Michael Daly

Code: A

Lineage: unknown

Michael DEELY [DALY] was born in Ireland and married Johanna O'BRIEN on 6 Dec 1843 at St. John's, Limerick, Co Limerick, Ireland. St. John's was a Protestant church. The church register indicates he was a soldier in the 61st Regiment and she lived in the parish. He was probably living in the cummunal barracks where all bachelor soldiers lived.

He would have needed permission to marry but, so far, no record of a Michael DALY / DAILY / DEELY has been found in the British Army records.

Was this an inter-faith marriage? Maybe, but the more likely explanation might be that he needed to marry in the official church (i.e the Church of Ireland) for the British Army to consider the marriage legal. Marriages in the Catholic Church were not always considered "legal" by the British. A separate Catholic ceremony might also have taken place, but might not have been recorded.

It was a common practice for the British Army to station soldiers out of their birth area to avoid conflicting loyalties if the army was called in to resolve a problem with the locals. Therefore, is it unclear if Michael was born in or around Limerick.

Michael & Johanna had the following children:

• John DALY was born in 1848 and died in 1915
• James Martin DALY was born in 1850 and died in 1927
• Michael DALY was born in 1854 and died in 1905 (no issue)