Maria Culbert and John Thomas Gale

Henry Culbert/Cuthbert and Anne Allen were our paternal great-great grandparents - their daughter, Rebecca Culbert/Cuthbert married Robert Stewart, and Rebecca and Robert Stewart were the parents of our grandfather, Bertie Stewart.

Henry Culbert, a carpenter like his father, Henry Culbert Senior, before him, had a sister, Maria Culbert, and this post concerns her and her husband, John Thomas Gale.

Maria Culbert, was born to Henry, a carpenter, and what seems to be Roberta or Rebecca- the handwriting in the register was very difficult to decipher, although the fact that the name 'Rebecca' passed into the following generations points to this being the name of Maria and henry Culbert's mother.
Maria Culbert was born in Corraclevin, a townland near Monegall, Co. Offaly, in 1840, but the baptism seems to have been entered into the register at a later date, possibly 1848.  Maria had a younger sister, Elizabeth Culbert, also born in Corraclevin two years after Maria in 1842, but about whom I've yet to discover more.
Henry Culbert Senior, a carpenter, seemed to move around the Offaly/Tipperary area, bringing the family with him.

Maria Culbert married John Thomas Gale in the parish church of Donohill, Tipperary, close to the town of Cashel, on May 21st 1861 where, I presume, John, a teacher, was working.  His father, William Gale, was also a schoolmaster.  The witnesses to the wedding were Henry and William Culbert, who could be anyone but were most likely Maria Culbert's brothers.

John Thomas Gale had been born in about 1839 in Queen's County/Laois, but the family had moved into the neighbouring county of Carlow at some stage. Although John's father, William Gale, was a teacher by the time of his son's marriage in 1861, he seems to have been a farmer at one stage, before becoming a scripture reader, which was a type of Protestant missionary as far as I know.
Maria and John Thomas Gale spent the first few years of their marriage in Tipperary, before moving to the Kenmare/Cahirciveen area of Co. Kerry, and then finally settling in Limerick city, where other relations also settled at this time, in particular John Thomas Gale's widowed mother, Eliza Gale, who was named as the widow of William Gale of Valleyfield, when she died at Westland Street on 25th September 1875.  Valleyfield was one of the Queen's County properties associated with the Ashfield Gales, and points to William Gale, scripture reader, as being a son of the blind Captain William Gale of Valleyfield, himself the son of Anthony Gale and Anne Delany.
http://alison-stewart.blogspot.ie/2014/04/the-gale-family-of-queens-county-and.html

In 1879,  John Thomas Gale and his sister, Alice Baldwin Gale, ran a 'Ragged School' in Bowdey's Lane near Roches Street.  His was one of a number of schools in Limerick which catered to the education of orphaned Protestant children, and which also took in Catholic orphans in the hopes of converting them.
 John Thomas Gale was noted in the 1885 Limerick register of electors as living in Glenworth Street, the premises in question being a ragged school.   Roches Street and Glentworth Street are adjacent to each other.  Also, Alice Maria, the daughter of John Thomas Gale and Maria Culbert, was born at Roches Street in 1864.
 In June 1868, John Thomas Gale of the Ragged School in Limerick was charged with physically assaulting an 11-year-old Catholic boy, Michael Ryan, who had recently been entrusted to his care. Having attempted to abscond, the child was taken back to the school where, following a beating, he was held down and forcibly tattoed with a cross and the lettter 'M'.  The Limerick Ragged School was always noted as the Protestant Ragged School, and the 1868 law case did much to add to the general feeling of the day that these institutions existed as instruments of Souperism, whose primary goal was to convert destitute Catholics to Protestantism by offering board and lodging. I couldn't find the outcome of the case, and still have no idea whether  John Thomas Gale was guilty or not.

In November 1881, the Ragged School was attacked by a rioting mob, who broke the school's windows.  John Thomas Gale was soon after one of the witnesses present at the subsequent trial for the men involved.

The Gale family lived on either Musgrave Street, or adjacent streets, for much of their married life.  John Thomas Gale, a teacher, was working in 1911 for Hassetts Ironmongers, the business owned by his brother-in-law, Thomas Hassett, who had married John's schoolteacher sister, Alice Baldwin Gale.

John Thomas Gale of 2 Grattan Villas died aged 78 in Limerick of sarcoma of the jaw on 9th September 1913.  R. Burrowes was present when he died. His obituary appeared in The Limerick Chronicle of 11th September 1913.
   'Death of Mr. T.J. Gale - We regret to record the death, which took place at his residence, 2 Grattan Villas, on Tuesday night, of Mr. John Thomas Gale, an old and highly-respected citizen.  He had attained the ripe old age of 78 years, and having been in failing health for some twelve months back, his demise was not unexpected. Mr. Gale, by his kindly and courteous manner, won the esteem of very many friends in Limerick, who have heard with regret of his passing away. Sincere sympathy is tendered to his sons, who are well known and esteemed in postal and commercial life in the city, and the other members of his family. The funeral took place this afternoon for St. Munchin's and was widely attended.'

