McMinn Mystery Deepens...

[Daisy Loo]

hmm, okay...wouldn't have thought that...but could be I suppose...

I have a couple more bits to help me read...and Andy, I reckon that those TNA docs that you spotted are the right ones...what do you think?

[TF13]

hi daisy loo, it seems your thread has been put "on the ferry" and sent to the ireland general board six pages of the thread has just magically appeared

tony

[MonicaL]

Fresh eyes is just what we need Tony  Ferry trip a bit bumpy...but here we are 

Monica

[Daisy Loo]

Hi Terry & Monica

Not that I have anything against the Ireland board (and might even get more help!) but why the heck was it moved?  It covers Ireland Scotland and England...

Surely the place for it was the Common room?

[andycand]

Hi Daisy Loo

It does look like its the same person as in the NA. What puzzles me is the rank, if he was only a gunner then where does the Saegent Major come from? I can understand someone exagerating a rank some years later but not a son who is in the RA.

If a Scottish family follow the traditional naming pattern (first son after fathers father) then its possible to have several cousins, all about the same age, with the same name and from the same area (as I know unfortunately from my own research) Its also common for relatives in military families to join the same regiment, in this case the RA, and it looks like Clonmel was a major base so it wouldn't be unusual for them to all have a Clonmel connection (similar to Aldershot today)

I'm also puzzled about Caroline, Bridget McGrath and Elizabeths middle name Frances, as to where they fit in. I've been following the topic but I might have a look back over them today and refresh my memory.

Bye for now

Andy

[MonicaL]

Daisy Loo

Bridget's age I think does show as 18, as we expected born c. 1828 and matching those late census entries in England. That rank in 1846 for Alexander does confuse matters but what's new 

I would say we need to bridge the gap. We have Alexander McMinn and Bridget Cleary in 1846 with Alexander's rank given. The next official document from Ireland would be George Charles' birth in Clonmel in 1869, the last child we think and mother confirmed as CLEARY. The Emily Jane birth in 1864 has always had the issue of mother Bridget showing as McGrath.

What do you think?!

Monica

[Daisy Loo]

Okay...

I have been re-reading the thread too.  It has got a bit confusing.  Emily's MC and Alexander's DC I think closed a lot of holes and gaps...in that I believe that the father is one and the same.  Does that make sense?  There were too many connections...ie, the rank (fishy or not!), the George Patrick etc.

You said there was a regimental birth, Monica, of Isabella, and I think that one might be worth getting...because I do think, Isabell was baptised later than all the others...I checked with my mother in law today, and the "Sponsor" can be anyone who has been confirmed...which means I think from the age of about 11 or 12.  This would fit.

yes, McGrath does throw a spanner in the works...but I'm leaving that slide for the moment...

So, If Isabella was born in 1849, Caroline could still be out there, and other's...

Elizabeth's middle name Frances is a bit odd, hasn't turned up anywhere YET!

Andy, the other confusing bit, is that on the birth record of Emily, the address is down as the Clonmel Barracks, but Alexander is retired, a pensioner...why would he still be living there?  Could he have re-joined?

[heywood]

Here's my worry 

What puzzles me is ... if he retired around 1850- why where his children in the Royal Hibernian School years later? I have had another quick look and it was primarily for orphans or serving overseas and were almost destitute. Perhaps he did rejoin?
He would also be getting on a bit in age but was perhaps 'confined to barracks'. I wonder what the retirement age was? I can go along with a 'mature soldier' marrying a young woman that's no problem. Although he would have been over 60 for George's birth and older again for young Philip.
Perhaps those certificates will shed a bit of light.
I have just reread these posts (the ones that show whenh you are replying) and can't see anything about Alexander's death certificate although I think it has been discussed. Did that show a rank?

goodnight all
Kath

[Daisy Loo]

Kath, the rank on Alexander's death cert was Staff Sgt Major...but the informant was Elizabeth, and wouldn't she have been the one to say what his occupation was?  It was the same rank as on her own MC, and he was dead by then, but that wasn't on her MC either.

I have ordered the Regimental birth cert for Isabella in 1849...I am convinced she is the same Isabella, and I am praying that this might shed some more light.

I still haven't heard from St Peter's and St Pauls, and I am thinking that a visit there may be in the near future!

I am a bit lost now, and I don't really know where to go on from here...

I think I just have to wait for the new certs, and perhaps look then at what I need to find out.  Perhaps then, If I begin a new thread, starting from a new vantage point, giving the info I have...might get some more eyes.

I would dearly love to get hold of some whizz regarding the dealings of the RA!