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Hello
I'm try to trace my mother, Bridget (or Brigid) Noreen McCarthy McLean, MS Kerr. I have a distant memory of a document which gave her birthplace as Leege (or Leeg), Carrickmacross, County Monaghan, Ireland. She married my father, Robert Cowie McLean (1904-1946) in Edinburgh in 1932 and she died in Edinburgh in 1952. I have found her marriage and death certificates (on ScotlandsPeople), from which I have worked out that her birth year was 1908. Her marriage cert. gives her parents' names as Hugh Kerr and Margaret Kerr (MS McCarthy).

I have tried to obtain a copy of her birth certificate via the website birthsdeathsmarriages.ie but they say there is 'no corresponding record in the civil register'.

Any advice/help will be much appreciated.

????

Census Years1911MonaghanDrumbooryLeegResidents of a house

Residents of a house 6 in Leeg (Drumboory, Monaghan)
Show all information
Surname Forename Age Sex Relation to head Religion Birthplace Occupation Literacy Irish Language Marital Status Specified Illnesses Years Married Children Born Children Living
Carr Bridget 2 Female Boarder Roman Catholic Co Monaghan - Cannot read - Single - - - -xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Murray Maggie 42 Female Niece Roman Catholic Co Monaghan - Read and write - Single - - - -
Carr Hugh 8 Male Boarder Roman Catholic Co Monaghan Scholar Read and write - Single - - - -
Murray Patrick 83 Male Head of Family Roman Catholic Co Monaghan Farmer Cannot read Irish and English Widower - - - -
Carr Patrick 6 Male Boarder Roman Catholic Co Monaghan Scholar Cannot read - Single - - - -
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Hello safc,

Thank you for this speedy reply - I'm very impressed!

I have looked at the Irish 1911 Census website and I agree that this Bridget Carr could well be my mother. And it seems she had two brothers, Hugh & Patrick. I do remember being told that she had brothers who emigrated to the USA, but I didn't know their names or how many there were. Perhaps Hugh was named after their father. And one of my own brothers was named Patrick, perhaps after Bridget's other brother.

So far so interesting, but I'm puzzled that the three children are described as 'boarders' in the house, and I have no idea who the adults, Patrick and Maggie Murray, might have been. No mention of the children's parents.

I confess I don't really know how to take this further. Any further thoughts/advice from anyone would be very much appreciated. Thank you.

By looking at the house and building return for the 1911 census it says Patrick Murrey owned his house and they were all family members on another form.

Patrick is a Widower and his niece is single.

Not that this helps....

???

Hugh Kerr
in the Ireland, Civil Registration Deaths Index, 1864-1958
Name: Hugh Kerr
Estimated birth year: abt 1843
Date of Registration: Oct-Nov-Dec 1911
Death Age: 68
Registration district: Carrickmacross
Volume: 2
Page: 268
FHL Film Number: 0101605




The National Archives of Ireland
Calendars of Wills and Administrations, 1858 â?? 1922
Deceased Surname Kerr
Deceased Forename Hugh
Primary Beneficiary/Executor Bridget Kerr
Date of Death 5 Dec 1911
County of Death Monaghan

EDIT: No, the image says Bridget was this Hugh's widow.

Census Years1901MonaghanDrumbooryLeeg
Residents of a house 5.2 in Leeg (Drumboory, Monaghan)

Finnegan Patrick 38 Male Nephew Roman Catholic Co Monaghan Agricultural Labourer Cannot read - Not Married -

Floody Margaret 32 Female Niece Roman Catholic Co Monaghan Agricultural Labourer Read and write - Not Married
-
Murray Patrick 73 Male Head of Family Roman Catholic Co Monaghan Agricultural Labourer Cannot read Irish and English Widower -
Finnegan Mary 12 Female Grand Niece Roman Catholic Co Monaghan Scholar Read and write - Not Married -

Murray Bridget 71 Female Sister Roman Catholic Co Monaghan Retired Dress Maker Cannot read Irish and English Not Married

I can't find the children's births under Kerr / Carr - but there are these. Don't know if relevant??

Hugh Murray
in the Ireland, Civil Registration Births Index, 1864-1958
Name: Hugh Murray
Date of Registration: Jan-Feb-Mar 1903
Registration district: Carrickmacross
Birth Country: Ireland
Volume: 2
Page: 375
FHL Film Number: 101069



Bridget Murray
in the Ireland, Civil Registration Births Index, 1864-1958
Name: Bridget Murray
Date of Registration: Jul-Aug-Sep 1908
Registration district: Carrickmacross
Birth Country: Ireland
Volume: 2
Page: 371
FHL Film Number: 101072



Patrick Murray
in the Ireland, Civil Registration Births Index, 1864-1958
Name: Patrick Murray
Date of Registration: Apr-May-Jun 1906
Registration district: Carrickmacross
Birth Country: Ireland
Volume: 2
Page: 391
FHL Film Number: 101071

Thank you, Mel Fairy Godmother and ArgyllGran, for the further searches, though it seems we are not much further forward.

Does anyone think it might be possible to find Bridget in RC parish records, or perhaps school records? Not that I know where she went to church, or school, for that matter!