Maria Gale, née Culbert, died in 1911 and her obituary appeared in the Limerick Chronicle on december 2nd 1911.
'Funeral of Mrs. Gale:  The funeral of the late Mrs. Maria Gale, wife of Mr. John Gale, who passed away on the 30th ult., at her residence, Grattan Villas, in the 68th year of her age, took place on Sunday last, when at two o'clock the remains were removed for interment at St. Munchin's Cemetery. The funeral was very large and representative, and was ample evidence of sympathy and respect.

    The chief mourners were : - Messrs. William, Thomas, Harry Gale (sons), T. Hassett, brother-in-law, W. Ormston, J. Burrowes, H.Eakins, (sons-in-law), George Hill, Norman Gale, Harry Gale, C. Burrowes, F. Ormston, R. Hill (grandchildren), H. Hasset, J. Hasset (nephews).
    Amongst the general public were : -  Rev. J. T. Waller M.A.,   A.J. Eakins, George Wilson, J. Tuite, J. Leddan, K. O'Brien, P.R. Malone, H. Powell,  T. O'Dwyer (Bansha)...Mr. Norman Gale, grandson of the deceased, presided at the organ.' 
(The list of mourners was too extensive to transcribe, so the above is merely a taster. None of her own family, ie the Cuthberts of Offaly and Dublin, attended.  Her older brother, our great-great grandfather, Henry Cuthbert, had died in Dublin in 1903.


The Children of John Thomas Gale and Maria Culbert:
According to the 1911 Census, the couple had nine children, of whom only eight survived.

1)  Lizzie Gale was born in Tipperary in 1863 and was the first-born child of John Thomas Gale and Maria Culbert.  On 9th April 1885 in St. Michael's, she married George Hill, a builder who'd been born in Dundalk in about 1852 to a tradesman, James Hill.  In 1885 he was living at 46 Catherine Street, Limerick, while Lizzie was at home in Havergal Hall, Glentworth Street.   The two witnesses were J. Hollywood and M.Adams,

Lizzie Gale and George Hill were living in Ballinacurra, Limerick city, on the 1901 census.  George Hill worked as a clerk of works.
Their first child, Annie Maude Hill, had been born on 6th May 1886 at Havergal Hall, Glentworth Street. Three years later their second child, Lizzie Maria Hill, was born at 220 Albertbridge Road in Belfast on 28th July 1889, as was Edith Annabella Hill on 22nd November 1890, although the family had moved to 218 Albertbridge Road by then. George Arthur Hill was born here on 29th November 1891 and Evelyn Frances Hill was born on 30th July 1895 at 28 Fairview Avenue in Dublin.  The youngest daughter, Alice Margaret Hill, was born at Weston Cottage, Rossbrien, Limerick city on 13th July 1899.  Son Robert Hill was born two years later in Weston Cottage on 7th July 1901, but his father, George Hill, had died at some stage during the pregnancy.

By the time of the next Irish census, Lizzie had been widowed and had moved with her unmarried children to St. John's Avenue, Limerick, which runs adjacent to Mulgrave Street and Grattan Villas where her parents and siblings were all resident.  The older children were all working - Annie Maude was a bookkeeper, Lillie/Lizzie was a milliner, Edith was a typist, George a carpenter like his uncle Henry Cuthbert and his grandfather, and Eve/Evelyn was a typist.

2)  The following year, at Roches Street,  Limerick, John and Maria Gale had Alice Maria Gale on 26th May 1864;  the baby was baptised in St. Michaels on 15th June 1864, and a note was made in the register that the family were living in Roches Street and that John Gale was a schoolmaster.

Alice Maria Gale of Glentworth Street married an English engineer Edward Cooke of Engine House, Waterworks, on 7th April 1883. Edward Cooke named his father on the marriage certificate as Edward Cooke, smith.  The wedding was witnessed by John Thomas Gale and Christopher Miller.
Edward Cooke had been born in Leiston, Suffolk in about 1856.
The couple had a daughter, Alice Maria Cooke, in Limerick in 1884, before moving to 13 Gaywood St, Southwark, London, where a daughter, Vida Adelaide Cooke, was baptised on July 8th 1888, in St. Jude's, Southwark.
A son, Newton Edward William Cooke, was born on April 30th 1894, and baptised in the Jesus Chapel in Enfield, Middlesex.   The parents' address was given as 81 George's Rd., Forty Hill.
Evan George Maxwell Cooke was born at the same address on June 21st 1896.
Harold John Wink Cooke was born at Baker St., Enfield, on July 21st 1901 - his father, George Cooke, was an 'engineer R.S.A. Fr.'

