Orphan mystery, please help!!!

[loobylooayr]

Yes I would have thought that even in 1908 a boy wandering the streets parentless might have made the press with a request for a relative or anyone with any info to come forward.

Have you looked at Irish newspaper archives for around the time that David was found Kit?
 Looby

PS. Got to go and make dinner now or my own daughter may run away and wander the streets looking to be fed  

[KitHannay]

I know, the whole thing is just one big mystery. I mean, a three year old boy is found wandering about and is lifted by the police. They place him in an orphanage stating they found him wandering and without proper guardianship - yet they don't know the name of his parents. And apparently a three year old knows his own full name? Did no one attempt to reunite him with his mother seen as they did have his name. And if they did and found his living conditions inappropriate then why did they omit his parents name from his records??

And if Rose never saw her son after he was lifted then how the heck did she manage to track him down all those years later? How did she know he would even know who he himself was? Did she try to contact him by phone or letter? The orphanage/industrial school never enclosed any letter with the records they gave me and for his whole life my great grandfather always maintained that his mother never tried to find him - so was he ever told about this Rose woman?

It's all so annoying and if records were better kept then maybe I'd be closer to answers!!

[Rosinish]

Kit,

I would agree "some" 3 yr olds (even in this day) would know their full name (as did my own daughter & my grandson) but these things are taught & by the sound of the strange complexities here, I personally would doubt he knew his surname................proof is in the fact that you can't find a birth cert in Belfast where he was "supposedly" born.

I think I would sit down, type another letter explaining this fact & ask if there is any other info. they can add as you find it very frustrating as there seems to be info. which has been left out & info. which can't be proven...........
such as his full name, place of birth (how they knew that)?, age & where did they get the info. that Rose Ann was his mother as they have not given you those details & you would like to follow up your research to find out who you descend from. You could also ask "where" in Belfast he was born.

The only other thing is to pay a small fee to join your local FH centre & scroll through ALL THE BIRTHS for ANY DAVID'S with a yr either side as I don't think David would be a common name in Ireland but I may of course be wrong 

Also as we have said......I think the local papers would surely have had something as Belfast is a large town covering a large area so what better way to reunite a lost child with his mother 

Annie

[loobylooayr]

Hi Kit and Annie too,

Had a wee search on my old friend Google for boy found by police Belfast 1908 - well  it was worth a try !
And something interesting did pop up - http://www.curiousfox.com/uk/mbprof2.lasso?eid=206602&-nothing

This post is looking for info on a Terence O'Connor who, like David Hanna, was picked up from the streets of Belfast and placed in Nazareth House. He was born about 1903 and picked up in 1906 , so therefore like David was 3 years old. He is on the Irish 1911 Census aged 8 at the same establishment as David - just look further down the page.
The person who posted this query states that they cannot find Terence before 1911 Census - therefore no birth cert and intriguingly they mention that his mother or grandmother's name could be Anastasia. Makes you wonder if this boy's record is marked with a name just like David's ??
The post was made April this year Kit.
Maybe worth considering sending a message to ? You could find out if the recorded circumstances of Terence's admittance into the orphanage were similar to David's. Which might throw a bit of light on things 

Looby

[Rosinish]

Good find Looby.............

They knew their forenames but surname  can't fathom how Rose Ann has a different surname if she's the same person at the address given that you found 

Curiousfox is a fee paying site to correspond Annual subscription £5.50.............not cheap just to email   

Annie

[loobylooayr]

Good find Looby.............

They knew their forenames but surname  can't fathom how Rose Ann has a different surname if she's the same person at the address given that you found 

Curiousfox is a fee paying site to correspond Annual subscription £5.50.............not cheap just to email   

Annie

Oh that's a pity  I didn't know that about Curious Fox site (I've never used it before).

What interests me about this was the fact that both boys appear to have a similar back story and cannot be found pre 1911. Obviously it may have been fairly common at that time for 3 year olds to be wandering alone in Belfast, picked up, then placed in Nazareth House. It would be interesting to know how the name Anastasia has been linked to Thomas - a similar entry to David/ Rose Ann in the records perhaps??


Looby

[flst]

Curious fox is a very useful site & I recommend that this post should be entered on it as a free member. Everyone can then view it. The annual fee is not excessive if someone wants to be a fee paying member & access all areas I have recently had a reply to one of my queries & met a distant relative. I have also had a reply from someone, to another query, which led me to seeing a photograph of my great grandfather for the first time. Worth every penny!
flst

[KitHannay]

Thanks for all your continued help guys! I stopped getting email notifications there for the last few entries :/ I checked out that curiousfox entry and have contacted that person about Terence. Hopefully he'll get back to me soon!

I've also checked up on that Rose A McManus from 150 Stobcross. She married John Kelly in 1903 and had two children - one named John who is still alive by 1911. They had another child that died. at the time of her marriage she lived at 116 Richard Street.

I don't think that she is my Rose. But it also means that she's not the Rose A McManus living at 104 Richard Street in 1915 because by this time she is Rose Kelly. Right? So there's still another Rose A McManus to find in 1911. 

[KitHannay]

Update* The above Rose A McManus who was married to John Kelly married a second time to a man named John Hazelton in 1916, stating she was a widow at 31. Her address at this time is 85 Richard Street.