Is a family tree ever finished? Even when you think you have found all there is to find for a branch of the family tree, someone or something else always crops up, eventually.
This week, I came across a record for a Maria Radcliffe.[1] Maria died in Yellow Walls, the same townland in Malahide, Co. Dublin, where my Radcliffe ancestors lived. She was 56 years old when she died on 2 February 1888, indicating she was born about 1831-32.
This week, I came across a record for a Maria Radcliffe.[1] Maria died in Yellow Walls, the same townland in Malahide, Co. Dublin, where my Radcliffe ancestors lived. She was 56 years old when she died on 2 February 1888, indicating she was born about 1831-32.
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| Death of Maria Radcliffe, Balrothery, 1888 |
My family tree shows a great-great-great-grandaunt, Mary Ratty, baptised on 9 July 1831.[2] She was the only daughter of Peter Radcliffe and Anne Sarsfield. Mary is the English spelling of Maria and Ratty was a nickname commonly used in my Radcliffe family, so presumably Maria and Mary were one and the same person. Also, Peter Radcliffe, Maria's brother, and my great-great-great-granduncle, registered her death.
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| Baptism of Mary Ratty, Swords, 9 July 1831 |
Maria never married. She worked as a farmer. Isn't it unusual in Ireland for a woman's occupation to be mentioned! Most of my female relatives of the nineteenth century were described as 'wife of a carter', or 'daughter of a labourer', etc. But, Maria farmed.
Do you think she rented her own land, or did she live most of her life in her parents home and farm land rented by her father? Probably the latter. Her father died on 17 March 1887, less than a year before Maria. She is not recorded in Griffith's Valuation, created about 1850 in Malahide, but this was before Maria reached adulthood. It would be interesting to check the succeeding Cancelled Books, at the Valuation Office in Dublin, to see if she ever did lease land in her own name.
During the last year of her life, following the death of their father, relations between Maria and her brother Joseph were seemingly quite strained. She even took him to court.[3]
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| Petty Sessions registers, Maria Radcliffe, Swords court, 1887 |
On 26 November 1887, at Swords petty sessions court, Maria gave evidence against Joseph to the effect that he:
'did unlawfully, willfully and maliciously damage, injure and destroy a lock on an out-office at Yelow Wallls, the property of [Maria], in the month of June 1887 under the value of £5'.What had Maria got in that shed? We never had locks on the sheds at home when I was growing up in Yellow Walls, one hundred years later. We didn't even always lock the front door. Maybe the sheds had belonged to their father, and Joseph was seeking whatever he thought was rightly his inheritance.
The court concluded it had no jurisdiction in the case.
And Maria died of pulmonary congestion, as a result of valvular heart disease, barely two months later. And Joseph probably got whatever he was looking for.
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| Relationship Chart - Maria Radcliffe and my Grandfather |
Sources:
[1] Death, Maria Radcliffe, Balrothery, 1888, Group Registration ID 6320631, IrishGenealogy.ie.
[2] Baptism, Mary Ratty, Swords, 9 July 1831, National Library of Ireland.
[3] Petty Sessions registers, Maria Ratcliffe, Swords court, 1887, FindMyPast.
I have a few thoughts. Unmarried women always bring to mind so many questions. When did her mother die? Were all of her brothers older or younger than her? As the only daughter, did she have to help raise her brothers? If the brothers were already working outside of the home or married, this might leave her as the only child left to take over the housewife's duties while her father farmed. Did she ever work outside the home, or did she depend on the family farm for her income? Had she slowly taken over her father's chores and, after his death, ended up doing all the work? At least now, she has a place in your family tree.
ReplyDeleteHer father was a painter/plasterer, but he did have a sizeable plot of 3 or 4 acres too. Her mother died in 1866, but was sick for 3 years. Two brothers married after mam died. No doubt Maria was looking after them, but Id say there is more to the story, now lost to time. Thanks Cathy.
ReplyDeleteOh, I agree, there is always something more or someone else to find! Never done.
ReplyDeleteIt's interesting that she was noted as a farmer, and also interesting that she took her brother to court. I wonder if she had a will and if so, whether it would give more information about what was passed on, presumably to her brother(s).
No will sadly, Nancy, she probably did not have anything of much value. In any case, even if there had been a will, it would probab;y have been lost in the fire at the Public Registry Office in 1922,
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