O'Toole family mystery

[Kay99]

It is possible that the children were registered as Toole - This could be Bartie
Bartholomew Toole  Jun Qtr 1890  Registration district  Rathdrum
Vol 2  Page 883

Kay

[avm228]

Presumably a divorce couldn't be granted?

Irish law of the time provided that a divorce could only be obtained by a private Act of Parliament.  These Acts were named after the petitioner and are in the Parliamentary Archives - see:

http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/results/r/1?_aq=divorce%20ireland&_dss=range&_ro=any

It is much more likely that (if anything) Charles and Catherine obtained an decree of nullity.  In England many unhappy couples simply separated informally and turned a blind eye to each other's remarriage, but I do not know whether this was prevalent in Ireland, or whether Charles would have got away with a bigamous marriage without moving further afield.

[FamilyTree13]

Thanks for this everyone, very helpful!

I'm really glad to have found the O'Tooles, and seriously impressed with your sleuthing. The plot certainly thickens though. To find Charles remarried and Catherine (possibly) becoming a nun suggests more than just a de facto separation. But I'm sure the O'Tooles wouldn't have had the means or social standing for a private divorce, and I don't think there would have been many grounds for annulment available to them after 7 children. Possibly just unearthed a scandal!

[avm228]

I don't think there would have been many grounds for annulment available to them after 7 children. Possibly just unearthed a scandal!

The grounds for annulment were not limited to impotence etc.  Consanguinity (being within the prohibited degrees of kinship), fraud/duress/lack of due consent to marriage, prior existing marriage were among the grounds which could be relied upon on an application for a decree of nullity.

it would be interesting to see what marital status Charles cited when he married Elizabeth.

[shellyesq]

I think this is the passenger list that matches the outgoing list for Brid O'Toole in 1904 - https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:JF1X-G4D  It looks like she was from Ballinrobe, so might not be your woman.

There is a tree that gives Charles' death date as 1928 in Rathdrum, but no source is given.

[eadaoin]

To find Charles remarried and Catherine (possibly) becoming a nun suggests more than just a de facto separation.

OH's great-grandmother is working in a convent in England in 1911, and is marked as a nun.
I'm pretty sure she wasn't a nun - she's marked as a widow teaching in the same convent in 1901.
And she's living with her daughter in Dublin a few years later when she dies, which would be quite unusual for a nun in those days.

 I think that whoever filled in the form was a bit lazy and marked them all as nuns!

regards eadaoin

[Cazper]

Hi are you still looking for information regarding this post?
My grandfather was Owen Otoole last child mentioned on your list.
Kind regards

[leelow]

Charles TOOLE bachelor
of Ashford, Co Wicklow
s/o Bartholomew TOOLE
Married 17 March 1884
St Andrews South Dublin
Katie BYRNE d/o Joseph BYRNE

Children-
Bridget TOOLE b 25 Oct 1887 Rathdrum, Wicklow
Bartholomew TOOLE b 12 Apr 1990 Rathdrum
Joseph TOOLE b 29 Jan 1893 Rathdrum
Ellen TOOLE b 4 Aug 1895 Rathdrum
John TOOLE b 17 Sep 1898 Rathdrum
Patrick TOOLE b 17 Sep 1898 Rathdrum
Owen TOOLE b 11 Mar 1900 Rathdrum

Katie TOOLE carpenters wife
died 20 Jul 1902 Rathdrum, aged 37 (acute phthesis)
daughter Bridget TOOLE present at death

Charles TOOLE carpenter/bachelor
died 11 Jan 1908 Kilpedder, Wicklow aged 34? (phthesis)






 

[carolineasb]

I don't know what the Roman Catholic Church was like back in the 19th century, but I personally happen to know of a woman who was a nun, left to get married, husband passed away and she went back to being a nun! I never thought that she could have done that having been married. This was only 5 years ago, mind you!