Who are the cousins?

[jrmrea]

The earliest gravestone my family has a paper trail to, located in County Down, starts with:

Erected by
Samuel Rea and his son David J. Rea
to the memory of their cousins
William Rea,
who died 24th Oct. 1906, aged 86 years.
Also his brothers and sister
Samuel Rea, Eliza Rea,
David Rea, John Rea,
of Ballygreen Ballynahinch

In a case like this, would the "cousins" be in relation to Samuel or David John? Is it possible, given 19th century Irish terminology, that they be what we'd call Samuel's aunts and uncles? I'm grasping at straws since William would be about 20 years older than Samuel and the connection is still unknown.

[gc1]

Possible odd reply but Just me thinking out loud 

If the family had 8 or 10 children (which wasn't unheard of back then), The oldest child and the youngest child both had large families it could be possible that the oldest of the older child and the youngest of the youngest child could be 20 years apart which would make them cousins not uncles or aunts.

I have one cousin born 1955 and another born in 1974 so 19 years apart (Yes we all have a touch of Irish in us )

Hope this makes sense although I am not saying this is the case here as I said just me thinking out loud. Maybe someone will come up with a better explanation.  Good luck.

[heywood]

I am sure you have done this, but is this the death of William Rea to begin with?
https://www.irishgenealogy.ie/files/civil/deaths_returns/deaths_1906/05549/4556951.pdf

And William in 1901
https://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/pages/1901/Down/Ballynahinch/Mourne_View_Street/1224899/

Have you found all the people mentioned?

[oldohiohome]

a tree at ancestry calls
Eliza, John, David, and Samuel half-siblings of William Rea. Their parents are children of James Rea and Mary McDonnell. James is William's father, but his mother is unknown on the tree.

Eliza is said to be born 26 JAN 1870 • Belfast No. 10, Ant, Ireland. No information for the others.

edited - disregard or take with a grain of salt all of the above, since William turns out to be 50 years older than Eliza. Hard to be half-siblings with that age gap. I just searched for "William Rea, d. 1906." I'm sure there were a few William Reas around, and the tree owner might have just grabbed the first one they saw.


----
this is correct though:
-----
Belfast Newsletter, October 26, 1906
REA - October 24, at Mourne View, Ballynahinch. William Rea, late of The Haw, Ballycreen. His remains will be removed from the above address, for interment in the family burying-ground, Saintfield Churchyard, this (Friday) afternoon, at one o'clock. Friends will please accept this (the only) invitation.
[signed, or placed by] J.B. Patterson

[oldohiohome]

the civil reg says Eliza Jane Rea was born 26 January 1870, at 14 Theresa St, Belfast, Antrim.
parents James Rea, a mechanic, and Mary Rea, formerly McConnell
https://www.irishgenealogy.ie/files/civil/birth_returns/births_1870/03364/2233498.pdf

edited - you might have to disregard that also.

---
as for whether they were Samuel's cousins or David's - cousin was and still is a pretty loose term. We always called my mother's cousin our aunt.

[shanreagh]

--- We always called my mother's cousin our aunt.

Yet in my Irish family we never did this even when they were much older than us.  My parents both came from families of 9 children each and the agreed solution was that cousins were called by their christian names by other cousins no matter what the age difference was. 

[jrmrea]

Thanks everyone for taking some time to look at this.

I am sure you have done this, but is this the death of William Rea to begin with?
https://www.irishgenealogy.ie/files/civil/deaths_returns/deaths_1906/05549/4556951.pdf

And William in 1901
https://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/pages/1901/Down/Ballynahinch/Mourne_View_Street/1224899/

Have you found all the people mentioned?

Yes, those refer to the same William!

As for the others, this is what I've pieced together from a few letters of administration and death notices from the Registrar's District of Lisburn.

Samuel Rea (the cousin) still unknown, although the Samuel Rea's (from top of gravestone) father was also Samuel, hmm...
William Rea b. 1820, d. 1906
Eliza Rea b. 1821, d. 1895
David Rea b. 1824, d. 1894
John Rea b. 1830, d. 1894

Eliza and David both left their belongings to William, David was present at John's death and died ~9 months later. William left his belongings to Samuel (from top of gravestone), even though he was staying with the Patterson family (linked above by heywood). Patterson's wife Eliza was the daughter of John McIlhone and Jane Rea (b. 1843, d. 1919).

Jane's relation is still unknown, although with her dates I think it would make sense to be Samuel's (b. 1841, d. 1908) sister. On both their marriage registrations, father is marked as Samuel (farmer). But it's all I have for now.

This is all very confusing to summarize with recurring names   At present, I see 2 loose ends with William seemingly the key between both of them. What would William's relation to Samuel be, and how does Jane fit in the picture?

[aghadowey]

Eliza and David both left their belongings to William, David was present at John's death and died ~9 months later. William left his belongings to Samuel (from top of gravestone), even though he was staying with the Patterson family (linked above by heywood). Patterson's wife Eliza was the daughter of John McIlhone and Jane Rea (b. 1843, d. 1919).

William did NOT leave a Will- Samuel was merely appointed to administer William's estate according to law-
Letters of Administration of the personal estate of William Rea late of Mourne View Ballynahinch County Down Retired Farmer who died 24 October 1906 were granted at Belfast [14 Nov.1906] to Samuel Rea Pensioner R.I.C.

[jrmrea]

Sorry, my mistake. Thanks for pointing that out.