Their daughter, Vida Adelaide Cooke, worked as a school teacher prior to her marriage in 1919 (in Edmonton, Middlesex) to a William N. Gale.    This was William Norman Gale, her cousin, the son of her uncle, William Schomberg Gale. Vida Adelaide Gale, née Cooke, died on 26th March 1967 in Clonlara, Co. Clare, aged 78;  her son, Edward Gale was present when she died and registered the death.

From the records:
Edward Cooke, born 1856, died at Edmonton, Middlesex, in March 1933.
Alice M. Cooke, born 1864, died at Edmonton, Middlesex, in either 1935 or 1941. (There were two entries
with the same name.)
Newton Edward William Cooke died on 13th August 1948, at 120 Plymouth Rd., Penarth, Glamorganshire, Wales.  His widow was Hilda Laurie Cooke.

3)  Rebecca Adelaide Gale was born in Limerick to John and Maria Gale on 25th May 1866.
   
 Rebecca Adelaide Gale married, on 5th October 1896 in Limerick, James Francis Burrowes, who had been born in 1868 in Limerick to policeman Charles Burrowes and Mary Anne Caffrey.  At the time of the wedding, James Francis Burrowes was living at 10 Queen Street, while Rebecca Adelaide Gale was at home at 3 Grattan Villas. The witnesses were William Thomas Ormston and Harriet Annabella Gale.
James Francis Burrowes and Rebecca Adelaide Gale were living at 21 Mulgrave Street in 1901 with their two young children, Charles Edward and Mary Adelaide.

In common with other members of the Gale family, by 1911 they had moved around the corner to St. John's Avenue.  Rebecca and James Francis lived at No. 10.   James Francis Burrowes was a postal worker.

By 1911 they had another four children  - Kathleen Francis Burrowes who had been born at 3 Grattan Villas on 8th September 1901, James Fitzgerald Burrowes who had been born there on 29th May 1903, Rebecca Olive/Olave Burrowes, born 7th September 1904, and John Francis Gale Burrowes, born 19th March 1908 at Rosbrien Terrace.
The 1911 Census return states that they had 7 children, however, which means two were missing from the home in 1911.  The eldest, Charles Edward Burrows/Burrowes was visiting his two aunts at 5.1 Mallow St., Limerick - they were Mary R. Burrows, a maternal nurse,  and Margaret D. Burrows.

The Burrowes Family:
Rebecca Adelaide Gale married James Francis Burrowes on 5th October 1896 in Limerick.  James Francis Burrowes was the son of policeman Charles Burrowes and Mary Anne Caffrey who had married in Castleconnell, Co. Limerick, on 4th August 1864.  Charles Burrowes, who had been born in Burrenure, Co. Clare, was the son of a clerk/schoolmaster, James Burrowes, while Mary Anne Caffrey was the daughter of a scripture-reader Moses Caffrey.  The witnesses were the bride's father, Moses Caffrey, and the groom's brother-in-law James Robert Drought.

On 11th August 1864, a week after his daughter's wedding in Castleconnell, the widowed Moses Caffrey (the son of John Caffrey) married the Dubliner Anne Nutley who was the daughter of a shopkeeper Richard Nutley.  James Robert Drought, was the witness.

James Robert Drought, a policeman of Clarina and son of prison officer Francis Drought, married Hannah R. Burrowes, the daughter of schoolmaster James Burrowes and sister of James Francis Burrowes, in Castleconnell on 23rd October 1862.  This was witnessed by a Thomas Cox and Charles Burrowes.

Charles Burrowes and Mary Anne Caffrey were the parents of James Francis Burrowes (who married Rebecca Adelaide Gale), Hannah R. Drought, Mary Burrowes, Margaret/Gretta Burrowes and Moses Burrowes.
Present at James Francis Burrowes' funeral in Limerick in 1927 were several of his siblings - Moses Burrowes, Mary and Gretta.  Their mother, Mary Anne Burrowes, née Caffrey, died aged 73 at 40 Lower Mallow Street on 4th December 1908, the widow of sergeant Charles Burrowes. Her son, James Francis Burrowes of 4 Rosbrien Street, registered her death.

