Sometimes a phone call is all it takes

Just a few days ago, Hurricane Matthew laid waste to the Florida coast. Very heavily affected was Daytona Beach and the coastline north of there. Not so far up the coast live three cousins who had all decided to hunker down in their own solidly built apartment buildings, to ride out the storm. Hurricane shutters were indeed an important part of their safe, if harrowing, passage.

This morning I felt the need to check in with Jane to see how she, Mary and Alice had fared. That's when I learned that they had not evacuated. They're all fine and happy that electricity has been, mostly, restored.

As always happens when I chat with Jane, the conversation wandered and eventually came up the the story of the death of her grandmother, Bridget Murphy Byrne. My reporting of stories about Bridget's death was based on what I had heard from the family in Ireland. As it happens, they seem to have gotten it all wrong. For any distress I caused Jane, Mary and Alice, I'm so very sorry.

Recently I had found among the Irish civil records, the register of Bridget's death. The cause was listed as "childbirth 7  hours, extreme exhaustion". I had heard a story - speculation that must have been altered over a century of re-telling - that Bridget was so despondent over losing her newborn twin girls, that she fell down the stairs, possibly on purpose or possibly from simple exhaustion. The fall had reportedly caused her demise. But not so fast ...

Today I heard a completely different story from Jane - reported in her family so most likely the real account. It was not known that Bridget had been expecting twins. She had laboured long to deliver the first baby girl who was either stillborn or died almost immediately after birth. Bridget was exhausted and those in attendance had gone downstairs to let her rest. Some time later someone went to check on Bridget. Sadly they found Bridget had passed away and between her legs was another dead baby girl. The agony that this must have caused for her husband Luke and two very young sons, Ned and Art, is impossible to imagine.

Luke was unable to cope on his own and took his young sons to live for a while with his own uncle Luke and his wife Kate Doyle Byrne, at Coolross. Ned, the younger child who was about four, was left there. Art, only a year older than Ned, clung to his father's leg and thus managed to convince his father to let him stay with his Daddy. It is not known where they lived until the 1911 census. It must have been during this interval that young Art spent time at Coolross.

In the 1911 census, Ned was still living at Coolross with his aunt whom he disliked intensely. His uncle Luke had passed away. Reports abound that Ned was very unhappy with the treatment he received from Kate, and lives on in stories of a naughty child. He would set out for school but not get there only to be found hiding later in the day, he carved his name in a rock and it can still be seen at Coolross, and he generally let it be known how unhappy he was.

At the time of the census in 1911 young Arthur was listed as a scholar and boarding with Patrick and Mary Keogh in Knockloe, Rath, County Wicklow.

In that same census, Luke was a visitor at the home of George Byrne and his wife Maria, in Tinahely. He was identified as a Baker and was of the right age and born, apparently, in County Wicklow. In fact, Luke had been born in Dublin in 1865.

So far I have not found a connection between the George Byrne whom Luke was visiting, and the family at Coolross. There was a George at Coolross, brother of Luke who had the family farm, but he was blind and was unmarried.

I suppose this gives rise to more research to figure out where, if anyplace, George Byrne of Tinahely, fits in the family story. It could be no more than coincidental family names because Byrne is about the most common surname in County Wicklow.

Well the beautiful sunshine, if not the chilly temperature, is beckoning. It's time for a walk and some very fresh air.