RootsChat.Com

Hi,

  The Griffiths Valuation website tells me that my ancestor was living at the piece of land marked as '13' in the area of Lisquillibeen in Kilbarron, N. Tipperary during the time of the valuation. However, apart from there being no house on this land, the measurements (7 acres according to the report) bears no resemblance to the vast tract of line marked as '13' on the associated map. In fact, none of the Lisquillibeen references seem to bear a resemblance between the number of acres listed and what the map shows, size wise.

  Does anyone have an explanation for this...?

  Frustrated,

Pat,

  Interesting stuff. Both myself and Dickydoremouse have copies of the Guardian article, and I actually had the pleasure (like yourself?) of meeting Martin's nephew Martin (who is picture at the graveside in said article).

  Your info on the O'Mearas is interesting. Martin (Sr!)'s mother was Mary Meara, born c1869 in, we believe, Toomevara. Her mother was also a Mary, but I know little else about them. I don't suppose you know of an actual connection between your Mearas and ours...?

  Btw - Lorrha. Lovely place. One of Martin Sr's nephews still lives out that way!

  Thanks for getting in touch, you've done some wonderful work!

    Stephen

My Great Grandfather, John James Forsyth was born on Gordon Street off Netherfield Road, Everton in March 1890. He worked as a carter on the Docks, married in 1911, had a family of four, served in the War and died of leukaemia in 1921 aged just 31. As such, I know very little about him or, indeed have any inkling of what sort of man he was. I also lack any photographs of him.

What I do know is that he had two sisters – Ann Jane born in early 1888, and Florence Jessie Forsyth born in the Summer of 1892. The family – including parents Thomas William (also a carter) and Sarah Ann (nee Simon) - lived in and around Everton from around 1890 (although I have not been able to find them on the 1911 census).

Upon reaching adulthood, Ann appears to have married (John) Henry Rowlands in the Spring of 1906, and Florence seems to have married Henry Williams (a flour miller and son of a man of the same name and a mother named Mary Ann) in early 1911.

In 1911, Florence and Henry are living on Torr Street in a terrace named ‘Rock View’. There were no children listed in the 1911 census, but several do appear over the following years born to ‘Williams’ and ‘Forsyth’. I have not yet been able to ascertain if these are ‘my’ Williams and Forsyth children or not: Henry (Mar 1912), Mary A (Dec 1912), Florence (Mar 1914), Ann J (Jun 1916, died young), John J (Sep 1919), Esther (Mar 1922), Thomas (Jun 1925), George (Sep 1927). The dates of the births might intimate that Henry Williams fought in WWI. As yet, I have found no record of this.

As for Ann, although she is living on Bostock Street in the 1911 census with husband Henry, there are again no children shown by this time. Likewise, none appear in the BMD indexes.

What I’m looking for is some sort of idea of what happened to Ann and Florence and Florence’s children. My hope is that by tracing some surviving descendants that I’ll be able to get some idea of what Ann/Florence or even John were like.

So, do any of these names or locations ring a bell with anyone, or does anyone have any suggestions for finding on what happened to these relatives of mine...?

The gentleman with bandaged head could possibly be Martin as there are facial similarities, but the quality of the photo makes it hard to tell for sure. The bandage going over his eye is a little odd as I don't believe he'd received any eye damage when he received his injury (from a sandbag being blown into the side of his head IIRC).

Regards,

Good God! I never thought I'd find a link to this family!

Martin Nevin was the brother of Michael Nevin, my Great Grandfather. His daughter, my grandmother, is still living and, although she was born after Martin's death, she did meet with his daughter. And Martin's father!

There are some discrepencies with what I've been told and with what you appear to have been told, however.  Would you like to contact me away from a public message board...?

PS the Nevins were originally from Galway, and the Mearas are from, predictably, Toomevara. Needles in haystacks there, though.

Re: your other query, I presume you've found Martin Nevin's grave by now - it's a war services grave that was erected a few years back. Never heard of his wife being in there with him, though. Certainly a brother and sister in law are, though. Said brother has a son who - I think - is still alive also. He was named after Martin.

Really hope to make contact with you.

Regards,

   Stephen