Charles Edward Burrowes, the son of James Francis Burrowes and Rebecca Adelaide Gale, later emigrated to New York 1925 and worked as a chauffeur in Queens. He was naturalised on May 25th 1944, and gave an address at 161-03 29th Avenue, Flushing, New York.
He married a woman named Nora (possibly Nora Fitzgerald - there's a record of a Charles E. Burrowes marrying a woman named Fitzgerald in Birmingham, UK, in September 1924),  and they had three children in the States.  Charles was born in NYC in 1926, David in Connecticut in 1927, James in NYC in 1928 and Mary in New York in 1930.

On 5th July 1929, Olive Rebecca Burrowes, the daughter of James Francis Burrowes and Rebecca Adelaide Gale, married the grocer, John James Taylor of 10 St. John's Avenue who was the son of a retired policeman John Taylor.  The witnesses were Patricia Frances Taylor and John Stockil who was the bride's brother-in-law. 
Kathleen Francis Burrowes, the daughter of James Francis Burrowes, married the miller John Stockil, son of a provision merchant Charles B. Stockil, on 8th September 1924.  Olive Rebecca Burrowes and Charles Stockil were the witnesses.

James Francis Burrowes, the husband of Rebecca Adelaide Gale, died aged 58 on 30th March 1927 at 35 Patrick Street;  his niece, Vida Gale of 8 Grattan Villas registered the death.

4)  William Schomberg Gale was born in Roches Street, Limerick on 20th July 1868.  (The use of the middle name is odd - it might refer to Duke Schomberg who was William of Orange's right-hand man at the Battle of the Boyne; alternatively, I see from the marriage index for Limerick that a Julius Schomberg married in Limerick in 1877, and was, perhaps a friend of the Gale family there.)

William S. Gale married a Dublin woman, Eliza Mary Charlotte Thomas, on 5th June 1893 in St. Michael's, Limerick.  Both bride and groom, a clerk in the post office, gave their address as 2 Barrington Street. Eliza was named as the daughter of the late Alfred Thomas who had worked as a commercial traveller.
The two witnesses were William's uncle, Thomas Hassett, and the Welsh-born Mabel Dudley Fletcher - Mabel Wayt had married the Dublin engineer, Francis William Dudley Fletcher, in Dublin in 1888.

Eliza Mary Charlotte Thomas was born on 10th June 1869 to Mary Jane Rankin and Alfred John Thomas, a commercial clerk of Donnybrook, Co. Dublin.  I can find no registration for Mary Charlotte's parents' marriage. The parents don't appear on either the 1901 or 1911 census, so it's impossible to guage whether they were Irish-born or otherwise.  They are difficult to trace and may have emigrated to a country whose records aren't available online yet.

The children of Alfred John Thomas and Mary Jane Rankin were:
1) William John Gideon Thomas, born at 1 Belmont Avenue, Donnybrook, Dublin, on 25th March 1867.
2) Eliza Charlotte Mary Thomas, who married William Schomberg Gale, was born at 1 Belmont Avenue, on 10th June 1869.
3) Alfred Charles Thomas, born at 1 Belmont Avenue, on 24th January 1871.
4) Susan Georgina Thomas, born 5th June 1873.
5) Agnes Maude Thomas born 27th January 1875.
6) Richard George Thomass, born 10th March 1877.
7) Jane Delamere Thomas/Jennie, born at 50 Geraldine Street, Phibsborough, on 28th December 1878.
8) Eleanor Thomas, born 27th July 1880 at 53 Dominick Street, Phibsborough.


William Schomberg Gale worked for the Post Office, like his brothers-in-law, William Thomas Ormston and James Frances Burrowes, and like his own brothers, John Thomas Gale and Henry Fitzgerald Gale.
In 1901 he and his wife, Eliza Mary Charlotte, were living at 26 Mulgrave Street with their four young children  -  Lilian Alice aged 6,  William Norman aged 5, Mary Adelaide aged 3, and Henry Schomberg aged 1.
Two of Eliza Mary Charlotte's sisters were either living with them or visiting - Agnes Maude Thomas, a re-toucher, and Jeaney Delamore Thomas.

They had moved along the street to No. 33 by 1911 and one of their children, Lilian Alice Gale, has died.   She died, aged 10, in 1905.

