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
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.
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