Legal Age for Marriage in Ireland

[Wexflyer]

Siobhan,

I hope we are on the right track with your ancestors. If so this is possibly Daniel and Elizabeth Bradley  in 1911

http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/pages/1911/Kerry/Millbrook/Ballynahulla/279129/

His age is given as 56 yrs which would give a birth year of abt 1855

Although in 1901, Daniel seems to be Jeremiah 

http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/pages/1901/Kerry/Millbrook/Ballynahulla/1427479/

 A bit far from where the marriage was celebrated?

[Elwyn Soutter]

Siobhanelis describes herself as American-Irish researching her maternal grandmother, so I suspect that the Daniel & Elizabeth she is interested in probably left Ireland for the US. (Typically that’d be just after they married). So the families in the 1901/11 censuses might not be hers. But I dare say she’ll tell us in due course.

[heywood]

Yes, I thought that too.
There are some US records on FS which seem to be the same family (children of Daniel - not him). They match with the censuses already posted and births.
But, it may be best to wait.
All this may be the wrong family altogether 

[heywood]

This is an interesting story - the same family

https://www.encyclopedia-titanica.org/titanic-survivor/bridget-bradley.html

[siobhaneilis1018]

Elwyn - thank you for your response.  After I posted this yesterday, I found the 1911 Census with the Bradley Family on it.  My great, great grandparent, NOT my great grandparent as I wrongly posted.  Daniel was 56 in the 1911 Census and his wife was 49. 

I was looking on the website, Irish Genealogy for records that are somewhat inaccurate.

My grandmother was Katie Bradley which is interesting because I knew her as Catherine.  She left Ireland around 1913 and arrived in New York.  She married my grandfather, Michael Morrissey who also left Ireland around 1913.  He was from Cork.

Her sister, Bridget aka Delia was on the Titanic and survived. 

I have great admiration for my ancestors.  They lived in very tough times.  Whenever I complain about my life, I have to stop and look at how tough these folks had it.  I'm a Baby Boomer who had it easy compared to them.

Thank you Heywood and Wexflyer for your input!

Siobhan

[Elwyn Soutter]

Kate/Katie/ Kathleen & Catherine are all interchangeable in Ireland and it’s common to find the same person as Kate in one document and Catherine in another. (There are numerous other examples eg Sarah & Sadie, Ann & Agnes, Nancy & Ann).

If you compare the 1901 & 1911 censuses for Ballynahulla, you’ll see that Daniel’s age leaps from 39 to 56 and Elizabeth’s from 30 to 49. Tells you all you need to know about the reliability of the information in those documents. If they married as adults in 1883, I’d reckon both were born at least 20/21 years before that. You could search the parish records for their baptisms and perhaps find out that way.

[Maiden Stone]

Some information in the article  "Irish Naming and Baptism Traditions"  about typical ages for marriage  in Ireland in the News part of IrelandXO website. It's in the section "Using the patterns to solve gap-ridden baptism records": "Marriage ages before and after the Great Irish Famine". It suggests that pre-Famine, a groom would be in his early 20s and a bride in her late teens. Post-Famine, a couple would have been older.
https://irelandxo.com

If you compare the 1901 & 1911 censuses for Ballynahulla, you’ll see that Daniel’s age leaps from 39 to 56 and Elizabeth’s from 30 to 49. Tells you all you need to know about the reliability of the information in those documents.

Similar with one of my families. If I believed the ages on 1901 census, my GGM would have been only 10 when she married. The age of one of her daughters, who outlived all her family, was underestimated by about 15 years by the person who registered her death.