The children of William Schomberg Gale and Eliza Mary Charlotte Thomas were:
1) Lilian Alice Gale, born 6th September 1894 at 2 Barrington Street, who died of tubercular meningitis, aged 10, on 25th February 1905.
2) William Norman Gale, born 27th March 1896 at 2 Barrington Street.
4) Mary Adelaide Gale, born 4th November 1897 at 3 Annie Terrace, New Street - she married, on 11th December 1919, a motor engineer, Richard Walsh of Ivy Cottage, Clarina, the son of carpenter George Walsh.  Henry Gale and Violet Ruttle were the witnesses.
5) Henry Schomberg Gale, born at 3 Annie Terrace on 6th August 1899 - a motor engineer of 8 Grattan Villas, he married Maimie Bridget Horan of 6 Catherine Place, the daughter of a farmer Denis Horan in Limerick on 16th March 1928;  one of the witnesses was Jenny Delamore Thomas.

Jennie Delamore Thomas, Elizabeth Mary Charlotte's sister, is still there with them in 1911, single and working as a chemist's assistant.  She was 23, although ten years earlier, the census return had her at 19.  In 1911, Elizabeth Mary Charlotte's other sister, Agnes Maude Thomas, was visiting the home of the brother of her Cork-born fiancée, the photographer, Victor William Couche, who she would subsequently marry on 18th April 1911.  In 1911 Agnes Maude Thomas was living at 8 Grattan Villas, while Victor William Couche was living at 3 Davis Street, Tipperary.  He named his father as Richard Couche, an auctioneer.  The wedding was witnessed by Richard George Couche and by William Schomberg Gale.
It seems this couple emigrated to York, Ontario, where a son, also named Victor William Couche, was born in 1912. There is also records of a Canadian solder of this name who was held prisoner by the Germans during the Great War.

William Schomberg Gale's son, William N. Gale, may well have married his first cousin, Vida Adelaide Cooke (the daughter of Alice Maria Gale) , in Edmonton, Middlesex,  in 1919.   A mechanical engineer, William Norman Gale died aged 63 at 'The Bungalow', Ashbourne Road, Limerick, on 10th December 1959.  Patricia Gale was present when he died.

Elizabeth Charlotte Gale of 8 Grattan Villas, née Thomas, widow of William Schomber Gale, died aged 89 in Barrington's Hospital on 24th August 1959, and son, William Norman Gale, was present.

5)  Annabella Gale was born in Limerick on 22nd January 1871, and was baptised in St. Michaels on 27th January, but she died the same year.

6)  The family spent a number of years in Kerry where a son, John Thomas Gale, named after his father, was born in Cahirciveen on 25th August 1873.  John Thomas Gale, at this time, had left behind the teaching profession and was now working as a flour agent
    John Thomas Gale married Margaret Dwyer in Mount St. Joseph's Church in Roscrea,  and he converted to Catholicism accordingly.  At the time of the wedding, John Thomas Gale was living at 2 Grattan Villas, while Margaret Dwyer, a sales lady, was living at 139 George Street, Limerick.  She was the daughter of a farmer, Thomas Dwyer, and the witnesses were her sister Elizabeth Dwyer and R. Lynch.  John Thomas Gale's obituary would name his wife's father as Thomas O'Dwyer of Bansha.

Margaret Dwyer had been born in Dromline on 14th June 1877 to farmer Thomas Dwyer and to Catherine Butler.  Her siblings were Mary Dwyer, born 31st July 1865,  John Dwyer born 6th January 1867, Catherine Dwyer born 17th March 1869, Thomas Dwyer born 10th August 1873, and Bridget Dwyer born 25th February 1874.
Margaret's father had died by 1901 when the census recorded the widowed Catherine Dwyer still living in Dromline, Bansha, with three of her unmarried children, John, Thomas and Eliza.

 John Thomas Gale worked for the Post Office, and by 1911, the couple had two children, 4-year-old John Joseph Gale, and 2-year-old Henry Norman Gale.  The Limerick Chronicle records a third child - 'Birth 9th April 1916 - 'Gale - On the 9th inst., at 5 Crescent-avenue, the wife of J. T. Gale, of a son.'

    John Thomas Gale died young of TB at his wife's home of Drumline, Tipperary, on 13th August 1918 and his obituary appeared in The Limerick Chronicle of 15th August 1918:
    'Death of Mr. J.T. Gale:  We deeply regret to announce the death of Mr. John  T. Gale which took place at the residence of his father-in-law, Mr. T. O'Dwyer, Bansha, on Tuesday morning.  The deceased had been ailing for some months past, and his demise at an early age has occasioned keen regret in the city, and much sympathy is extended to his wife and young family in their affliction.  He was connected with the clerical staff of the General Post Office for a period of twenty-nine years, and in that capacity was held in the highest esteem by the authorities and his colleagues. For a number of years he was president of the Limerick Branch of the Irish Association of Postal Clerks, a position in which he displayed an intimate knowledge of the working of the service, and in which his counsel was always accepted by his confreres. Mr. Gale was brother-in-law of Mr. Thomas O'Dwyer, Chairman of Tipperary Boards of Guardians, and manager of Bansha Creamery.  The funeral took place today, for internment in the family burying-place, Tipperary, and was largely attended.'

