Anne Curran 1857-1884

Annes baptismal record as seen in parish records

I stumbled across this document in my photos and thought i'd put it up on line, it reads:

Curran   30(january 1857) Anne of Francis and Sarah Doyle   Drumphea.    in the next line it shows the sponsors, Pat Nolan and Mary Fitzgerald.

Anne is the second eldest sister of my Grandfather Martin Curran.

Unfortunately, civil records for births in Ireland generally go back to 1864, it is then that you have to turn to these parish records. Though this is a really good example of  such work, other examples can be very scruffy or damaged, making the deciphering not so easy.

Anne died aged only 27 and 10 months in 1884, possibly in Drumphea too.

Kynochs armaments factory, Arklow, County Wicklow, Ireland

A group of employees of Kynochs LTD, Arklow c1914

Some time ago, I was given a picture by my Auntie Kathleen of a picture of a group of people, it looked like a professional group picture taken a long time ago.

I was informed by my aunt that it was a group taken from an armament factory, and that her sisters Mary and Sarah Curran were in the picture, I had little to go on, as Kathleen did not know where this photograph was taken, we assumed that it was in the south of England because there is documentary proof that Mary and Sarah had lived in London during the first world war, they worked as bus conductors, or clippies as they were called then. It always struck me that the group looked very Irish and that is why it always puzzled me.

After a couple of years staring at the picture, I finally presented the picture to my Father, Dermot Curran, who said that he felt that the picture may have been taken in County Wicklow during the beginning of the first world war. At this point I decided to put the picture on a web genealogy forum and beggar the question: Was there an armaments factory in County Wicklow in the First World War? Not too long after I got a couple of responses, particularly one from a lady called Cara, I don’t know her second name. She informed me that this was a picture that had hung on the wall of Arklow library, she said that this was a factory just outside Arklow, I was given a few links and started to look around, it turned out that there was quite the major factory, producing mainly cordite charges for late Victorian and early twentieth century cannon, and also for mining charges. The company had a very rocky history in Ireland, with many industrial accidents taking place there, with a large number of deaths, it was estimated that during the first world war, due to increased demand for cordite on the western front, that there was on average one serious accident per week, many people were injured by acid and burning related accidents, even a few were actually blown up.

During the First World War, the company which employed around 300 pre war, moved its employee numbers up to over 5000 employees. In its heyday the factory also comprised of 200 buildings, During this time there was a massive explosion in the factory killing 27 employees, and injuring dozens more, various theories abound, one saying that it was a German U-boat that bombarded the factory as a military target, but it was officially thought that it was an industrial accident.

I must say that it has really made quite fascinating reading in my research for this picture, and really paints a picture of a bygone era, when health and safety issues that we hold sacred today, were not so sacred back then, and through the whole belief of just holding onto a job, and maybe the naivety of having the knowledge of the perils of the substances being handled.

At this point I would like to thank my Auntie Kathleen, who originally passed on a copy of the picture to me, Cara who gave me the relevant info to post a decent blog from what she told me on rootschat, and also the various websites, which I have researched my information from, please take a look at them, it is quite a fascinating insight into pre independent Irelands contributions to the empires war efforts.

http://www.historyireland.com/volumes/volume14/issue1/features/?id=314

http://www.staffshomeguard.co.uk/KOtherInformationKynochV2A.htm

http://archiver.rootsweb.ancestry.com/th/read/IRL-WICKLOW/2003-08/1060173279

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kynoch

http://www.geolocation.ws/v/W/4d958af38786563542000bc5/munitions-factory-site-ferrybank-arklow/en

Pictures of Ralph family graves in Wisconsin

Left: the grave of Catherine Ralph(nee Curran)

Right: the grave of her son, John C Ralph(the C stands for Curran)

Left: Kates husband, Michaels grave

Right: Michaels brother Thomas's grave

Above: A picture of the group of Ralph graves

 

Monument at entrance of St Patricks cemetery

Well! I was absolutely knocked for six the other day, when I had not taken a look at my emails over the Christmas period, to see that a very important email arrived on Christmas eve, serves me right, they say you should always check no matter what.

