would you treat this as a clue?

[Berni]

i'm researching my grandparents
they were married in 1917 in granard county longford they lived on barrack street
my grandparents had 12 children ( that i have found so far ) with help from the archivist at longford library martin morris
my grandparents first two children of which my father is one of them were born 1918 and 1919
then there are no children born until 1923 then you can count one child practically for every following year
the years there were no children was the times of 'the troubles'
should i treat this as a clue as to why no children were born for four years
my grandparents were tailors by profession
do any rootschatters have any thoughts or opinions or suggestions on this?
 

[Ruskie]

Allowing for a (possible) one child born between the one in 1919 and the one in 1923, ie a missing child born about 1921. Perhaps they died in infancy?

Of course there may have been more but a two year gap is pretty popular. Do you think your grandfather might have had some involvement which took him away from home?

Anything without concrete evidence is pure speculation.

[Berni]

hi ruskie
i have searched on the civil registrations of ireland but so far i have been unsuccessful in filling in the four year gap
i would just like to hear peoples opinions or ideas they may have
given the time of the gap i wondered if anyone elsh with irish families
noticed that not as many children were born
i know the first born child died as my father has always been known as the eldest child

[eagleye]

I personally wouldn't.

Almost every time I have found a gap of more than one year, I have eventually discovered (mainly through hypothesizing) children who were born and died in the same year, or died in early infancy.

In my opinion, a gap of four years is suspicious, despite social unrest, especially among Irish families.

I would keep an open mind.

[Berni]

eagle eye
many thanks for your reply
i know that three of the children died in early infancy
and i did get the baptism records from st mary's
church granard including other information the church
has such as dates of confirmation and marriages
i just think there was a reason for the gap i just need to see if i can
discover the reason behind it

[hallmark]

A lot of people went elsewhere during those years, any records for any of them being there at all in these years? Any "unaccounted" for children getting married later on?

[Berni]

hi hallmark
it is possible they were somewhere else during these years
the only other information i have is the 1931 slater's trade directory
which has them still living on the same street
i know towards the end of the 30's they moved to arvagh county cavan
where they opened a tailor shop
during the late 1950's the whole family moved to england where my grandparents are buried along with two of their daughters who died in their twenties

[hallmark]

1931 is totally different from 1921 and not in years....When did any of the kids start school?

[Berni]

hallmark
many thanks for your reply
i have no idea to date at what age any of the children started school
most family information regarding addresses etc i originally got from my
father
for the past 10 years he has been suffering from alzheimers and he is in his
90th year if any of his siblings are still alive i don't have any contact with them
although i know most of them have passed away
apart from the information i have given i know nothing else about their years in granard
berni