(Note:  Bansha, where the younger John Thomas Gale died in 1918, is only a few kilometers away from Kilshane where Henry Culbert, who was John's maternal uncle, was living when he married Anne Allen in 1869.)

Following the death of John Thomas Gale in 1918, his widow, Margaret, moved to Dublin with her four children, details of whom follow:

•     John Joseph Gale/Jack, who was born at 5 Crescent Avenue on 6th March 1907 and who died in l982;  he married Maureen Byrne of Dublin. They had three children -John Gale, Marguerite Gale,and Elizabeth/Betty Gale.
•     Henry/Henry Norman Gale, who was born in Crescent Avenue on 2nd June 1908 and who died in l982;  he married Margaret/May Lalor of Laois IN 1949. Their four children were Helen Gale, Elizabeth/Liz Gale, Marian Gale and Anna Gale who died in l977 aged 18.
•     Thomas/Tommy Gale, who moved to live in the UK where he married a widow, Sylvia. His stepdaughter was named Pauline.
•     Catherine Patricia Josephine/Pat Gale who was born at 5 Crescent Avenue, Limerick, on 17th March 1913, and who married Billy Kennedy of Blackrock, Dublin, and had five children before moving to Chicago, USA.  Their children were Tony Kennedy, Tommy Kennedy, Brendan Kennedy, Anne Kennedy and Margaret Kennedy.

7)  Harriet Annabella Gale was born in Cahirciveen on 22nd October 1875, where her father was working as a flour agent.

She married William Thomas Ormston, a post office worker from Clare.  He had been born on 25th November 1867 to John Ormston and Frances Taylor of Corrofin.
Harriet/Harriat and William Thomas Ormston must have married on 14th September 1897.  William Thomas Ormston was a postal clerk of Sir Harry's Mall, Limerick, and the wedding was witnessed by John Thomas Gale and Fannie Ormston.

By the time of the 1901 Census they are living at 25 Mulgrave Street;  by 1911, they were living at 14 St. John's Avenue.  Their children were:
1)  Frederick William Ormston, born 1899.  A daughter was Joan, whose brother, Jack Ormston, maintained that there was some sort of early family link, via the Gale family, to the family of Charles Stewart Parnell.  This seems to bear up the theory that this Gale family were related to the family of Laois/Carlow, generally referred to as the Ashfield Gales.
2) Ethel Victoria Ormston, born at 5 Geraldine Villas on 8th May 1900, and who would die aged only 28 at 2 Grattan Villas on 4th August 1928; her brother, Frederick, was present when she died.
3) Vida Annabella Ormston, born in 7 Grattan Villas on 4th May 1902, died 1925.
4) Mary Frances Ormston, born at 7 Grattan Villas on 3rd October 1903.
5) Hilda Alice Ormston, born in 3 Roxboro Villias on 13th April 1906 -  she married James Gleazor on 7th October 1931 in Limerick.  He was the son of a farmer, John Gleazor, and the wedding was witnessed by Robert Morehead and Mary Frances Ormston.
6) John Henry Ormston, born in Mulgrave Street on 14th July 1908.
7) Arthur Cecil Ormston, born 1910 - he married Doris E.L.Gibb in 1944 in Limerick.

Harriet's sister, Rebecca Adelaide Burrowes, lived at No. 10, while her other sister, the widowed Lizzie Hill, lived at No. 12.   The sisters' parents, John Thomas Gale and Maria Culbert, lived around the corner at 27 Mulgrave Street. Yet another of the Gale sisters, Francis Eakins and her family, were living at 29 Mulgrave Street, while their brother, William Schomberg Gale and his family, were at 33 Mulgrave Street.

    Funeral Report for William Thomas Ormston,  28th February 1918, Limerick Chronicle:
'Funeral of W.T. Ormston.  The funeral of the late Mr. W.T. Ormston, GPO, whose premature demise is so deeply regretted by a wide circle of friends in the city, took place on Tuesday afternoon from his residence,  2 Grattan Villas, to St. Mary's Cathedral.   It was very large and representative, and testified to the deep sympathy  felt with the widow and family of the deceased in the great loss they have sustained.  The Post Master, Chief Clerk, Superintendent of Telegraphs, and the general staffs were represented, and the wreaths of which there were many, included those from the Post Office, with which the deceased was connected for over thirty years,  and where he was held in the hightest esteem and regard.
    The chief mourners were - Fred, Cecil and Jack Ormston, sons;  Charlie Ormston, brother;  James and William Ormston, uncles;  William, Thomas and Henry Gale, James Burrowes, and John Galbraith, V. Moorehead, brothers-in-law;  Fanny, Mollie and Suzie Ormston, sisters;  Vida, Ethel, May and Hilda,  daughters of the deceased;  Mrs. Hill, Mrs. Gale, Mrs. Burrowes, and Mrs. Eakins, sisters-in-law.
    Canon Waller was the officiating clergyman.'

