Johanna Moore was the wife of my great-great-grandmother's brother, John Comerford. They married in February 1868 at Muckalee parish chapel. Trying to find her baptism has been a chore though as her age isn't consistant from record to record. On her marriage she's stated to be 25, meaning a birthyear around 1842/43.
The next record with her age is the 1901 census. She's at Coolcullen with two of her sons, Michael and James; and another child, Johanna, who's stated to be a niece but which I think is actually a granddaughter as I've traced her birth and it matches up with the daughter of one of her other sons, Patrick, who by that time had moved to Scotland. Johanna's age in 1901 is given as 50 which pushes her birth forward to 1850/51, some 8 years out.
The next record is the 1911 census. She's still at Coolcullen. James has left home, but Michael is still around and there's a "relative", Katie Dowling ("niece" is crossed out) there. Johanna's now 71, pushing her birthyear back to 1839/40, only 3 years away from her age at marriage, but 11 away from her age in the last census.
The last record is her death certificate. The only one post 1911 that has details that match is in December 1920. Living at Coolcullen and informant is son, Michael, which all fits with what I know of her situation in 1911. However Michael has said she was 68 at death which points to 1852 for her birthyear. Not much out from the 1901 census, but way out from her marriage certificate and 1911.
On her marriage certificate, her father is Michael Moore, a mason. The only baptism record I can find on the microfilmed registers at Ancestry for a Johanna (or variations) with father's name Michael is a Joanna Moore baptised at Gowran in March 1840, parents Michael Moore and Margaret Hayden of Revanagh. The age agrees with the 1911 census, but no other record. There's some circumstantial evidence supporting this though. Johanna and John had their first daughter, Margaret, three months after they married. At the baptism, performed the day after, Johanna's maiden name is correctly given as Moore. However on the birth certificate, registered two weeks later, her maiden name was Hayden instead. It's clearly the same child other than that detail and the birth being one day earlier than that stated at the baptism (I'm finding minor date irregularity to be common between Irish birth certificates and baptisms). John was the informant, could it be that he got confused and thought the registrar meant his wife's mother's maiden name???
Given all of that, do you think it's safe for me to assume that the Gowran Joanna in 1840 is the Johanna I'm looking for? I think the theory hangs together, just the wild age inconsistancy is making me hesitate.
