I’m looking for information on the family of my great-grandmother, Elizabeth Driscoll Leonard. The details I’ve been able to put together is that she was born 29 July 1850, one of eight children of Michael Driscoll and Betty (Elizabeth?) Savage.

I believe that Michael Driscoll and Betty Savage were married on 23 February 1841. Their children were Mary (DOB unknown), Ellen (born 26 January 1845), Johanna (born 3 Feb 1847), Elizabeth, another Ellen (born 15 March 1853, presumably after the first Ellen died), Owen (the only son, born 15 August 1855), an unnamed daughter, and Catherine (born 17 March 1859).

Betty Savage, according to family lore, was one of seven sisters born to Owen (?) Savage (alleged to be either a shipwrecked French sailor or a traveling tea merchant from Clonakilty) and a woman by the last name of Sheila or Shelly, whose family came from a place called Lar na Tighe, in the townland of Ballyisland, near Lough Ine (Hyne). Elizabeth Driscoll was known as "Eliza Vickel" – I’m not sure about the spelling, but I understand that Vickel is the genitive form of Michael in the Irish language, thus meaning that she was the daughter of Michael. She married Patrick Leonard (son of Peter Leonard and Margaret Minihane(?)) on 30 January 1877 at the Roman Catholic Chapel of Rath, Baltimore. At this time, I believe that her parents (Michael Driscoll and Betty Savage) lived in the townland of Donegall Middle, on the island of Reengaroga [Ringarogy] in Baltimore Harbour. The family history from this point forward is fairly clear.

If any of this narrative sounds familiar to any of you, I’d appreciate a word.

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