Hi Frances

One of the most useful public sources for the Sukie Corrin/Dominique LaMothe story is the account written by High Bailiff LaMothe in 1896 which is strong on the LaMothe side, but says next to nothing on Sukie herself.

As you will have picked up from other threads, my mother's mother was Christiana Frances Corrin who was baptised at Peel 29 Marxh 1863. her father was the Henry WIlliam Corrin that has been on the board lately. His father was Henry Corrin, chr Malew 5 April 1803, and he married the elusive Charlotte CHampan.
The next generation back was another Henry Corrin ch Malew 6 Aug 1769 and he married another mystery girl, Judith Kinvig.

Go back another generation and we get to WIlliam Corrin chr 2-2-1742 and he married Ann Tyldesley in 1766. William's father was Henry Corrin, who was chr Malew 30 Aug 1713, and married Suzanna QUay on 13 July 1738, and is buried at Malew 31-1-1769.

His wife was Susanna Quay chr 12 7 1713 in Malew to Thos Quay and Elizabeth Friend.

The reason the marriage does not appear in the Malew register is that the Rev Woods had been at Malew since 1696, and even in his younger days, was apt to miss entries from the register that should be there, but after 1735, there is a rapid decline, and by 1738 records are very weak and collapse in 1739 when he died. They resume in 1740. When I laid out all the evidence to Roger Sims, he agreed this looked to be the right family and suggested I lookat the bishops transcripts, and there was the wedding on 13 July 1738.

The register shows the couple had Thomas bap 31-8-1740 just after records resume, and he died of pox 16 9 1741, William was chr on 2- 2- 1742; Henry 6-10-1745 abd John on 31-7-1747. There is no trace of an Elizabeth or a Ssusanna, but the couple married in July 1738 when the transcripts were recorded, but in 1739 that collapsed as well. Susanna had a son in Aug 1740, so the autumn of 1739 is a last possible date fora prior birth of twin girls, and from a July 1738 wedding, we would reasonably expect a birth any time from the spring of 1739. This means that Sukie and Elizabeth would have been born when there would NOT be any baptism record in Malew. The absence does not prove they were born, but explains why there is no trcord of it.

When LaMothe was captured, he was dumped in Castle Rushen for five days and then paroled, but needed to live somewhere near the castle. He must have lodged with Henry & Suzanna Corrin, and met their daughters. Corrin, a merchant, was extremly well connected and on the day the RN ship arrived to take the prisoners away, Dominique went off exploring for the day, and the ship sailed that evening. Now his parole would allow him freedom of movement by day, but it is an interesting coincidence, and whilst I can't prove it, I am certain that by the time the warship arrived there was romance in the air, that Hal approved, and Dominique got insturctions to make himself scarce. When he returned, the Castle was not amused, as they still had one prisoner left, and would the RN send another ship for one man ? Before the night was out, he was deposited in the cells again. High Bailiff Lamothe says that he cured the governor's wife and was of course released from jail, and he and Sukie married and lived happily ever after. How did all this come to pass. The story handed down to my mother conformed in most respects to the LaMothe version but was much stronger on Sukie details.

What confirmation is there that I have the right family.
a) Susanna Quay's father owned Quay House, and Quay House was later owned by Dominique LaMothe and Sukie.
b) The LaMothe sarcophagus at Malew is on the same site as the meorial stones to Hen Corrin and Susanna Quay
c When Henry Corrin, born 1769 and the son of William of 1742 married Judith Kinvig in 1793, there were THREE witnesses. One was (I think) the parish clerk, one was Stanley Tyldesley. who was Henry's mother's brother, and the third witness was Sophia LaMothe !!
First of all three witnesses is so rare that I have not encountered it elsewhere; Second awoman as a witness pre 1800 is virtualy unknown and combine the two and this suggests something remarkable. Sophia had forced a male dominate dsociety to let her witness a wedding, so she had to be close. IT only makes sense if Henry's father William of 1742 and Sukie Corrin/Lamothe of 1739 were siblings.

The story handed down in our family says that Sukie realising that the "governor's lady",note the wording was ill and the local doctors had achieved nothing, dispatched her papa to see the governor to suggest that as he had a qualified doctor in the cells, it might be a good idea if ... !! Hal went off as directed, whilst SUkie set off to see her boyfriend so he was in the picture. Roger Sims handed me a file exchanged between Goodwin and Kneen about 1900, and on a slip of paper was a story that Sukie had visited Dominique in jail in company with some other ladies. It made no great sense to them, and they seem to have filed it and that was that. It would have been improper for a young woman to visit a man in gaol, so Sukie would have taken her mama and her sister along as chaperones.

The remarkable thing is that each fact, as it emerged supported the legend and the legend made a collection of otherwise strange facts intelligible.

That is the outline of what happened.

Robert