Finding Family - Not Always Folklore

My husband's ancestors lived in Scotland and Ireland. He talked about wanting to visit Ireland for years. I'm so glad that we could do it this year. While we were there he was able to connect, in some way, to his ancestors. My hubby's grandmother was born in Dublin. Having studied the family's genealogy for years, he even knew that she was born in the Rotunda Hospital, which still exists today, and still operates as a maternity hospital. 

According to his grandmother's hospital birth record, the family lived in Killiney, Ireland. We took DART (Dublin Area Rapid Transit to Killiney (Cill Iníon Léinín).

Killiney has a pebble beach, and we walked up the steep hillside to the town. The area has many large, hillside homes, owned by affluent Dubliners and celebrities.

At one point Scott's great grandfather was a butler. It is possible that when his grandmother was born, her father was a butler for an affluent family in the area. 

Later records show the great grandfather as being a clerk of court, living in Castleknock, where his grandmother was living until moving to America as a teen. His great grandfather was killed while riding his bike through Phoenix Park on his way home from work. 

The view from our room at the Ashling Hotel, just outside Phoenix Park

Dr. Steevans Hospital is the yellow building- I didn't realize the family connection at the time I took the picture.

Our tour guide at the Pearse Lyons Distillery points out Steevan's Hospital (seen in the "window" created by the tree), where we learned, the great grandfather would have died following the accident. 

The cemetery above is not part of the family connection story.

But this one is!

We visited the site of an old Parish church in Dunleckney.

The graveyard was predominately used in the 18th & 19th centuries

Look closely at the eptiaph.

Oops, ran out of spac

                                 e!

Most of the headstones were illegible. 

However I discovered this notice:

We trekked to the library in Carlow

The librarian, a genealogist himself, was thrilled to help us and took us into a research room where the book just happened to be sitting on a table. 

He quickly discovered what we had been looking for. The grave of his great, great, great grandmother.

Although no inscription was made on the headstone when she was interred next to her husband, my husband has other documentation suggesting she was buried here. He was thrilled to discover that there was, indeed, a family connection in Dunleckney.