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