The important email was a gentleman named Dave Sterba in Hillsboro Wisconsin, USA, showing me some photographs he had taken of my Grandfathers sisters grave, Catherine Ralph nee Curran.

Catherine, or Kate as she was more familiarly known was the eldest child of Francis and Sarah Curran(nee Doyle). She left the family home in Drumphea, County Carlow, Ireland in her late teens and moved up to Kildavin, whilst living here she met her future husband, Michael Ralph, nineteen years her senior, he was from nearby Kilcarry(about  two miles by road from Kildavin) They married in December 1876 and later had a baby son John C Ralph five months later in April 1877.

It has been said that they departed to the USA in 1879, according to people that I have spoken too, the currans felt that they were mad to just up sticks and go, and it cam as a great shock to their parents and families. Apparently Catherine kept in close touch with the family back in Ireland, but as far as I know, she did not return up to her death in 1923. After leaving Ireland, Catherine, Michael and John made their way out to Greencastle in Vernon County, Wisconsin and lived with Michaels older brother Thomas, who lived alone on a small piece of land and lived with him, looking at census records, the family lived in the same place right up to the time of John C Ralphs death in 1933.

It always painted a few pictures in my mind about these people and how they lived, the area in which they lived seemed to be quite well populated by Irish immigrants, but the majority of the overall area was made up of more eastern European stock. We can see immediately that young Catherine married Michael possibly because of the realisation of the pending birth of John(she was four months pregnant on the wedding day) which seems to plant a seed in my mind that maybe, though in love, they were not too happy about living around the Victorian rural County Carlow, where waggling tongues I’m sure were hissing away, a young girl moves in from down the way and ends up getting pregnant to a man nineteen years her senior, can you imagine what they were like? I say this, because this may have been the reason they moved away, they could have moved somewhere more local, but saw the opportunity to stay with Michaels brother in far off, promising America. Another thing, they never had any more children, and after that the son passed on shortly after the death of his mother, it all sounds like young love at the beginning, and then the end of a family, completely in 1933? Maybe upon reaching the promised land, they realised that love was not part of it, Michael being 40 having to start his new life with a 21 year old girl that he may or may not have wanted to be with and vice versa, for Kate.

I think when you work on family history, you look at the spans of peoples lives with snippets here and there, and what you have to do is try and paint a picture of their life, try and put meat on the bones so to speak, if you don’t do this, and don't ask questions, you will never find a way forward with your family history, and that is why I go on the way I do.

Still all the same, it is really great that I can now present these pictures to you. Believe me, I have gone to alot of trouble, i was only told that Kate married a man called Ralph and went to america, so not much to go on. I stumbled upon the location in the USA by chance online, and then had the wonderous idea of offering up a bounty to someone to take the photo from the local town, it only took two years! And here it is!

There are a few thank you's to mention here. Firstly is my own passed away grandfather Martin Curran, who dedicated information about Catherine on the Drumphea gravestone, so we would have not known of her if it was not for the gravestone. Secondly is Dave Sterba for picking up my email and taking the action, he has informed me that the money I send him will be donated to the upkeep of St Patricks graveyard in Greencastle, very kind gesture i thought. My next thanks go's to the Vernon Historical society who gave over so much info about the Ralphs and where and how to locate them in US civil records.

Just an observation of these pictures, but the graves are in really good condition, surely they must just keep them pristine, or the weather is just perfect, these graves are still shiny and clean, amazing.

Visit to Thomas Cookes Grave in Shankill Castle, Paulstown, County Kilkenny

Back on the Halloween weekend just gone, I went away to Dungarvan for a long weekend, we go there quite often to stay at The Clonea Strand Hotel, just outside the town, it’s really nice. on my journey home, which is two hours back to Finglas, I decided to stop after one hour, where did I end up but Paulstown in county Kilkenny, coincidentally, because 1) it is exactly half way from dungarvan to my house, and 2) I was told that there was an important family history grave for me here! I had a conversation some time ago with a fellow genealogist by the name of Kieron Cooke, whom I have mentioned a few times in this blog now, he had said to me that there was a grave in Shakill house in Paulstown that has a cooke grave that is related to the Painstown Cookes/Cokes, and this could possibly be a step toward the Kilmacow Cookes(genealogically) Paulstown is a place that I have been familiar with in the past, it was always a stop off town on the way down to Waterford, before they built the big motorway that bypassed it, so now it is just a sleepy little village.