I know she was a nurse in Edinburgh before she married, but I don't know where she did her training. (Btw, I've lodged a query with the archive office of the hospital where she worked - the Royal Edinburgh Hospital - and am awaiting their reply.)

I really appreciate your interest, and am grateful for your time.

ArgyllGran, that is an amazing find! The three birth years match, as do the first names. I wonder if they might have been adopted by Patrick Murray?

Still don't know where to go from here, though.

Does your mother's marriage cert say whether her parents were deceased or not?


Long shot:

Maggie Kerr
in the Ireland, Civil Registration Deaths Index, 1864-1958
Name: Maggie Kerr
Estimated birth year: abt 1881
Date of Registration: Oct-Nov-Dec 1908
Death Age: 27
Registration district: Monaghan
Volume: 3
Page: 153
FHL Film Number: 0101604

Does your mother's marriage cert say what hughs occupation is

Answers:

1) My mother's marriage cert.. says nothing about whether either of her parents were deceased. (But it does say that my father's father was deceased, which I know to be correct. Maybe not relevant.)

2) My mother's marriage cert. says that Hugh Kerr was a gamekeeper.

Gosh, could Maggie Kerr be Bridget's mother? And perhaps Hugh asked Patrick Murray to care for his children after her death? So easy to jump to unwarranted conclusions!

That was my thought, Caomhin - that the children might have been fostered out because of losing one or both parents.

The births bother me. There's no sign of them as Kerr/Carr, but there are those matching Murray births. However, they were obviously born as Murray, but then show as Carr in 1911 - assuming they are the same children. I don't see three Murray siblings of those names and ages in 1911, so it does look as if they may be the same ones.

Perhaps Margaret McCarthy was married to a Murray before she married Hugh, and Hugh adopted them, then left them with their Murray grandfather for whatever reason.

I don't see a marriage of Margaret McCarthy and Hugh Kerr/Carr, not do I see any likely couple in either 1901 or 1911. Of course, if the children are the same ones, then Margaret could only have married Hugh in 1908 or later. Then if she and/or Hugh died before the 1911, they wouldn't show up together on either of the censuses.

I wonder about this unmarried Hugh in 1901:

Residents of a house 1 in Annaheen (Drumboory, Monaghan)

Kerr Hugh 24 Male Son Roman Catholic Co Monaghan Agricultural Labourer Read and write - Not Married -

Kerr Bridget 50 Female Wife Roman Catholic Co Monaghan - Cannot read - Married -

Kerr Hugh 50 Male Head of Family Roman Catholic Co Louth Herd Read - Married

On the other hand, if Bridget's marriage cert doesn't say they're deceased, then they're probably still alive in 1932.

But I don't see them in any censuses.

Perhaps she didn't know her mother's maiden name? Information on certificates is not always accurate.

Perhaps they were born Murray, but Mum married after. There is this possible marriage:

First name(s) Hugh
Last name Kerr
Registration year 1911
Registered Quarter/Year Apr - Jun 1911
Registration district Dundalk
Volume 2
Page 728
MarriageFinder™ Hugh Kerr married one of these people
Margaret Conlon, Margaret Murray, Elizabeth Byrne

Country Ireland
Record set Irish Marriages 1845-1958
-----------------------------------------------

Perhaps Maggie Murray on the 1911 census was her Mum?

Any Addresses on Marriage Cert.?, sometimes doing a 'google search' brings up items, names, places etc.

Chris :)

Yes, AQ, I did wonder about Maggie Murray in 1911 - perhaps great-nephew/niece (or grand-nephew/niece) was too tricky a relationship for the enumerator, so he called the children boarders.

It looks as if Margaret Floody in 1901 could be the same person - the age fits, and she's a niece of Patrick. But yet another surname? And again unmarried.

Irish records are so frustratingly patchy!

ArgyllGran, thank you for these further thoughts and searching. I must confess my head is now starting to spin, trying to envisage the possibilities of how these folk might have been related!

AustinQ, thank you for your search contribution. Maggie Murray could indeed be Bridget's mother, as you suggest. Though I still don't understand why Bridget and her brothers are described as 'boarders' in their relationship to the elder Patrick in the 1911 Census. If Maggie was Patrick's niece, as recorded, wouldn't her children be great-niece and great-nephews to Patrick?

Chris Ho, thanks for your query. I'm afraid, there are no addresses for Bridget's parents on her marriage cert. The only addresses given are Bridget's and my father's, who both lived in lodgings in Edinburgh at the time.

An out-of-the-box thought: could 'Murray' be a census-taker's mistranscription of 'McCarthy'? Definitely clutching at straws! :)

ArgyllGran, our messages crossed. I see your reasoning for the term 'boarders', makes sense.

As for Margaret Floody, I thought I was already confused, but now...!

Possible birth for Margaret Floody - note the mother's maiden surname

Margaret Flood
Gender: Female
Birth Date: 3 Jan 1870
Birth Place: Monaghan, Ireland
Father: John Flood
Mother: Mary Mc Caffery
FHL Film Number: 101202