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Ireland (Historical Counties) => Ireland => Cork => Topic started by: nanna556 on Thursday 11 June 15 20:19 BST (UK)
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I am hoping that someone may be able to advise me on where to look, whilst researching my family I came across an aunt that nobody knew existed, not even my uncle her brother. I have her birth record but there is no record of a death. When I was over in Cork at the records office the officer did a thorough search and found nothing. I would love to be able to solve this mystery for my uncle as he is the last of all the siblings.
My aunts name is Philomena Walsh, she was born 4th November 1936 in Cork City
Many thanks in advance
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The only think I can think may have happened is that she moved and so her death is registered elsewhere .
You will have to try a good few blocks of years and without an actual place will perhaps not have a definite result but try FBMD, it is a free site and often very good. Sometimes the less you put in the better the result.
Are you sure she has died, if not she will be 79, not a really great age nowadays also did she marry in which case her name would not be Walsh. Best of luck. Viktoria
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Viktoria, thank you for your reply, unfortunately I can not see her having moved to a different area as none of her siblings remembered her, as she was one of 3 siblings found who was not remembered by any of their siblings but the only sibling who I can find no mention of after her birth. This is where the problem sets in as I have death records for the other siblings
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My friend has a similar problem-- of an unrecorded death.
Baby boy born and registered but two years later another baby boy born and given the same name yet there is no death recorded for the first baby boy.
Why no record? It was common to name the next baby of the same sex as a dead sibling.
I hope you get somewhere. Do try FBMD. You may be lucky.Viktoria.
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I think a lot have similar... going by church records my g/father would have been 4 yrs older! One child died.. no death/funeral notice, then my g/father was named after him, no birth/baptism record so if my g/aunt hadn't written down the family tree no one would know!
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nanna556
If the family members that lived, stayed in the same area you possibly are aware of where they were baptised (if relevant) and went to school
If you can find the family in these records you could see if Philomena was listed at any time and try and pinpoint her timeline
Did the other two siblings survive? If not could she be buried with them?
Also to consider is if she had a disability, it was not unusual at that time for a child to be placed in an institution and neither visited or reclaimed.
There is a death in TUAM 1936 Oct-Dec V4 P256 of a Mary Philomena WALSH aged 0;
there is no obviously birth in the area of the same name but she could have been registered as female
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Myluck,
Thank you for your reply, the family lived in the same area for many years, I do have Philomenas birth record and Baptismal date so I do know that she was Baptised but that is where any mention of her ends. I have thought like you that maybe she was born with a disability and institutionalised but am unable to gather any information on the possibility of this.
The other two siblings both died, I have a copy of their birth and death record, this is the puzzling thing about it as my grandparents registered all births and deaths for all the children that died, they registered Philomenas birth 20 days after she was born but there is no death registered.
I am going to try and get in touch with the church that they belonged to and see if they could advise me, I will also look into the death record that you posted just in case
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Hi There
First I'm presuming that all the details on her birth, baptism are an EXACT match to your family ie father's name, mother's name and maiden name, also address & occupation of father ~ just to be sure that she was defo your aunt.
Presuming it's a certain match to your family and given that no-one remembers her then she must have died within a few months of birth, maybe even weeks.
You say she was baptised Philomena Walsh but they may have buried her under another version like Mary Walsh and they would be too common to try and get certs for.
BTW What district was her birth registered in ? ~ we could try and narrow down all the Walshs that died with say 6 months, in the same district, just to see how many there are.
Another thought would be that her death was simply not registered. It should be, but time and time again there were BMD not registered for various reasons.
Again, you know the church that she was baptised in, for sure you need to go there to see can they help look for her burial record.
By 1936 records should be good.
Just to say though that I've seen some young infants whom died not have great burial records but fingers crossed you'll get something.
Oh, and where did she come in the birth order, ie youngest, eldest . . . ?
Tara
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Hi Tara, firstly thank you for replying, it was by pure fluke that I found Philomena I went onto one of the sites I used and found her and 2 other siblings that had never been mentioned. Yes she was definitely my aunt I had it confirmed by the registry office and also by the parents details and address.
I know that if she was buried it would be under the name she was born and Baptised with, it definitely would not have been Mary as one of the unknown siblings that I came across who died when she was 2yrs was called Mary.
When she was born and for many years after the family lived in Cork. I find it hard to believe that hers would be the only death not registered, as the other 2 unknown siblings that I found both died before Philomena was born and both deaths were registered, and after she was born another 3 siblings deaths were registered.
Philomena was the 8th of 10 children.
The church have no record of Philomena after her Baptism.
The only thing I can think of is that maybe she was born with a disability and placed in an institution but trying to research that is a nightmare, I have been in touch with the health department but unless I can give them the name of the institution there is nothing they can do and unless they can tell me if she was institutionalised and where then I am stuck.
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Hi There
I find you are best not to get stuck into 'facts', not to be too rigid, sometimes thinking outside the box gives leads.
'Mary' was just a suggestion, an example, an idea.
An example is my Great Grandmother gave two of her daughters the first name of Mary, one was Mary Bridget and the other was Mary Hannah.
Both girls lived but were never known by their first names.
The lead that myluck has given you is for a Mary Philomena Walsh, not a Philomena Walsh but sometimes these variants can hit the jackpot.
Look for just P as a middle name during searches is another thing to look for.
If she was 'sent' outside her home area, again the 32 counties might need to be looked into for deaths.
If she was sent to an institution for ill health (or variants) and she passed away there, sometimes clerks there would not be fastidious about names.
She could have been given a different name in an institution.
As I'm sure you know, when people went back into the 'system' back then, deaths were not even registered.
You just have to google to see some of the oh so sad reports of the time.
Did a lot of the children pass away ?
Just a thought, MIGHT she have been adopted ?
I have heard stories of where couples whom adopted out a child if there was a lot of ill health in the family, in the hopes that they might 'escape' it ~ possibly not as late as the 1930's but again just a thought.
Anyway, I'm just throwing ideas out here, none fact, just ideas and thoughts ;D
I really admire you trying to find this 'lost' little girl and wish you the best in your endeavors.
Tara
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Just throwing this one in to the mix ll All my life I new my aunt as Kathleen so did her sister it was only when I got Baptisiam records she was christened Mary!!
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Tara, thank you for your assistance, as you mentioned there are many different avenues that need to be researched, if I by any chance do find anything I will let you know
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Little Annie, thank you for your reply, I have the Baptismal records and she was Baptised Philomena, I do appreciate your input
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Glad you finally got what you were looking for etc but Blimey chaceing the Irish family tree is so frustrating lol all the best Patrick