The O’Donoghue Sisters

As it is Women’s History month this post has moved away from the men of the SS Dwinsk and concentrates on the story of John REID’s wife, Lucy O’DONOGHUE and her eldest sister, Mary Bridget. My Great-Aunt was known as Ciss to her family and was an important figure in my childhood.

 My Aunt Ciss was born on 7 September 1881 in Tralee.[1] Her parents were John O’DONOGHUE, a clerk who was sometimes recorded as an accountant, and his second wife LUCY QUINCEY. Both were born in Limerick. Her godfather was James QUINCEY, her mother’s brother, who under the name F. H. De QUINCEY was a poet, artist and actor. Her younger sister, my maternal grandmother, Lucy O’DONOGHUE, was born at Rosbrien Road in Limerick on 7 December 1886[2] and baptised twelve days later in the church of St Michael.[3] The sisters had a least three other siblings or half-siblings who reached adulthood. Two sisters disappear from the records after birth so there could have been more.

Aunt Ciss as a young woman.

By 1901 my great-grandparents were living at 2 Erne Terrace in Dublin[4] with Mary Bridget (my great aunt Ciss) who was recorded as a seamstress. No other family members were present and as yet I cannot find my 14-year-old grandmother. I am wondering if her father just left her and other younger siblings off the form.

Erne Terrace, a row of small cottages, is located very close to Pearse Street Station and St Andrew’s Westland Row. Lucy QUINCEY, my great-grandmother, died there on 12 February 1906 as a result of chronic bronchitis and cardiac arrest. She was fifty years of age.[5] Aunt Ciss took over the role of keeping house for her father. It may not have been an easy task.

I was about thirteen when Aunt Ciss asked me if my father liked going to the pub. My dad didn’t drink—well, not unless it was a special occasion. My aunt told me that was good because her father was usually in a bad mood when he returned from his regular pub visits. It is the only comment I remember her making about my great-grandfather.

My Grandmother was probably living at Erne Terrace in 1906 so I am sure she would have helped her sister. She gave Erne Terrace as her address at the time of her marriage to John REID, at St Andrew’s Westland Row in 1908, [6] but no occupation was recorded for her.

My Grandmother

After their wedding, my grandparents lived nearby. Their son, Patrick Joseph, was born at Holles Street Hospital on 4 Feb 1911.[7] Number 9 Queen’s Square, where they lived in a tenement with three other families, [8] was only a ten-minute walk from Erne Terrace.[9] My grandfather, John REID, was working as a labourer, almost certainly at the docks which were also no more than a ten-minute walk from their home.

Queens Square was renamed as Pearse Square in 1926. (photograph from own collection)

However, dock work was casual labour. The men would gather in the mornings and wait and hope for the stevedore to give them a nod or call their name. If they were not chosen, there was no work or money that day. Liverpool was a growing port; I imagine the thought of more plentiful work encouraged John to migrate to Liverpool. I am sure the decision was his as it was made in pre-World War I society.

I say this remembering how Aunt Ciss always told me that my Dad was a good man, not just because he didn’t drink, but because he allowed my mother to travel back to her home city to visit her family and friends.

Paddy aged two

The photograph of Paddy, my grandparent’s firstborn, was taken in Dublin when he was about two years of age. It may have been taken for his birthday or as a present for his grandfather and aunt just before the family moved to Liverpool. A large copy of that photograph hanging on my Aunt’s kitchen wall is one of my earliest memories. That, and the stuffed birds on the dresser which terrified the life out of me.

My grandmother’s first few months in Liverpool were very difficult. Paddy died a short while after they arrived and was buried in the Ford cemetery Liverpool[10] [11]. He was just two years and four months old. John REID was still working as a dock labourer.

My grandparents’ second child, Mary Veronica, was born a month after the start of the First World War. My grandfather was now a rigger; he would have been working ropes to move heavy loads around the dockyard. [12] Aunt Ciss was named as Mary Veronica’s godmother. Maybe both my great-grandfather and aunt travelled over to Liverpool to meet the new baby. [13] I hope so as my great-grandfather died a few months later.[14]

In 1915 my grandfather’s name started to appear in crew lists so my grandmother would have been alone at home with Mary Veronica. John REID would have been paid better and as I mentioned in my blog about crew lists he was careful to ensure money was paid to Lucy when he was away at sea. Sadly, it was also more dangerous.

My grandmother was heavily pregnant when John Reid was reported missing at sea after the sinking of the SS Dwinsk. I cannot begin to image how alone and worried she must have felt when my mother was born less than 3 weeks later.

She took her two daughters back to Dublin and lived at 4 Lower Grand Canal Street, just a two or three-minute walk from my great-aunt’s new home at 17 Queens Square. I am not sure how long my grandmother was ill, but on the 17 May 1919 she made a short will [15] which she was too ill to sign. She merely made her mark but obviously wanted to secure her daughters’ futures. It is indexed online in the calendar of wills and administration 1858-1920, but the actual document is in The National Archives of Ireland in Dublin.

“I bequeath to my sister the said Mary Bridget O’Donoghue all my property of every kind in trust for my two children Lucy and Mary Reid and that she use the same for their sole benefit.”

My grandmother, who was suffering from cardiac disease and phthisis (TB) died six days later. She was 32 years old. The hospital, which registered her death, recorded she was the widow of a soldier. On the 1 July 1919 Aunt Ciss provided statutory evidence to prove her brother-in-law was a sailor and the record was amended.[16] This may have been because simply because the certificate was incorrect. However, there was money for the children at the Recorder’s Court in Green Street. I believe it was a pension for the two girls granted after the loss of their father who was a merchant seaman, not a soldier. My aunt was the guardian to this sum of money. Presumably accurate details on my grandmother’s death certificate would have been important in order for my aunt to access the money so my aunt would have needed to have the record corrected. Either way, the scribbled note against the entry in the death register is an important reminder that details in registers are only as accurate as the knowledge of the person registering those details.