Notes on the chief mourners mentioned above - William Thomas Ormston's sister, Deborah Ormston, married John Newton Galbraith in Limerick in 1895;  Deborah died on 18th Noember 1905 at Claighmore Cottage, Ballinasloe, Co. Galway.  Her husband, John Newton Galbraith, had been born here in 1870 and died there in 1932, although there is no sign of them on the Irish censuses of 1901 and 1911.

The parents of William Thomas and Deborah Ormston were John Ormston and Fanny Taylor who lived at Sand Mall, Limerick City.  John Ormston had been born in Co. Meath in about 1839, and was a police sergeant for 34 years, his final station before retirement being at Ardnacrusha.  His wife, Fanny Taylor, had been born in 1841 in Roscommon.  The census shows three daughters living at home in Sand Mall with John and Fanny Ormston, and names them as Sophie, Fanny and Mary.   Their brother, Charles Ormston, a clerk in a milk factory, was also present in the household.  There is no sign of the sister named Suzie but she was present at her sister's funeral in August 1911.

By 1911, John and Fanny are still alive in Sand Mall, Limerick, living with their three daughters, and two granddaughters are visiting - 12-year-old Edith Mabel Gelbraith of Galway (the daughter of Deborah Ormston and John Newton Galbraith/Gelbraith) and 10-year-old Ethel Victoria Ormston of Limerick City (the daughter of William Thomas Ormston and Harriet Annabella Gale.)

The brother of William Thomas Ormston, John Samuel Ormston, died on 8th July 1893 at the Ormston family home,  Round House, Sir Harry's Mall, Limerick.  He was named in the paper as the second son of John Ornston.

The sister of William Thomas Ormston, Sophie Ormston, was killed in a cycling accident in Limerick and died in Barrington's hospital on 12th August 1911.  Aged 34 tt the time of her tragic death, she had been working in Miss Taylor's newsagents in Cecil Street. Amongst the mourners in St. Mary's Cathedral were her uncle, William Ormston of Newmarket-on-Fergus near Shannon,  V. Moorhead and John Galbraith of Ballinasloe (brothers-in-law).  There was a huge list of  mourners amongst whom were the following who could be family members - J.W. Hill,  J. Burrows,  J.E. Galbraith,  C. Hill,  C.W. Baldwin,  W.J. Moorhead,  A.H. Baldwin.

(Notes on the above Baldwins - C.W. Baldwin and A.H.Baldwin were Charles William and Albert Henry Baldwin,  both the sons of Marianne Todd and John Augustus Baldwin who had married in New Ross, Wexford, in 1864. John Augustus Baldwin was the son of John Augustus Baldwin of Headview, Lismore, Waterford, who was closely related to the Baldwin family of Mountpleasant, Mossgrove and Lisnegatt, Co. Cork.  I have no idea if the mother of John Thomas Gale, Eliza Baldwin, was related to this same Baldwin family, or if both families were merely members of the same church congregation in Limerick  - if there was a relationship, however, then perhaps it was via a Samuel Baldwin, since Eliza Baldwin and William Gale named a son as Samuel Baldwin Gale.)

8)  By 1878 John and Maria Gale had returned from Kerry to Limerick and have settled there permanently.   Their daughter, Fanny/Frances Gale, was born here on 19th April 1878.
   
Frances Gale married Henry Albert Eakins, a neighbour on Mulgrave Street, in Limerick on 24th May 1904.  Henry Albert Eakins of 4 Grattan Villas was an accountant, the son of a policeman George Eakins.  The wedding was witnessed by Agnes Thomas and Ernest William Augley.  Henry Albert Eakins' 1938 registration of death named him as an ex-soldier.

From The Limerick Chronicle:   Marriages (May 1904) - 'Eakins and Gale - On the 24th instant, at Trinity Church, Limerick, by Rev. J.T. Waller M.A., Henry Albert, youngest son of the late George Eakins of 4 Grattan Villas to Frances (Fanny), youngest daughter of  J.T.Gale, 2 Grattan Villas.'

Frances Gale, second from right - photo supplied by her granddaughter, Brid Carroll.

