Elizabeth Blong was baptised 11 Feb 1829 (all we know is that there is a Portarlington record of the baptism on a Elizabeth Blong at that date). Her headstone implies a 1821 birth. She was certainly married in Sept 1843 at Portarlington. She could have been only 14 when she married (but more likely her baptism was postponed, so she may have been in fact 8 when baptised). She was the daughter of George & Mary Blong. The Blongs were descendents of the Huguenot refugees who had arrived in Portarlington in the late 1600s, and the peculiarity of the name means that it can be spelled a number of ways. She married William Watson of Harristown, Kildare On 18 September 1843 at Lea Parish Church (witnessed by William Bradley and George Watson) (Kildare Diocese Marriage Licence Bonds & Lee family bible).
William Watson and Elizabeth Blong had a number of daughters born in Clonsast and later at Harristown, Kildare, where they moved after their marriage. Their children included their second daughter Marie Watson who married Thomas Grant and were my direct ancestors. Piecing together information about Elizabeth Blong, or indeed her branch of the Blong/Blanc tree is difficult. There may well have been others that I have not picked up. I have put together notes on the Blongs/Blancs of Portarlington to cover some of the complexities. It should be bourne in mind that the famine overshadowed life here during the years 1846 to 1849.Her two sisters and her brother moved to Cincinnati, Ohio in the wake of the Famine. Samuel may have been another brother, but I cannot be certain. She died 5 Dec 1896 and is noted in Lee Family Bible. Edward Lee, her son-in-law reported the death.
Died in Portarlington in 1896, aged 63, a widow and a housekeeper