I don’t think it was easy for a single woman to take on the guardianship of two very young children in 1919 and I believe there were difficulties and disagreements. Mum grew up, left home and didn’t visit her aunt for some time. I will never know the details, but I am thankful they reconciled. My Victorian aunt and my frequent trips to Dublin are an important part of my childhood and teenage memories and certainly resulted in my love of history.

Mum remained at school until she was eighteen, was successful in her work, bought her own car and drove around Europe before she eventually agreed to marry my father and move to England. I think my aunt did pretty well and gave my mum and my Aunt Mary Veronica the best start in life she could. Aunt Ciss was, of course, ‘their guardian, not their mother’ as one of Mum’s childhood friends once told me. I don’t know the whole story, but I think my great-aunt did her best to fulfil what she called ‘my sister’s dying wish’.

I only found my grandmother’s will when the indexes were put online a number of years ago. I was on a plane to Dublin within a couple of weeks!

Aunt Ciss lived at 17 Pearse Square (Queen’s Square) until 1975 when she was admitted to Our Lady’s Hospice Harold’s Cross where she stayed until her death in 1982.[17] She was almost 101 years old.

References

[1] Birth (CR) Ireland. Ballymullen, Tralee, Kerry. 7 Sept 1881. O’DONOGHUE, Mary Bridget. 2027686 pdf https://civilrecords.irishgenealogy.ie/churchrecords/images/birth_returns/births_1881/02800/2027686.pdf : accessed 17 March 2021.

[2] Birth (CR) Ireland. City no. 4 Limerick. 7 Dec 1886. O’DONOGHUE, Lucy. 1948868.pdf https://civilrecords.irishgenealogy.ie/churchrecords/images/birth_returns/births_1887/02565/1948868.pdf: accessed 17 March 2021.

[3] Baptism (PR) Ireland St Michael’s Limerick. 19 Dec 1886. DONOGHUE, Lucy. [Transcription] www.rootsireland.ie  : accessed 17 March 2021.

[4] Census Returns. Ireland. South Dock Dublin. 31 March 1901. O’DONOGHUE. John. Dublin 81/57 Upper Erne Terrace. http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie accessed 22nd March 2021.

[5] Death (CR) Ireland City No 4 Dublin. 12 February 1906 O’DONOHOE, Lucy. 4564709. pdf https://civilrecords.irishgenealogy.ie/churchrecords/images/deaths_returns/deaths_1906/05572/4564709.pdf: accessed 17 March 2021.

[6] Marriage (CR) Ireland. St Andrew’s South Dublin 4 Oct 1908 REID, John and O’DONOGHOE. Lucy. https://civilrecords.irishgenealogy.ie/churchrecords/images/marriage_returns/marriages_1908/10073/5664063.pdf  : accessed 17 March 2021.

[7] Birth (CR) Ireland. No. 4 South Dublin 4 Feb 1911. REID Patrick Joseph. 1624018 pdf. https://civilrecords.irishgenealogy.ie/churchrecords/images/birth_returns/births_1911/01541/16240 81/5618.pdf. : accessed 17 March 2021.

[8] Census Returns. Ireland. Queens Square South Dock Dublin. 02 April. REID John. http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie : accessed 22nd March 2021.

[9] Census Returns. Ireland. Erne Terrace South Dock Dublin. 02 April 1911. O’DONOGHUE. John. http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie accessed 22nd March 2021.

[10] Death(CR) England. Bootle, West Derby. 12 June 1913. REID, Patrick Joseph. Entry no. 257.

[11] Burials (CR) England. Ford Cemetery Liverpool. 15 June 1913. REID, Patrick Joseph. Ref : 289 FOR. Liverpool Record Office; Liverpool, England; Liverpool Catholic Parish Registers.

[12] Birth (CR) England, Bootle, West Derby. REID Mary Veronica. 16 September 1914 Entry no. 140

[13] Baptism (PR) England. St James, Liverpool 22 Sep 1914 (Birth: 16 Sep 1914) REID, Mary Veronica. 1/8-1/10. Collection: Liverpool Record Office; Liverpool; Liverpool Catholic Parish Registers. www.ancestry.co.uk accessed 26 March 2021.

[14] Death (CR) Ireland City No 4 Dublin. 16 Dec 1914 O’DONOHOE, John. 4470170 pdf https://civilrecords.irishgenealogy.ie/churchrecords/images/deaths_returns/deaths_1914/05289/4470170.pdf : accessed 17 March 2021.

[15] Testamentary Records. Ireland Dublin 11 June 1919 REID, Lucy. Probate[Will: 17 May 1919] 005014923_01176. National Archives Ireland Collection: Calendar of Wills and Administrations 1858-1920. http://www.willcalendars.nationalarchives.ie/search/cwa/home.jsp accessed 26 March 2021

[16] Death (CR) Ireland. Dublin. 23 May 1919 REID, Lucy 04420550 pdf. https://civilrecords.irishgenealogy.ie/churchrecords/images/deaths_returns/deaths_1919/05152/4420550.pdf : accessed 17 March 2021.

[17] Death(CR) Ireland. Rathmines 2, Dublin. 10 August 1982. O’DONOGHUE Mary Bridget. Entry 454.