Hi all,
We are trying to find information on my great grandmother.
She was born in Ireland approx 1878, birthplace unknown. She was the eldest of 7, 3 brothers + 3 sisters. Her father was a cobbler/shoe maker.
Something must have happened to her mother as her father came to Lancashire with the children, and put all the children in Catholic Orphanage/school somewhere near Manchester.
She used to sell flowers at the age of 11 at the local markets. She married a Joseph Gates and had 4 children to him - Marian, Joseph, Stanley, Edward. Joseph passed away, and she met my great grandfather Richard Hynes (foundry laborer - went missing and was presumed dead), and had 2 more children with him - Victoria and Richard (1913). She died somewhere near Manchester around 1946.
Like most Irish in England at the time, she changed her name, from Meehan to Matthews well before her first marriage to Joseph at 16 or 17.
We do not have any information on the Irish arm of our family tree. My grandfather married, had children and immigrated to Perth, Western Australia in 1951 with wife Elsie, children Anne and Terence. If anyone can point to where to look besides paying for websites in the hope I get a lead, that would be much appreciated.
Aaron.