 Shankill Castle in Paulstown is a stately home on demesne grounds. When we arrived in Paulstown this time with Anne, my wife, we went through the majestic gates, and pulled up to the big house, the staff were so helpful, and pointed us in the direction of the graveyard.

I didn't disturb the grave, it had a lot of moss on it, and it was wet too, so I can only show the grave, but the writing is not too clear. It reads:

Erected by Michael Cooke in the memory of his father Thomas Cooke, late of Kellymount, died 16 December 1801, age 70 years.

There is more on it but I couldn't read it from the snaps I'd taken, but i pass quite regularly through this area, or maybe someone can enlighten me?
On the back under the eye it reads:

 Headstone carved by John Brennan, stone-cutter, Royal Oak
Stand here my friends wipe off your tears
Here we must lie until Christ appears
And when he comes we hope to rise
Unto that life that never dies

It also surprised me that it was made of lime or sandstone and very sturdy and ornate, on the front of the grave appeared to be a shining sun carved into the sun, on the back of it was an eyeball sculpted, looking out, I’d never seen it before, also something else written underneath that, some kind of verse, but I couldn't make it out. Apparently the eyeball and sunrise thing indicates some kind of masonic symbolism, from the little research I have done online, the sun is a setting sun, signifying the end of life, the eye is 'the all seeing eye' or 'the eye of providence' signifying god and his almighty power and judgement, that possibly because of Thomas's dedication to god and freemasonry that he will pass on peacefully to paradise?

Unfortunately it was late in the afternoon on a dark damp day in a rather woody area, so not to successful with the reading, maybe someone can enlighten me of the verse on the back, I will put it up if I get it.

For the location of this grave, and help in finding it when I got there, I would like to thank the following:

Kieran Cooke, up in Dunmore, Galway
The staff at shankill house

A short film about my father, Dermot Curran

In the summer of 2010, film director Nick Hillel made part of a documentary called 'Heath life' which was to show the four seasons of the year in the life of Hampstead Heath in North London. The video you see here is the summer section, which is called 'Leos Pond', a nine minute film about the character that work in and frequent Highgate Ponds within Hampstead Heath, though centering mainly around Leo Curran, a 93 year old man who travel up to six hours a day just to enjoy his 'Paradise' as he describes it.

To me this is truly inspirational, and should be an inspiration to all, to see this man of a certain vintage, supremely fit, alot fitter than some healthy people 1/3 his age. He really shows in this film that it is not how old you are, but how old you feel on the inside, because that will shine on the outside, in personal health and attitude towards others and life itself.

Please take a look.

My Grandfathers brother, peter Curran's family

From left to right, Peter Curran Jnr, Anne Curran(nee Sinnott) Deborah Curran, Frank Curran Maureen Curran and Peter Currab Snr. Picture was taken around 1921

Last Wednesday, I met up in Glasnevin cemetery with my second cousin Richard Hoolahan. We had arranged to have a ‘show’ of one another’s graves, it was an immensely successful occasion, and I now know the locations of a number of my father’s 1^st cousins that he was unaware of all his life.

Richard is the Grandson of Peter Curran, my grandfather, Martin Curran’s brother. He came up to Dublin, possibly in the late 1890’s or early 1900’s. I have been told by a number of his descendants that he served as a policeman in the Dublin Metropolitan police, as yet I have not found any records on his time there, but will endure, and hopefully talk more fully about this in a future blog. Curran family legend says that he met his wife, Anne Sinnott whilst at work, he would be out on his beat in Dublin, and she worked in a business in Grafton Street that he would pass regularly, they developed a friendship which later blossomed into marriage. They married around 1910 and went on to start a dairy business at 22 Bolton Street, north City Dublin. They also resided here, as it is stated on their gravestone in Bunclody. In the 1911 census, Peter and his current family at the time including their eldest son, Frank are seen living in house number 70 in Newtownbarry, part of what is now known as Bunclody, Anne, who was from Newtownbarry originally, at this time was four months pregnant with their second child, Sarah. As far as I know Peter and Anne went on to have another six children as follows:

Peter () Kathleen (1923) Joan (1926) Deborah () Maureen () Edith () and the above mentioned Frank (1910) and Sarah (1911)

Peter, at present cannot be seen in the 1901 census for Ireland, but I am sure with time that he will show. Though Anne is present as a 14 year old girl living in house 50 in Newtownbarry.

