Hi all, I'm a new member who inherited the search for our ancestors when my father John Gaskin died. I've been down many rabbit holes and pulled many threads that led nowhere. Finally found my great great Granda Thomas Gaskin who was a HM NAVY SEAMAN originally from Barbados. He was a member of the IRISH coastguard and married a coastguard Thomas Connolly/Connelly's daughter Margaret in 1870 in the Church of Renvyle in Galway The marriage was witnessed by Samuel Duffield and Andrew Castleton He served 1859 until at least 1878 when it looks like he was invalidid out of the service. I intend to take a trip to Galway next year with one or both of my brothers so we can look for his grave. Mary and he had at least four children with William being my great grandfather who moved to Edinburgh were he met and married A fellow Irish lass Mary Dunbar. They had at least one child Letitia Gaskin who was my paternal grandmother. My father kept the Gaskin name when she gave him away as a baby. We lived our lives in Aberdeen before emigrating to Canada where we now all live.
If anyone has any info on Thomas I would be forever grateful.
Thanks Ken Gaskin
Edited by Ken Gaskin on 18/02/2021 22:52
Hi Ken, I did a little research into John Gaskin and got a lot of help and information from Mary Joyce who was also a decendent. If you have not made contact with her already, please let me know and I will see if I still have contact information for her as she is a wealth of knowledge on Thomas Gaskin. I am decended from Connolly from near Tully but it is a very common name here. Best of luck with your search.
Pleased to meet you cousin.
I have been in contact with Mary Joyce since last winter. Indeed she was a treasure trove of info. What I am missing and may never find is a photo of Thomas Gaskin. I knew it would be a long shot.but fingers crossed. Most of my discoveries have been sheer luck. My brothers I had planned to visit Galwag and the coast guard stations Thomas worked in this spring but covid put paid to that idea. Recently I made some headway on my great grandfather William Gaskin and his family. Our Gaskin ancestry is full of illegitimate children like my father who was given away as a baby. Given away not adopted. The Barbados ancestry is hard as so many slaves were called Gaskin when surnames were assigned. I have met many cousins who are black and Gaskin is very common throughout the West Indies, America, Panama and Ireland with many variations on the spelling. Both the Bajan and Irish alncestry came as a surprise to me.William married a Dunbar in Scotland who was from an Irish Hood family. My fa.ther John Gaskin had Letitia Gaskjn as a birth mother and an unknown Ashkenazi Jew father so I am really quite multiracial and never realized it. Are you still in Galway Tully area? My brother's and I would love to take you and Mary out when we finally get over there.