, 2020, My Mother Hannah ( Toronto) and my Aunt Lizzie (Birmingham) are the only siblings alive now. Both are in their 90’s.
I believe there are 42 first cousins within which 4 are deceased. The eldest cousin is the only child of Kathleen(Attridge) and Jack Copithorne. Her name is Lilly Danne and she resides in Youghal. Her mother was the only sibling who remained in Ireland.
Aside from my mother who moved to Canada, and three who died young (Jack, Sadie and Percy) the rest moved and lived in England from young adulthood.
Growing up, the Attridge siblings lived in Skibereen, Drinagh and Lismore until they all left the family home as young adults. The last home was a large farm and house in Balyghalane, Lismore. ( down the road from the castle of Lismore)
Our grandmother(Hannah) is buried in Durrus and our grandfather (Arthur) is buried in Swansea Wales.
My sister has an an extensive family tree that she researched of the Arthur and Anne Attridge line. There are many wonderful and characterful stories of the Attridge siblings of Hannah and Arthur Attridge. Lilly Danne is a great source for this!
Cheers and Enjoy – Maureen Thompson – Toronto