McMinn Mystery Deepens...

[MonicaL]

Pity  If we do have the right death for wife Bridget in 1893 Woolwich, it won't let us confirm much unless we are lucky with the name of the informant then.

[heywood]

I'd say that's the case and fingers crossed!

Just going back over this (my mind isn't what it was  ) - just a couple of points which may be totally irrelevant:

I think that the Horton witness is Mary Jane rather than Mary Ann?

Matilda Heath was living in Hackney wasn't she?

[Daisy Loo]

Yes, I did find a Matilda Heath in Hackney as a servant.

Guys...something just dawned on me...

we now have a link, between Emily Jane (mother Bridget McGrath) & Elizabeth (mother Bridget Cleary).

Emily Jane married: witness George Patrick. George Patrick living in 4 Catherine Square, Woolwich; Alexander dies 4 Catherine Sqare, Eliza is informant, and in attendance.  So Alexander is definately the same man, and father to all kids.

I was talking today to the lady in my local post office (font of information!)
She said, in those days, the mother rarely went to the baptism.  It would either be the father, or a member of the family.  In this case, since Alexander was a protestant, it wouldn't have been him.  Therefor, it could have been Bridget's mother/sister etc, and confusion could have arisen (albeit 3 times) but it is a possibility, no?

[heywood]

the link sounds so positive!

I do feel that I am out here but there is a Mary Jane Horton 1881 RG11; Piece: 713; Folio: 81; Page: 3 in Deptford - near to Woolwich, I think. She is born Chart Sutton Kent.

1871 RG10; Piece: 939; Folio: 35; Page: 6 living in Maidstone area with a sister Rose. She is not however the same Rose as Rose H although she is botrn around same time. I can't see her in 1881!

Sorry- pressed wrong key- have found her still at home as Rosanah Horton - if they are the same family I think they are on the peripherary here and may be best to ignore!
Am off now- lunch and then a class. I'm sure there will be all sorts of developments when I return!

[Daisy Loo]

If it is our Bridget in 1893, then she must be around in 1891!  Unless she went back to Ireland for a while..but why would she come back to die in England, especially if all her kids were married/and or left home.

Have looked for Phillip McMinn as well (remember him from the 1881 census: RG11; Piece: 743; Folio: 113; Page: 39)

Don't remember seeing him signed up in the Royal Hibernian...yet can't find him anywhere either.

[heywood]

I do feel as though I am from the Ministry of Useless Information -George Patrick was born Clonmel and Catherine his wife in Downpatrick and they too are living in Deptford in 1891.

[Daisy Loo]

ah, but all these bits of info could link up in the end!

Clonmel, Woolwich/Deptford...they are all connections of some sort.

George Patrick is such a funny name...a perfect mixture of English and Irish, which so sums up this thread. 

Just waiting on my rice to cook, casserole smelling very good...kids are playing some sort of game in their bedroom...(well she is, he just crawls around after her grabbing at everything...and her patience! )...I'll have a good old poke around tonight.

Just thought of something else...

If that service record in TNA is for "our" Alexander...which now fits date wise anyway...he was abroad in Gibralter..for nine years, right?...and retired in 1850...then the kids started coming...so the only thing that doesn't fit, is the rank.  Right?

[Dimps]

Hi all,

Just to add a little local knowledge (re Mary Horton).  Woolwich and Plumstead are next to each other (and share a post code) - and Deptford is not too far away.  If you travel along the Thames, east to west, you would go from Plumstead, through Woolwich, Charlton, Greenwich then Deptford.

Dimps

[MonicaL]

The issue of the rank worries me Marty re the records at the TNA for the retiring 1850 Alexander 

Who else has verified the rank of Staff Sergeant Major? - We have:

1864 - Emily Jane born in Clonmel to Alexander SSM- retired, residing at the RA Barracks, Clonmel
1869 - George Charles born in Clonmel - would include father's details and address
1874 - marriage of Matilda in Woolwich. You haven't viewed it but I'd put money on father showing as we have
1885 - marriage of Emily Jane - father Alexander SSM retired
1886 - marriage of Alexander John in Glasgow - father Alexander SSM retired, also shows as deceased, mother Bridget shows as still alive
1886 - marriage of Elizabeth- father Alexander SSM

If the family lived at the Barracks in Clonmel (from that 1864 BC), would be hard for father Alexander to have talked up his job in a small community with a heavy military presence also, by implication, from the info we have, it would mean that Alexander had come out of retirement and back into the army after 1850 and risen to a much higher rank in the process