It’s disappointing that the DNA test showed no matches with your aunt’s.

IF JR b 1843 was the same person as JR/S, then the John Skelly father would be a different person from the John Skelly who married Elizabeth Duke. But I’ll add the caveat which I believe applies in general when comparing DNA results ----that undisclosed infidelity or undisclosed adoption anywhere along the chains could invalidate the “no match therefore no connection” conclusion.

Some general thoughts about your James----I believe that he was probably well educated and well used to writing. His very neat, fluent signature on his Naturalisation application suggests that writing came easily to him. As for his occupation as tinsmith --- I believe that someone would have been needed to sponsor him ? I’ve also wondered whether he might have been born on the IOM and taken to the USA as a child, either with his parents or (eg) a widowed mother who remarried and let James be known on census returns etc by his stepfather’s surname throughout childhood.

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In addition to the suggestions for passenger lists in your Ancestry tree (April 1869 James E Redcliff, labourer and Oct 1869 Jas Scully, labourer) I’ll add these below:

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1)
From the scrawled names, this one could just as easily be Jas as Jno:

Name: Jno Ratcliffe
Arrival Date: 2 Oct 1865
Birth Date: abt 1844
Age: 21
Gender: Male
Ethnicity/ Nationality: English
Place of Origin: England
Port of Departure: Liverpool, England
Destination: United States of America
Port of Arrival: New York, New York
Ship Name: City of Cork

occupation--miner

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2)

Name: Jas Ratcliff
Arrival Date: 8 May 1855
Birth Date: abt 1845
Age: 10
Gender: Male
Ethnicity/ Nationality: English
Place of Origin: England
Port of Departure: Liverpool, England
Destination: United States of America
Port of Arrival: New York, New York
Ship Name: William Lapscott

With Mary 40 and Eliz 5, although Mary’s age is impossible to be sure about.

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3)
Name: Jas Ratcliff
Arrival Date: 10 May 1869
Birth Date: abt 1842
Age: 27
Gender: Male
Ethnicity/ Nationality: English
Place of Origin: England
Port of Departure: Liverpool, England
Destination: United States of America
Port of Arrival: New York, New York
Ship Name: Isaac Webb

JR labourer

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4)
Name: James Radcliffe
Gender: Male
Age: 25
Birth Date: abt 1846
Departure Place: Liverpool, England
Arrival Date: 14 Nov 1871
Arrival Place: Boston, Massachusetts, USA
Ship: Aleppo

Is this one a bit late for meeting and marrying Agnes by Aug 1872 (unless they’d already met back in England) --- although Agnes herself stated that she’d arrived in the USA in 1871.

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Did you look again at the family bible ( ? ) to see whether the words relating to James’s birthplace as IOM were definitely written by Agnes herself ? What exactly do the words say ?

Jean C