Peter Passed away in 1929, I was told of an unusual story by Richard and his relatives, of the fact that when Peter died, the grave in Drumphea had been opened and ready to take him in, there were even people there in Drumphea to receive him, but to his wife, annes wishes, he was buried in Bunclody cemetery on the same day. Anne died in 1966 and was buried in the same grave as Peter.

What I know of their children is as follows, Peter married a lady called Doris and they had three children. Frank married Lily and they had five children. Kathleen married John and they had five children. Joan is still alive and well, living up in county Meath, Joan married Tom and they had eight children, Deborah married an Italian called Henry who unfortunately was killed in a biking accident, she went on to marry Frank. She had two children with Henry. Maureen married a man called Giuseppe and they had three children. Sarah, I know little, and Edith, I have been told died young in a fire.

I know that Peter, Deborah and Kathleen are all buried in Glasnevin cemetery, Dublin, and Maureen is buried in Darderstown cemetery in Dublin

Of my own uncles and aunts, they had little knowledge of Peter and Anne and their family, though they were aware of the fact that Maureen and Giuseppe had a restaurant in Donnycarney. Also that Peter and Anne had the shop in Bolton Street, but that was it. I always wondered why my Grandfather Martin and Peter lived so close to one another in Dublin, but had very little to do with one another. There are many theories why they didn’t, I even have my own ideas, but it’s not for this blog. One day someone will tell, and then I will write a blog then. As for Peters descendents, they also had little knowledge of my side, they were aware of the policeman uncle, but that was because he titled himself on some graves as erecting them(Drumphea and Glasnevin) some of them knew that my grandmother, Margaret had a shop next to the thatch in Whitehall, Dublin. And some were even aware of my Auntie Kathleen in Beaumont Road, Dublin. It also seems so ironic that there was a family group that lived no further than about 0.5km from my auntie Kathleen. Still time will tell, I want to talk to all these Currans individually to find out what they know, so as to get a clearer picture of a close relationship, that just seemed to go blank.

Peter and Anne Curran's Grave in Bunclody old cemetery, recently refurbished(2011) I have to say it looks absolutely brilliant, great job to the lads, it looks cool.

Kathleen Curran's grave in Glasnevin cemetery

Deborah Curran's plaque in Glasnevin cemetery, with her second husband Frank Maher

Deborahs first husband, Henry Margiotta's grave in Glasnevin Cemetery

Currans of The Coombe, Meath Market, Echlin Street, Basin Street and Thomas Court in Dublin city

My Great-grandfathers brother was John Curran, born in either Drumphea or Knocklonagad around 1808. I know little of his life other than he would have obviously been a farmer’s son to my Great great grandfather Martin Curran. He married at the age of 42 in 1850(begging the question was he married before) to Sarah Moore(I would hazard a guess that she was from nearby Knockdrumagh as there is a cluster of Moore’s in the area at the time) They had children from 1851-1871(that I know) She passed away in 1875, I don't really know if there was any younger left behind, but to my knowledge it was James, aged 14. They lived at number 36 The Coombe, in the southwest inner city of Dublin. You only have to look at Irish history websites to know that the living conditions in this part of Dublin at this time were not the easiest, some would even refer to this area as a slum (at the time) At the time of her death she was referred to as a 'Grocers wife' so now we know that they had a grocery, possibly in 36 Coombe.

After they got married in Drumphea church in 1850 they had four children which they proceeded to raise in Sheean, just a mile from Drumphea. Between 1860 and 1864 something happened to make the family up sticks and leave Sheean, to live in the Coombe, John is not marked down in Griffith’s valuation, a list of landed properties written up in 1855 in Co Carlow, so he must have been subletting the property there. Anyway whatever happened, good or bad, he moved up to the Coombe.

