Irish Birth Registers

Irish birth registers are often beneficial because of the extra information that is listed on the page entire. A pair of cousins were listed on the same page months apart in Oct 1890 & Apr 1891 Ireland. Male cousin and his younger Female first cousin shared both a surname and townland of birth They lived very differently over the course of their lives. 

Male cousin was a fourth born son but he eventually took over the family farm and lived his entire life in Ireland from 1890-1978. He was one of ten children with seven living to adulthood. He was enumerated at the family farm in 1901 and 1911.  In 1933 at age 42 he married a young woman and raised a family of nine.

Female cousin was a second born daughter of eight children. Three of the children died as toddlers and two sons died as young adults without issue. The remaining three daughters lived to adulthood. Female cousin was enumerated with her parents and siblings in 1901. She set off to America in 1911. She settled with their fathers’ youngest brother who was the first of their clan to emigrate in 1897. She married a German immigrant in 1917 and had 5 children from 1919-1926. She would bury her eldest child before his tenth birthday and eventually was divorced by her husband in late 1943. The divorce petition and final decree were reported in the Nevada newspaper while she resided in New York. She became a citizen at about the same time and did not have to file a declaration of intent as the wife of a citizen. She was dutifully enumerated in the 1920, 30 & 40 federal censuses and both the 1915 and 1925 NY state censuses. She was also recorded in church and civil marriage records and newspaper accounts. She died in 1972. 

Two children, paternal first cousins, bookended a birth register page in 1890s Ireland but spent the rest of their years living individual lives and their unique record trails clearly show this. 

Male cousin had a sister that was just ten months younger than him and four months younger than (their) Female cousin.(While birth registers are often filled with inaccurate birth dates the baptismal register showed that Male cousin was baptized 5 Oct 1890 and his younger Sister was baptized 4 Aug 1891. Sister was registered as born 4 Nov 1891.) Sister was also enumerated in 1901 at the family farm but in 1911 she was living with their mother’s brother and his children. 

Sister, at age 14, had been sent to the neighboring farm after her uncle’s wife passed in 1905. This apparently did not sit well with her and she resented that for the rest of her life she was always a visitor in her father’s home and never slept overnight there again. Not surprisingly she emigrated in 1914 to live (initially) with their father’s youngest brother in NYC. She married an American born man in 1919 and became a citizen at the same time. They too had 5 children and remained married until his death in 1953. Sister couldn’t be found in the 1915 state census but otherwise she left a clear paper trail. She died in 1962. 

Remember to throughly examine records and look for unexpected relations to show up in the next cabin or the next entry. These three cousins had noticeably different lives although they were all born within ten months of each other in the same townland.