Family Secret

Whereisgerry?

There has been a lot of mystery surrounding my mother's family and their background for as long as I've known. Recently, I've discovered that my great grandmother wasn't buried with my great grandfather - he died young after a supposed accident. She also died at a young age about 15 years later. Then I found out that there's a strange man buried with her!! He died in the 90's so he can't be a partner.

Having quizzed my mother on it she said that her family were told that he was "family" and that she didn't know much more about him. She said I had actually met him once as a child. I vaguely remembered him and he was roughly around the same age as my grandmother at the time.

To me it all seems a bit strange. Anyway, I'm wondering if there's anyway of getting a death certificate from the 90's or a way of finding anymore information. I have his name, his nickname and his date of death. All suggestions welcome!!

L1011

I don't see when he died stopping him being a partner.

Anyone can get a death cert from the 1990s by either turning up in person or using certificates.ie - but its expensive. The research certs should also be available as there is no specified end date on them, but they may question why. Those are a fifth (€4 vs €20) of official

Hermy

If you have a date of death then check the newspaper archives for a death notice which may provide a clue to his identity.
The Irish Newspaper Archive is free to access in most libraries.

SueDub

Hermy wrote:

If you have a date of death then check the newspaper archives for a death notice which may provide a clue to his identity. The

Clever....!

Whereisgerry?

L1011 wrote: »

I don't see when he died stopping him being a partner.

Anyone can get a death cert from the 1990s by either turning up in person or using certificates.ie - but its expensive. The research certs should also be available as there is no specified end date on them, but they may question why. Those are a fifth (€4 vs €20) of official

I'm pretty sure he was too young to have been a partner - but you never know!!

Thanks for that info! Very helpful. It's worth €20 at this stage.

Whereisgerry?

L1011 wrote: »

I don't see when he died stopping him being a partner.

Anyone can get a death cert from the 1990s by either turning up in person or using certificates.ie - but its expensive. The research certs should also be available as there is no specified end date on them, but they may question why. Those are a fifth (€4 vs €20) of official

I'm pretty sure he was too young to have been a partner - but you never know!!

Thanks for that info! Very helpful. It's worth €20 at this stage.

Whereisgerry?

Hermy wrote: »

If you have a date of death then check the newspaper archives for a death notice which may provide a clue to his identity.
The Irish Newspaper Archive is free to access in most libraries.

Oh! That's brilliant info. Thank you. I will let you know if it helps.

Peregrinus

L1011 wrote: »

I don't see when he died stopping him being a partner.

Because of the timeline. The OP's great-grandmother "died young"; that must have been long before the 90s. So if the mystery man had been her partner, that could only have been decades before. If there had been a relationship between them it was obviously Something We Don't Talk About, so it is unlikely that, on his death decades later, the family would have been burying him in her grave.

Plus, mystery man is more-or-less of an age with the OP's grandmother - i.e. he's a generation younger than great-grandmother. If she died young, he would have been very young when she died. Obviously, a lot depends on what is meant by "young" and "very young" here, but it seems unlikely that there would have been the kind of partnership between them that would make it likely that, decades later, he would be buried with her.

Whereisgerry?

Peregrinus wrote: »

L1011 wrote: »

I don't see when he died stopping him being a partner.

Because of the timeline. The OP's great-grandmother "died young"; that must have been long before the 90s. So if the mystery man had been her partner, that could only have been decades before. If there had been a relationship between them it was obviously Something We Don't Talk About, so it is unlikely that, on his death decades later, the family would have been burying him in her grave.

Plus, mystery man is more-or-less of an age with the OP's grandmother - i.e. he's a generation younger than great-grandmother. If she died young, he would have been very young when she died. Obviously, a lot depends on what is meant by "young" and "very young" here, but it seems unlikely that there would have been the kind of partnership between them that would make it likely that, decades later, he would be buried with her.

I doubt very much that he was a partner. He was around 18 - 25 years younger than my great grandmother - stranger things have happened though!! The possibility that he was an illegitimate son / nephew crossed my mind. I vaguely remember my grandmother saying that they spent a lot of time at the beach in another town as a child playing with someone- I think it was him. Although my mother doesn't remember this so who knows!! It's funny - he was always spoken about but none of my mother's family ever asked how he was related or why he was being buried with my great grandmother.

I can't find anything in the newspaper archives. I will try the certificate route and see if his death certificate gives me any info.

Boscod

Who allowed him to be buried in her grave? The Co Co would have sought / got permission from someone before opening it.

Whereisgerry?

Boscod wrote: »

Who allowed him to be buried in her grave? The Co Co would have sought / got permission from someone before opening it.

I don't know for sure but my grandmother & most of her family were still alive when he died so I assume it was one of them.

Hermy

Also, have you enough to go on to locate a birth record for this man?

Whereisgerry?

Hermy wrote: »

Also, have you enough to go on to locate a birth record for this man?

No, but his surname is a little unusual so that might help. I dont know where he was born though. Is it possible to just get a random persons birth certificate??

Hermy

Well, if his name is slightly unusual and you have his age at death then you can search the indexes on line at Family Search and you might be lucky. Their index covers the period 1864 to 1958 and from about 1930 onwards they give the mothers maiden name also which may help you identify his parents marriage record.

If he was born in 1916 or earlier then you may be able to his birth record at irishgenealogy.ie for free.

Whereisgerry?

Hermy wrote: »

Well, if his name is slightly unusual and you have his age at death then you can search the indexes on line at Family Search and you might be lucky. Their index covers the period 1864 to 1958 and from about 1930 onwards they give the mothers maiden name also which may help you identify his parents marriage record.

If he was born in 1916 or earlier then you may be able to his birth record at irishgenealogy.ie for free.

Thanks for that tip Hermy. No luck on Family Search unfortunately. Irish Genealogy is great. I found out lots from there but I think this particular person was born in the 1920's so its no help in this case.

Whereisgerry?

I've done some further digging this afternoon and I think I may have found the mystery man on Ancestry - with a woman, whose first name is the same as my great grandmothers (no surname on the record), listed as his mother!!!!

Then the plot thickened even further... there was another son. I'll tell ya what... they were scandalous times!! I always felt she was some kind of scorned woman. She would have been only 16/17 years old having the mystery man.

Then I got really clever and checked on the census if there were any neighbours with the same surname as they mystery man... and I found 2 strapping young men with the right (slightly unusual) surname that were just 2/3 years older than my great grandmother that lived very nearby. Its possible I've just added 2 + 2 and got 146 but I'll keep digging.