O'Neill, John, Royal Irish Constabulary

[ailisgara3122]

Thank you all for your help!

I was having an issue finding his birth records but I think the birth year he gave on his naturalization papers must be incorrect:
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QS7-L9M8-16TY?i=131&cc=1999177&personaUrl=%2Fark%3A%2F61903%2F1%3A1%3A7QD8-J4ZM
and
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QS7-L9M8-17DL?i=170&cc=1999177&personaUrl=%2Fark%3A%2F61903%2F1%3A1%3A78JR-4SMM
and a typed up version:
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QSQ-G9M8-1HFP?i=260&cc=1999177&personaUrl=%2Fark%3A%2F61903%2F1%3A1%3AQPSK-RDLF

My family has known that Josephine O'Loughlin's father was in the RIC. The records I have found for John have service number 61257 so that is correct as far as I know! The only way I knew he was in the RIC was because he is listed as a Constable on his daughter's birth records and I know that is the correct daughter and parents.

But now that I have this new information on the 7 year requirement, I am confused. I wonder why his birthdate would be off by so many years.

The rootsweb document is especially interesting to me since it gives almost the same wedding date except for the year. Their daughter was born on 14 June 1906 so I always assumed the 8 January 1905 date was correct, but I had only taken what was on his above papers. So thank you so much for that information! I live in the U.S. and I am unable to get my credit card to work on that site which is a shame because I think it is an amazing resource!

Thank you all so much! I feel like I am on the right track now!

[Elwyn Soutter]

The information on rootsireland is a transcript so there is always the possibility that it’s been transcribed incorrectly. You would need to check the original to be sure. (The parish priest should have that. You could write to the parish office and ask them to check).

There should also be a civil certificate but I can’t find one. The priest was supposed to send a civil certificate to the local registrar. Sometimes they didn’t bother. Some civil certificates are also indexed incorrectly which doesn’t help. That can be another reason why they are difficult to find.

My guess is that the 1906 marriage date is correct.  Josephine would have been 3 months pregnant then, so that might be the reason they married. If John joined the RIC in 1903 he wouldn’t have done his 7 years. And perhaps marrying without approval got him into bother. But he was probably more bothered about the grief he was going to get from her father, if he didn't marry her!