Hi all, I’m hoping someone might be able to provide me with some useful information to further my research into my Kane ancestors, which to be honest hasn’t got very far yet despite many years of digging.
My Gt Grandparents were Lawrence Kane and Ellen Kieran. She was from Ardee, County Louth, but until recently I had no idea where Larry Kane came from in Ireland. They married at Hollywood, County Down in 1919 and I’ve had 3 attempts at getting a copy of their marriage certificate in the last 15 years and only now I’ve been successful, despite giving the date and location every time. Almost immediately after their marriage the couple emigrated to the Gorbals, Govan, Glasgow, where they had 9 children and lived in fairly abject poverty.
My Grandmother was the second or third child, born 1921, called Mary Ellen. As the couple had fled from Ardee under a cloud (one of Ellen’s brothers tried to shoot Larry), I don’t think their children ever met their grandparents. Both of their fathers are listed as dead on their marriage certificate anyway and Ellen’s mother was certainly long deceased.
I have known for some time who Ellen’s parents were, but Larry’s death certificate from 1962 named his parents as:
Matthew Kane and Mary Ellen Ward
His eldest son was the informant and given that I could find no such couple in any records I doubted the veracity of this information. Ellen’s father was called Matthew and this might have been the cause of confusion.
Looking through the1901 and 1911 censuses, there are only half-a-dozen possible Lawrence Kane’s born in Ireland around the right time (1887-89) and none of them have a father called Matthew.
Cue the arrival of the marriage certificate this week and it turns out Larry’s father is called:
John Kane, Labourer, deceased in 1919.
I revisited the Censuses and could find only two possibilities, although both born slightly later than I would have expected, one in 1894 in Belfast and the other 1897, Mountmellick, Queen’s County. In both cases the mother was called Mary, so maybe the Mary Ellen Ward part is correct.
From anecdotal information my late Grandmother provided, Larry’s mother was married twice. Her other husband was a McKay and there was a sister from this marriage called Mary McKay who was a nun.
I will get to the point. I believe that my Gt Grandfather Lawrence Kane was the son of John and Mary Kane, who are listed at Clovelly Street, Falls Ward, Belfast, in the 1901 Census. Lawrence is only 6 at this point. His father John is a slater and his mother a Mill Worker. There are two brothers Patrick (b.1882) and John (b. 1889), and a sister Nora (b. 1886). Patrick and Nora are also Mill Worker’s.
A perhaps important point of notice is that John is 40 years old and his wife is listed as 59. If she were married previously then this would fit in with the anecdotal information. Also, a daughter Mary by a previous marriage would likely have left home by 1901.
The family is no longer present in the 1911 census. Likely both parents are deceased by then. Lawrence appears to be aged 18 and living with a large group of men at Barrack Street, Smithfield and occupation is given as hawkers, which tends to suggest that he was in fairly dire straits.
Can anyone help me find some conclusive evidence that this is my Gt Grandfather or even that it is not him. Ideally, I need to discover his mother’s maiden name. If it is Ward or McKay, then we likely have a winner. If it comes to it, I will send away for a birth certificate. However, can anyone tell me what information a Northern Ireland birth certificate of that period will provide? Is the mother’s maiden name listed for instance?
Graham Wilson (Scotland)
