The Roe Valley Hospital

[aghadowey]

Have no idea where she was buried. I gave the full details of the death notice from the Times. As the funeral was private the place of interment was not listed. However, the local newspaper might have published details of the funeral, wreaths, mourners, etc. so it would certainly be worth checking.
Times Online: http://archive.timesonline.co.uk/tol/archive/

[betty53]

Dear Aghadowey

found it - very many thanks.

Regards

Betty

[Gortinanima]

Christchurch Graveyard, Limavady [PRONI D/3672/4]

ROBERTSON
Elizabeth, wife of Robert B 26 June 1851
D 12 July 1922. Their youngest dau Kathrine Octavia
B 21 April 1892 D 12 Nov 1935

[betty53]

Dear Gortinanima

I got a photograph of the grave today. Very many thanks.

To all of you who helped me with this thread - so many thanks for this, the details will get published next year by the BBC Storyfinders as they help commemmorate the closure of the Roe Valley hospital in Limavady.  The Workhouse work will go on however!

Good joined up research folks,  shows how good you all are - I appreciate your help.

Regards

Betty

[MaggieMax]

I am most interested in this discussion, as Katherine O. Robertson was my grandmother's youngest sister. (Actually, the Octavia was for the fact that she was the eighth girl, not the eighth child; there were four boys.) I was happy to be able to visit the hospital in 2009 and to see the portrait of my great-aunt, thanks to the kindness of my cab driver. I think she was buried in Drumachose Cemetery, if that makes sense, and it most likely would have been Church of Ireland.

I wonder if someone might be able to tell me where I might obtain a copy of T. H. Mullen's Limavady and the Roe Valley. I've seen it on Amazon, but for about $120.00 Canadian -- rather steep for me!

Regards to all,

Joan Robb

[aghadowey]

Katherine O. Robertson & her mother are listed on a headstone at Christ Church, Limavady- details posted reply #11.

I might have a copy of Limavady and the Roe Valley for sale. Sorry to be a bit vague about it but have sorted through hundreds of my books lately deciding which ones to be sold and can't remember if I put it in the 'for sale' boxes or not. Will have a look later.

[kingskerswell]

Hi,
   As Aghadowey said the headstone is in Christchurch which is the Church of Ireland church for the parish of Drumachose. There is also a Presbyterian church in the town which is known as Drumachose Prebyterian Church.

Regards

[kingskerswell]

Hi,
   The book, Limavady and the Roe Valley, gives a brief resume of the prominent families of Limavady. This is a short extract entitled Robertson/Ritter.
" Jane Alexander, sister of S.M. Alexander of Roe Park, married 1850 E.F.C. Ritter, while another sister Anna married 1857 Alfred Stanton M.P.   E.F.C. Ritter and his wife, Jane, had a son John E. Ritter (who married his full cousin Elizabeth Stanton and had family Stanton, John, Leslie and Alfred) and a daughter Elizabeth who married a Scotsman Robert A. Robertson and had a large family. Those remembered for their local connections were Miss Dorothy Robertson of Dogleap House and Dr. K.O. Robertson of the local hospital."

Regards

[MaggieMax]

Thank you! I am blown away by how quickly and helpfully you replied, aghadowey and kingskerswell! aghadowey, I would be so very appreciative if you found the book and were willing to sell it me for a reasonable price (i. e., not 60 + pounds!) and of course I would pay any postage and other costs. Your area (I presume?) is quite magical, and was for my extended family (mother's generation especially, as for my grandmother's) a favourite place to visit and hike, explore, and enjoy the peaceful country.

My great aunt Dorothy loved her dairy farm and at one stage my own grandmother Grace Robertson, whose post-secondary education was cut short to care for her grandmother Jane Alexander Ritter at the Dog Leap, was possibly going to stay there to help run it. She came to Canada and studied dairy farming at the Guelph Agricultural College (now University) in Ontario, Canada at the turn of the last century but married a Coleraine (and Ballymoney) man, Cyril Benson, and lived very modestly on a farm in Nova Scotia, where she raised her children and made very good friends. (Thus we are Canadians.) Another of the Robertson sisters, Muriel, worked for decades at the Lister Institute as a protozoologist, and did ground-breaking work regarding sleeping sickness and trichomonas. The family think that EFC Ritter and Robert Andrew Robertson brought a great love of learning and inquiring spirit into the family (Alexanders). It was lovely to see the Roe Valley Country Park, including land that once was handed down from Sir Thomas Philips. I hope you will excuse my ramblings. It is fun to put some reality and context to stories I heard growing up. Thank you for your replies.  Joan Robb