Looking for death record for a nun

montgo

Mother M. Anthony (Gleeson), died at the Convent of Mercy, Kells in May 1956. Apparently, there were 3 nuns in the family but I have only found 2 daughters so far. Honora & Sarah both born in 1890s.

What district is Kells in and did the death certs usually have both the nuns birth & religious names recorded?

Thanks,

mrsmurphy1916

Your best bet would be to track down the order they were in and they have all the records and would know where they were buried all convents had their own private graveyards, and records of who is buried there, begin researching contact numbers for that order and they could guide you..

Peregrinus

You should approach the Sisters of Mercy directly. My experience is that most religious congregations have records which are comprehensive and well-kept, and they have archivists who are delighted to help.

montgo

Thanks to both for your replies. I had already emailed the Mercy archivist looking for info on all three sisters. And indeed, they have been very helpful when I contacted them before.

I just thought that I should be able to locate the death record for Mother Anthony once I found the newspaper report.

pedroeibar1

montgo wrote: »

What district is Kells in

Kells is a Municipal District in Co. Meath.

mickmackey1

Only 17 results appear when searching for deaths in Kells from '55 to '57. Most of the records must be missing.

montgo

Yep, no relevant death record Kells for her but of course she may have died in a hospital in a different district.

I was surprised too to find so few records in that period. As suggested, maybe the records are missing.

Thanks again

tabbey

montgo wrote: »

Yep, no relevant death record Kells for her but of course she may have died in a hospital in a different district.

I was surprised too to find so few records in that period. As suggested, maybe the records are missing.

Thanks again

Most people in Meath by mid 20th century would have died in Navan Hospital, Lourdes Hospital, Drogheda or in one of the many Dublin hospitals.

Peregrinus

Even today, significant numbers of people die at home, or out and about.

But an ambulance is called, and they get taken to hospital, and it's at the hospital that they are "pronounced dead" and that the death is certified. And the Death Cert. will show the hospital as the place of death, even though they may have been dead before being brought to hospital.

And, yes, the death will be registered in the district where the hospital is located.

pinkypinky

And this still doesn't account for computer error! My grannie's death was registered in Tralee, Co. Meath. I presume caused by the accidental selection of Tralee instead of Navan from a drop-down menu. Nonetheless it requires all sorts of bureaucracy to correct and so remains wrong.

montgo

Oh, well, I've tried every female with surname, Gleeson who died in 1956 in all districts without success!

Thanks for yr help. I'll just be patient and hope the Mercy archivist will have some info for me.

pinkypinky

I presume you looked under her "nun" name as well.

montgo

Yep! Thanks.

cobham

The Loreto order have good biographical records and an archivist, located in St Stephens green.

pedroeibar1

cobham wrote: »

The Loreto order have good biographical records and an archivist, located in St Stephens green.

Yes, they do, but the query is not for a Loreto nun, she was from the Order of the Sisters of Mercy.

@Montgo - I assume you have searched under GleAson?

cobham

As the topic header was for 'searching for a nun' I thought to contribute my bit about Loreto in Ireland. I have also found Presentation Order in California very helpful.

But I think once a nun becomes professed, details of her previous life fade and she is known by her religious name in the order which usually does not include the previous surname. Certainly this was the case with the Loreto nuns. I had found my American nun listed in the censuses there but with her religious and surname only. Any biographical details I obtained on two that I researched were all of the person's life in the order.

I would be interested to hear that an order would share personal details such as place and date of birth, parents etc.

cobham

Archives for the Mercy Order are in Baggot Street Dublin.

Hermy

Just to add to the mix if I may...

One of my brick walls is my g-g-grandmother and her two sisters all born in Dublin in the early 1840's. To date I've been unable to find a baptismal record for any one of them. Stranger still, they all appear to have been born before their parents marriage which took place in the Registry Office in Dublin.

