Joseph Maxwell 1802-1841

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ennaid46

New Member
Joseph Maxwell was doing a survey with the Corps of the Royal Sappers and Miners when he was drowned on the island of Valentia in 1840. He is buried Dromod, Kerry and was from Cahirciveen. His wife Elizabeth Bond and four children emigrated to Canada in 1844.
I am trying to find more information on this family and where they were living prior to Joseph's death and for the 4 years after before their move to Canada. I would imagine Elizabeth might have had relatives in Toronto to go to as that is quite a move for a widow and four children in 1844. Unfortunately the Toronto portion of the 1851 census of Canada was destroyed by fire and Elizabeth died of cholera in 1854.
How do I find records for Cahirciveen and birth records for Joseph Maxwell (common name) and Elizabeth Bond ? Or children's births?
I have all the info on Joseph's death.
 
Try here:
http://www. from-ireland.net/cahersiveen-birth-records-kerry/

remove space between www. & from. page has adverts.

Sorry, the birth records seem to be from civil registration, but there are other records to view on that page. May offer some hint.
 
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Hello Dianne and welcome to the forum :)

From Findagrave I see that the children were called Jane, Matilda and John (birthdates given there as 1830, 1835 and 1839, respectively, but Jane and Matilda's ages on censuses are quite variable).

There are these two entries in the 'British Nationals Armed Forces births 1761-2005' database on Findmypast which might fit with the above:
  • Jane Maxwell, 1828, Clogher, Ireland
  • Matilda Maxwell, 1833, Clogher, Ireland
They're not in the county you expected, but might Joseph have been moving around with his regiment?

There are a few other Irish Maxwells in the above database. I don't have a subscription so can't see the images (which would be just indexes of births but may have a little more information than you can see in the free search results. I can't remember if you get details of regiment at this date.) Using the details in the index you can send off to the General Register Office for copies of birth certificates. (Do ask if you need instructions - make sure you go via the official GRO website.)

Findmypast also have many 19th century army records: it would perhaps be worth checking to see if they have anything about Joseph.

P.S. you can search the Armed Forces births index here (remove the space after the 'search.'):

search. findmypast.co.uk/search-world-records/british-nationals-armed-forces-births-1761-2005
 
ennaid46 said:
Joseph Maxwell was doing a survey with the Corps of the Royal Sappers and Miners when he was drowned on the island of Valentia in 1840.
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Was he working on the Ordnance Survey? If so I wonder if there might be records associated with that work. I'll see if I can find out. In the meantime here is a short history of the Ordnance Survey in Ireland:

www.
charlesclosesociety.org/files/Irelandto1922.pdf

P.S. oh yes sorry, I should have looked at Findagrave more closely as it says on his gravestone 'Private of the Royal Sappers & Miners who was Drowned in the execution of his duty on the Ordnance Survey on the 10 December 1840 Aged 38 Years'
 
The National Archives (TNA), at Kew, have some records which may be of interest, but they're not online as far as I can tell. You'd probably need to commission someone to look at them for you to see if there are mentions of Joseph or (after his death) his widow.

Here are some of records I found by searching TNA's catalogue ('Discovery') for 'Sappers and Miners':

WO 12/13303: 'Miscellaneous pay and pensions lists: detachments and companies of the Royal Regiment of Artillery serving in Ireland, including those of the Royal Engineers, Royal Sappers and Miners, Royal Staff Corps, Field Train Department, etc.', c.1825-c.1832.

WO 12/13304: 'Miscellanous pay and pensions lists: includes Home muster rolls and pay lists for detachments of Royal Engineers; returns of muster rolls of Royal Sappers and Miners; and individual attestation papers for the Corps of Royal Sappers and Miners (1831-1834)'

WO 54/329: Ordnance Office and War Office: Entry Books and Registers: Discharges, transfers and casualties. Sappers and Miners.

WO 55 includes some 'Engineer Letter Books (including Sappers and Miners...)' with letters issued and letters received
 
Huncamunca said:
Hello again Dianne. I'm not sure if you have seen the replies to your post. I am trying the 'reply with quote' option in the hope that you get an alert popping up next time you log in.
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Hello....I am so sorry. I have been inundated the past year and am finally going through all my unread emails (in the thousands yikes) and have come across all your very useful information. I have looked up on FMP and have found what maybe all four children and have sent for the birth certificates from GRO. Looking forward to seeing what they have to say. I am going to go the the TNA stuff and see what I can see and what may be worth paying someone to search for me. Thanks again for all your time and for sharing what you found with me and again, so sorry for the year long delay (I am so ashamed). Dianne
 
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