Everything I’ve uncovered so far does lead me to believe it’s my ancestors but there’s still a niggling doubt. Ancestry is essentially detective work, isn’t it? So you can’t help but think there’s something blindingly obvious that you’ve missed!
In my Ancestry tree, records suggest that Mary and Patrick Cosgrove (who were my 3x maternal great grandparents) had 8 children - James, John, Peter, Thomas, Mary, Ann, Patrick and Margaret.
To see that two sons (James and John) share the St Peter’s, Dalbeth burial plot, therefore, seems plausible. James’ son, also called James shares the plot so there’s 5 of them in total buried there.
I’ve hired a professional genealogist who specialises in Scottish ancestry to assist me. Hopefully, she can help me to confirm things.
We’re at the earliest stages at the moment though & looking at my maternal great grandfather, William Cosgrove (b. 3/10/1912, d. 6/11/1970). He was the grandson of Mary and Patrick. We’ll work backwards from there. Although I’m very confident with my research here.
William’s birth and marriage certificate list his parents as Patrick and Jeanie Cosgrove (nee McAllister but formerly Bryson).
I later found the marriage certificate for Patrick and Jeanie dated 15 November 1921. This confirmed that the parents of Patrick were Patrick (to add to the confusion) and Mary Cosgrove (nee Fairley) and from this, I was able to locate Patrick’s birth certificate which also confirms his parents were Patrick and Mary Cosgrove (nee Fairly) who married 23 April 1858, Lanark.
This leads me here with GGG grandfather, Patrick Cosgrove. I haven’t been able to find a record of his birth as he was born in Ireland around 1835.
The 1891 census has Patrick and his wife Mary living with 6 of their children at 4 Academy Street, Bathgate. I can’t find them on the 1901 census.
On Patrick’s death certificate (which has his wife as Mary Fairley) he died in Pretoria Street, Cambuslang 20 July 1914. Mary died at the same place in 1903. The burial records form St Peter’s, Dalbeth are within 2 days of the deaths of both Patrick and Mary.
I have to believe this is them. What more could there be to confirm this?
On Patrick’s marriage certificate, his parents were listed as Peter Cosgrove and Anna Ward. I found a marriage record for them (I think) - 11 January 1835, Templemichael, County Longford, Ireland. As the census back in Scotland appears to have Patrick’s year of birth as 1835 in Ireland, it seems possible this is true.
Sorry for the ramblings, I think I’m perhaps trying to convince myself more than anything else…
