William Gabbie, a vet in Dundalk, was my step-great grandfather. His step-son was my great grandfather. My grandmother (William Gabbie's step daughter) married Samuel Whan in Dublin in about 1898. Their first child (Victoria) was born in 1900. The 1901 census shows Samuel, Isabella and daughter Victoria living with two servants in 33 Jocelyn Street in Dundalk.
The 1911 Dundalk census shows William John Gabbie, his sister Sarah Ann Gabbie and step-daughter Isabella Whan, together with Samuel Whan and three Whan children (Victoria, born 1900, Alexander, born 1902, and William Henry, born 1905) all living at 23 Jocelyn Street in Dundalk.
Isabella (nee Smith) was born in 1867 in Scotch Street, Armagh. Her mother's maiden name was Dunlop (see more below).
The Whan side of the family ran a large shop in Clanbrassil Street in Dundalk listed under outfitters, tailors, woollen and linen drapers, milliners, dressmakers and boot and shoe dealers. The 1901 census gives the shop as 6 Clanbrasil Street. It was occupied by Lizzie Whan (presumably Samuel's sister), eight living-in staff and two servants. It must have been quite a large business.
Samuel Whan and his wife moved with their three children to Belfast in about 1914 where a fourth child, David, was born in 1915.
William Henry Whan (the third of Samuel and Isabella's children) was my father. I (David Alexander Whan) was born in 1941, during the second world war, on the night of the very large blitz on Belfast!
I have in my possession a silver clock/barometer set which was presented to William Gabbie in 1900 by the officers of the 3rd Dragoon Guards. Apparently the horses in the regiment went down with some disease and William Gabbie cured them.
I was in Dundalk last week and called in the library. Staff were most helpful. I am considering gifting the clock/barometer set to the city of Dundalk if my children have no interest in me passing it to them.
The other interesting connection is that the Armagh vets were involved in a veterinary practice in May Street in Belfast where John Boyd Dunlop invented the first successful pneumatic tyre. The site in May Street is marked by a "blue plate" to signify its historical significance.
It might interest you to know that I have a receipt for a payment by William Gabbie from St. Patrick's cemetery in Dundalk dated 22 July 1910 for the burial of "the late Mrs Gabbie". The payment was for £3.12.6.
I also have a note from the Military Secretary at the War Office (date is 15th July but year undecipherable 191?) advising my grandmother that Lieut Colonel W Dunlop Smith (my grandmother's brother) had been admitted to No 23 British Military Hospital in Baghdad suffering from Gadfly Fever and was later discharged for duty.