Further evidence the 92 death in Dublin is the Waterford James McLaren
From 1879 first admittance to 1884 final admittance we have 5 Dublin workhouse (north and south) entries for James McLaren. There is no other James McLaren in the system at this time. It was helpful to place all information in table format.
Table format shows there was no date overlaps with the 5 Dublin entries. Had there been an overlap then we would be dealing with a second James McLaren which would be difficult to explain.
In the attached table you can see for the 5 Dublin entries that it’s the one person. On 2 occasions his discharge date from south Dublin workhouse corresponds with an admittance date for north Dublin workhouse. In one example from 23 July 79 his trade is a shoemaker and married. On the same day he is discharged from south Dublin workhouse he is admitted to the north Dublin workhouse this time with no trade and widowed, 6 years older too. Whether James was concealing information or administrators were guessing the table shows how variation in the records exist while at the same time recording enough evidence to suggest this is the same person on the move from Waterford to Dublin workhouses and back. One admin can record no fixed residence while another would use the label ‘tramp’.
There is a gap in the Dublin records for 2 years between 82 and 84 which can be explained by his return to Waterford. He appears in the Waterford prison records for 48hrs in 1883 and in the Waterford workhouse minutes in June 84 before his final admittance to the north Dublin workhouse in August 84.
Another peculiar entry, potentially scandalous, is the South Dublin admittance in June 79. Here James the shoemaker presents himself in Dublin for the very first time. He is accompanied by a younger lady, Ellen McLawrence, who is described as James wife even though James wife Mary had died 3 years earlier in 1876. Both James and Ellens entries show they were from Waterford and described as tramps. Records are showing only one Ellen McLawrence in existence in Waterford at this time. This Ellen was married to Thomas McLawrence, James son.
Does this entry capture Ellen leaving her family back in Waterford to be with her father in law? It only lasted a few summer weeks. In July they were both discharged and on that same date James is admitted to the North Dublin workhouse, this time alone, no trade and widowed (as discussed above). No further entries are found for Ellen until a Waterford baptism record for her son Joseph appears in April 1880. Josephs birth registration could not be found nor was his date of birth recorded on the baptism record.
Single line entries in the history records can be too readily dismissed if some of the detail is not what we would like to see. Historical records are not always accurate or consistent. But if they are mapped carefully on the same page they can reveal a strong likelyhood that all 5 Dublin workhouse entries including his death in 1892 belong to our James from Waterford and Belfast originally.
