I record all known births. If the child was given a name, I put the name on the tree. If there wasn’t a recorded name, I put it as “baby girl” or “baby boy.”
Kind of related, and not specific to Ireland, are the times when you have the record of a birth, and maybe a census report or two...and then - nothing. Did they marry, have children, and when did they die? Soooo frustrating. Sometimes it's because you can't single them out from many records of people with the same name, sometimes there is just nothing. And you wonder, is it because the marriage and/or death is on a set of records that haven't been digitalised yet? Or were they an unrecorded death? Some of these answers we may never find, and it is sometimes hard to accept that. But on we go, and we live in hope. Never lose hope, Daniel.
That’s why we fought so hard for Records not to be sealed. Also Stillbirths weren’t legally recorded till 1995 legally and not buried on consecrated ground only within cillín if at all. Well done on the amazing important work you have done to date. Have you decided where you will deposit the archive?
Your work all of it and how you created it etc. I’m in hosp since July 13 & now convalesence/rehab so won’t be home for a while but contact me anytime 0872073194 grainneblair@icloud.com
Great piece, thanks. I tend to dig a little deeper into the records any time I see a broken birth pattern or a longer-than-normal gap between births within a family. Every so often, I'll find confirmation, but, I think loss was so prevalent that sometimes it just wasn't written down or maybe even acknowledged outside the family. Part of it may have been shame, part of it may have just been a different sense of privacy, but the result is likely a lot of babies who've been lost to history and heart.
I record all known births. If the child was given a name, I put the name on the tree. If there wasn’t a recorded name, I put it as “baby girl” or “baby boy.”
Thank you for sharing, Nina. I do the same. One I know had been named, I don't know if the other one had been. So, I've just done Baby [Surname].
Heartbreaking
Kind of related, and not specific to Ireland, are the times when you have the record of a birth, and maybe a census report or two...and then - nothing. Did they marry, have children, and when did they die? Soooo frustrating. Sometimes it's because you can't single them out from many records of people with the same name, sometimes there is just nothing. And you wonder, is it because the marriage and/or death is on a set of records that haven't been digitalised yet? Or were they an unrecorded death? Some of these answers we may never find, and it is sometimes hard to accept that. But on we go, and we live in hope. Never lose hope, Daniel.
That’s why we fought so hard for Records not to be sealed. Also Stillbirths weren’t legally recorded till 1995 legally and not buried on consecrated ground only within cillín if at all. Well done on the amazing important work you have done to date. Have you decided where you will deposit the archive?
Thank you, Grainne! Can I ask what archive you are referring to?
Your work all of it and how you created it etc. I’m in hosp since July 13 & now convalesence/rehab so won’t be home for a while but contact me anytime 0872073194 grainneblair@icloud.com
Great piece, thanks. I tend to dig a little deeper into the records any time I see a broken birth pattern or a longer-than-normal gap between births within a family. Every so often, I'll find confirmation, but, I think loss was so prevalent that sometimes it just wasn't written down or maybe even acknowledged outside the family. Part of it may have been shame, part of it may have just been a different sense of privacy, but the result is likely a lot of babies who've been lost to history and heart.