However, as one of her sisters joined the Carmelite Order at Tranquilla Convent, Rathmines in 1861 I thought that might be an avenue worth pursuing. So I rang the archivist at Knock who gave me a number to ring for the convent. The nun I spoke with was very helpful (and interested) and the next day she rang back with some information. She could confirm a date of birth, parents names and when she joined the order but had no details as to when and where she was baptised and was at a loss to explain the omission.

So the brick wall continues to taunt me but the Carmelites were more than happy to help where they could.

tabbey

Another source for nuns, is newspaper reports.

I often come across such reports in the the late victorian era and early 20th century. People of the time were so proud of having a nun in the family, that it was a big story where the new nun came from.
Typical reports would say that two or four girls had been professed in such a convent by some bishop or senior cleric, the names of their fathers and the girls themselves, eg, Anne Murphy, in religion Sister Mary Joseph, daughter of Mr James Murphy, merchant of Navan.
These can be searched on irishnewsarchive.ie or FMP newspapers etc.

Of course the OP is seeking a death cert, less prominently published, but often found in death notices.

Hermy

Yes tabbey, I have a few such newspaper reports for my lot.

They were described as such happy occasions but the girl I mentioned above '...withdrew from the world to devote her life to the constant service of god...' at the age of sixteen!

cobham

Thank you for tip about newspapers. I wonder if the Dublin papers carried such info or was it more local newspapers? Which of the Dublin papers would be favoured? And would it be the final taking of vows or the initial entry to a convent that was reported?

One of mine was also a 16 yr old but seem to have travelled alone to join a convent in California at that tender age. So good information from passenger lists and the time of her arrival in the convent indicating the length of her journey by rail when it was only recently built across the continent.

Another cousin of the above nun is one of my brickwalls as no indication of what became of her after the death of her parents and all of her Dublin siblings by 1889 when she was about 20 yrs of age.

pedroeibar1

cobham wrote: »

Thank you for tip about newspapers. I wonder if the Dublin papers carried such info or was it more local newspapers? Which of the Dublin papers would be favoured? And would it be the final taking of vows or the initial entry to a convent that was reported?
............

It seems to have been a very formulaic type of prose -

Presentation Convent ABC- the young lady who received the black veil on the occasion was Miss Anne B, youngest daughter of Mr.X B, Esq., of Y , in religion Sr. Mary Clare. This young lady is the third sister in the same family who has given up all allurements and vanities of the outer world for a life of seclusion and prayer. The three young ladies are in the same convent.

That particular even was covered in the Tipperary Free Press and also in the Evening Freeman. Two of them are registered (deaths) in the GRO under their family names with the place of death as the convent

mickmackey1

cobham wrote: »

And would it be the final taking of vows or the initial entry to a convent that was reported?

A relative had her silver jubilee reported in 1938, and there's also a report about her 'taking the veil' in 1911, rather than 1913. So in that case it was originally joining the convent that was reported.

cobham

A white veil for postulants and 4 or 5 yrs later the black veil for final vows.

tabbey

cobham wrote: »

I wonder if the Dublin papers carried such info or was it more local newspapers? Which of the Dublin papers would be favoured?

Of the Dublin (national) papers, the Freeman's Journal was the main daily for RC events, it covered a lot of provincial matters, sometimes missed by local papers. The Evening Telegraph was a sibling of the Freeman's Journal, but tended to be more a Dublin paper than national.
In the early 1900s, the FJ had competition from the Irish Independent, published by William Martin Murphy, who had more business acumen than the last of the Gray family who owned the FJ. Following the death aged 46 of Edmond DwyerGray, his 18 year old son was thrown into the deep end, and was no match for Murphy. Thus the Independent overtook the FJ, eventually taking it over about 1924. For decades the title was Irish Independent, incorporating the Freeman's Journal.

The other main national daily, the Irish Times, commenced publication 1859, but was aimed more at a protestant readership. While it did publish some reports of a catholic nature, it was less interested than the FJ or II. The evening version of the Times, the Evening Mail was even less likely to report professions etc.