Mary Coll Ferrie (Early 1800's-tbc)

Mary Coll Ferrie (or Ferry), was born in Donegal, Ireland in around 1820 to James and Margaret Coll.

Mary married a James Ferrie, presumably in the early 1840's and they had at least 2 children, a daughter Susan Ferrie Docherty (1841-1921) and a son James who we know was baptised on the 16th December 1849 at Innisbofin. Whereas many of the Irish Coll's emigrated to the USA during the mid-1800's, both Susan and her husband John Docherty (1840-1921) later moved to Dumbarton and are described separately in this site.

Inishbofin where Mary had her son James baptised, is a tiny island lying about 5 miles off the coast of Connemara, County Galway, Ireland which has been inhabited since the Bronze Age. It measures 3.5 miles long by 1.9 miles wide and the population peaked in the 1840's when there were around 1500 inhabitants.

	A typically atmospheric view of a ruined Fisherman's cottage on Inishbofin.		Inishbofin is now mainly a tourist and holiday destination.

Today, only a few hardy individuals live on the Island full-time. From March to October however, many of the former inhabitants return to fish for lobster, crab and Atlantic salmon, or to gather shellfish and pick edible seaweeds such as cairrigin (carrageen) and creathnach (dulse) from the rocks. Other families move back for the duration of the summer school holidays with many of the original houses on the island having been renovated, mostly for use as holiday homes.

As late as the 1901 Census, there were still 11 branches of the Coll family living in Inishbofin although the Ferrie family was also in evidence. All of the Coll family members without exception were Roman Catholic and employed as farmers, although they would certainly also have fished given the poor quality of the farm land in the area.

Across from Inishbofin on the Donegal mainland at Gortahork, the "Teach Coll" public house or Coll's Bar survives today having originally been established by a James Coll around 1900. Visitors to the Island today who spend a few moments at the Inishbofin graveyard are soon aware of the Coll family's roots. The Ferry family also have persisted in this isolated location.



Tracing the Donegal Coll family further back, it is generally accepted that the family was descended from the MacColla Gallowglasses who settled in Donegal in the 15th and 16th centuries. The MacColla's were originally found around Loch Fyne and the islands of Jura, Colonsay and Islay. The character of these mercenary elite soldiers who were mentioned by Shakespeare in Macbeth,is best illustrated by Alasdair MacColla, the son of Colla the Left-handed MacDonald - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alasdair_Mac_Colla.

The MacColla surname in Donegal thereafter generally became known in the Anglicised form of Coll and the name is now generally regarded as being a County Donegal surname.

Of the Coll's who emigrated from Donegal to the USA, a particularly unsuccessful individual was Vincent 'Mad Dog' Coll who was born in Gweedore, Donegal in 1908 and emigrated to New York with his family aged just a year old. Coll quickly gained notoriety for various despicable acts, made it to number one on the FBI's most wanted list and ultimately died in hail of bullets on the 8th February 1932 aged just 23. His family fared no better with five of his siblings dying before he was 12 and their father Toaly Coll deserting them never to be heard of again. His only companion was his brother Peter who was also gunned down in Harlem a year prior to Vincent's demise.

	A mugshot of Vincent Coll		Coll and his wife in the early 1930's		1961 Book About Mad Dog Coll		Vincent and his brother's Headstones

There are various Coll family descendants, particularly in the US, currently researching further information regarding the Inishbofin Coll's. Details will therefore be added within this site as they become known.

      Family Tree Summary

Forename	Surname	Born	Died	Cause of Death
Mary	Coll Ferrie	Early 1800's	Inishbofin	Unknown