He passed away in 1881, from bronchitis, he was also not a grocer anymore, he was a labourer at time of death. Before moving up to Dublin, he and Sarah had at least four children down in Sheean, 1st was Mary, whom I have only seen her baptismal record. Then there were three boys, James, Pattrick and Martin. I know that when in Dublin John and Mary had three more children, who all passed away young, these were Bridget, Daniel and Margaret who all died between 1864 and 1871, maybe they have had more children, but I am still to find that out. It strikes me as a rather sad story for Sarah too, who died from stomach cramps in 1875, and I feel she may have not enjoyed the best of health while in Dublin through the amount of infant deaths she had to take on. Which also says to me that the whole family endured hard times.

During the 1901 and 1911 censii, we now see some of their children as adults, with they're own families, and still around the same area too, as the old saying goes, the seed does not fall too far from the tree.
First we will look at the eldest of these, Martin, he can be seen in '01 and '11 censii as living in Moss Street, just off the river Liffey opposite the Custom House in south Dublin city, with his wife, Mary, as far as I can see they had no children by the 1911 census, and she would have been in her mid fifties by then. Martin passed away in 1919 and Mary passed away in 1923, they are buried in Glasnevin cemetery JL291.5 with my uncle, Frank Curran, apparently Martin and Frank were very close.

Next is Pattrick Curran, yes, this is the right spelling, who was born in 1858 in Sheean, Co Carlow. in 1901, he is seen living at 8 Echlin Street, which is just off James Street, Dublin 8, in the 1911 census, he is seen in 23 Upper Basin Street, just around the corner, incidentally the properties that he lived in had a very large amount of people living in them, in Echlin Street property there were 44 people! And in the Basin Street property there were 31. By 1911 Pattrick had been married for 26 years to Anne Healy(another name from near to Drumphea, could she be connected?) they had six children, the names were Mary(1886), John(1900), Elizabeth(1898), Charlotte(1902), Nellie(1904) and Patrick(1890) Of which Mary, the eldest had married a man whose surname was O'Toole in 1909 and they had a son, Michael O'Toole in 1910, according to the 1911 census for Basin Street. Mary was also down as working as a cigarette spinner in a tobacco factory.

The only other one I know about is James Curran, who was born in 1860 in county Carlow, probably Sheean. In '01 census, he is living next door to his brother Patrick at 7 Echlin Street, by 1911 he is living locally in 13 Thomas Court, and not too far from Patrick. By 1911 he had married a Dubliner, Marcella Flynn around 1883. they had  8 children by 1911, these were, Agnes(1895) Edward(1884) Thomas(1900) James(1898) Matthew(1893) William(1891) Eileen(1902) Patrick(1907)

Even though the elder Currans within my modern family have never heard of these people, I feel that John Curran, the starter of this very extensive family tree played a very important role in the reasoning of my grandfather, Martin Curran and possibly his brother Peter Curran, moving up to Dublin. Back in those days, when somebody moved away from their local rural area, they wouldn’t  tend to move too far away from, or even in with another relative in their new area, in this case it was their uncle John up in Dublin, by the time both Martin and Peter started having children John was long gone. But, and it is a very big but, when my uncle frank died in 1940, he was put into a plot in Glasnevin cemetery with Johns eldest son, Martin and his wife, my father always maintained that Frank and Martin had a very close fraternal relationship, Frank was a number of years junior to Martin but may have looked to him as some kind of mentor. Especially after the passing of his mother, and his dad being a policeman too. Also his dad remarried when Frank was in his early teens, it leaves much to the imagination, but I can see why that would be a reason, as my father says they were so close. Maybe he needed a closer person to guide him, I never really looked at it this way, and while typing these words, I feel his and his sister’s turmoil. But then when you look back to Dublin of 100-150 years ago, there were not alot of happy stories to tell, most people struggled to make ends meet, and I can't say my ancestors were any exception to that.

John Curran, and his families vandalised grave in Glasnevin cemetery, Dublin.