I have some info from a contact in Shinrone and some of it relates to your
tree. He has sent a version of your Chart AD. Perhaps the main difference
is in the two names after Thomas b. 1846. He has Anne b. 4 Dec 1847 and
Richard b 1849. He then has John and Stephen b. 1851 - perhaps twins. This
info says that Anne married George Curran on November 19, 1868 in Shinrone.
It also says that there were two children, Thomas and Elizabeth, b 5 Dec,
1869 and 1871 resp in Ballytoran, Kings County.
One puzzling thing in your AA is of a good deal of interest to me. I
would be grateful if you would comment on it. Why do you have John Grant b
1805 marrying Mary Spencer in 1828 and then Mary Pearce in 1832? If
correct, this would mean that all the children were children of Mary Pearce
and none of Mary Spencer. Yet your chart says Mary Spencer died 1885, so
she lived on through the second marriage, if there was one. (My info says
Mary was born in 1799, incidentally. So the estimate of c 1845 for the
birth of Francis might be too late.) My info on this family is similar to
yours in the main apart from the big difference on the role of Mary Pearce,
though mine does not mention Francis, nor the first John b and d 1833. My
info doesn't mention Mary Pearce at all and has the children all being of
Mary Spencer. I am not sure of the reliability of the source of my info -
it was sent by a contact in Shinrone, Noel MacMahon, who got it from a
George Spencer in England, originally from Shinrone. I don't know who this
George Spencer is. Did you go through church records in Shinrone? Anything
you can tell me on this would be great.
Thanks, John
in 2005
-------------------
David
Thanks again for your reply. Your work on all this is most interesting.
Your work has shown that Elizabeth Grant, b. 1839, had a younger sister
Francis, b ca 1845, who married M Breen ca 1870. So when Elizabeth died in
child birth in Cong in 1869, Francis would likely have been at the burial.
And it gives a real pointer as to why the child, who was to live only 3
years, was named Elizabeth Francis, as I know from my records. These little
things really bring the past to life, don't they. Incidentally, Elizabeth
Blackwell who married Thomas Grant in July, 1840 had a sister Jane who
married Hugh Carry in April 1853. This Hugh Carry was witness at the
William Spencer - Elizabeth Grant wedding, along with John Grant, presumably
her father or her brother John. Noel MacMahon's book 'Shinrone and
Ballingarry in Focus', page 25, shows an old 1914 picture of a white cottage
in Upper Shinrone village, which he describes as being the house of Hugh
Carry, the C of I sexton. Best wishes, John
John E Spencer