Three years earlier Henry Albert Eakins had been living with his widowed mother, the Cork-born Agnes Eakins, at 22 Mulgrave Street.  Frances Gale was living with her family at No. 20, which was possibly right next door, if all the even numbers ran along one side of the street, with the odd numbers on the opposite side of the street.

Henry Albert Eakins had been born in Caherconlish, Co. Limerick, on 11th December 1868 to George Eakins and Agnes Catherine Whyte who had previously been living in Cork.

George Eakins, son of John Eakins, married Agnes Whyte, daughter of Andrew Whyte, on 9th June 1857 in Whitechurch, Co. Cork.  (Other children of this Andrew Whyte of Cork might be the George Whyte who married the widow Catherine Louise Berry, daughter of Philip Hennessy, in Shandon, Cork, on 30th November 1858;   also, perhaps, Jessie Whyte, who married William McLain/McLean, the son of Richard McLain, in St. Peter's, Cork, on 2nd October 1851.)

A daughter of George Eakins and Agnes Whyte was probably the Agnes Russell Eakins who married James Smith in 1877 in Limerick - not only does the name Russell appear in the next generation, but a granddaugther named Agnes Smith was living with the widowed Agnes Eakins in 1901.

George Eakins, the father of Henry Albert Eakins, worked as a member of the Royal Irish Constabulary -  in 1867, following Fenian trouble in Kilmallock, Co. Limerick, Sub-Constable George Eakins gave evidence of the local uprising to the government enquiry which followed. He stated that he had served 20 years as a policeman, the last 7 of which had been in Kilmallock.  Two sons were born while he was stationed there, and these births were noted in the papers of the day - on 4th March 1862, George Eakins of 26 Leitrim Street, Cork, R.I.C. Kilmallock, had a son.  On 4th October 1865 another son was born in Kilmallock to George Eakins.

Constable George Eakins was the son of a John Eakins, the only one of which I can find is John Eakins of Cavan.  Other possible sons of this Cavan John Eakins were the John Eakins who married Margaret Rusk, daughter of John Rusk, in Shercock, Ballieborough, Cavan, on 1st August 1851;   also, Alexander Eakins, who married Mary Jane Sloan, also in Shercock, the daughter of William Sloan, on 16th August 1853.  The census records several other Eakins of Cavan who had joined the Royal Irish Constabulary.

 In 1901, the son of George Eakins and Agnes White, Henry Albert Eakins, was living with his widowed mother in 22 Mulgrave Street and was working as a bacon merchants' clerk.  A 16-year-old granddaughter, Agnes Smith, was also living with the widowed Agnes Eakins.

 'At her residence, 4 Grattan Villas, Limerick, July 14th, 1917, Agnes, widow of the late George Eakins, aged 84 years.  Funeral for St. Munchin's.'

By 1911 Henry Albert Eakins and his wife, Frances Gale, had moved to 29 Mulgrave Street along with Henry's widowed mother.
The children of Henry Albert Eakins and Frances Gale were:

a) Eric George Eakins who had been born at 4 Grattan Villas on 2nd November 1905. He married Bridget Collins in St. Patrick's, Dundalk, in 1943, and died on 14th June 1967, having had three children, Brid Carroll, Marie and Harry.  Eric George Eakin's wife, Bridget, died on 10th March 1970.  The family of Eric and Bridget Eakins lived at St. Mary's Terrace, Limerick, and their daughter, Brid Carroll, kindly shared her family information and photos with me.

The 1943 wedding photo of Eric George Eakins and Bridget Collins, with the groom's brother, Desmond Eakins, and the bride's sister, Peggy Collins, standing at the back.

Eric George Eakins and Bridget Collins with their children, Harry on his mother's knee, Marie, and Brid with a bow in her hair.  All family photos kindly shared by Brid Carroll.

b) Jessie Irene who had been born at 4 Grattan Villas on 22nd July 1907; she married Don Colvan and had a son, Harry Colvan.
c) Violet Whyte Eakins who had been born at 4 Grattan Villas on 2nd July 1903; she would marry Desmond Wallace.
d) Agnes Russell Whyte Eakins was born at 4 Grattan Villas on 3rd March 1913; she never married.
e) Henry Albert Eakins on 6th August 1914.
f) Desmond Eakins who married Peggy Walnut and had three children, Joan, Jillian and John.

Henry Albert Eakins, died aged 66 on 15th December 1938 at Bengal Terrace on the Limerick Road. His death was registered by a J.B. Eakins, and the death registration noted the deceased as an ex-soldier.


Constable George Eakins and Agnes White/Whyte, following their move to Limerick, had a second son, Andrew James Eakins, who was born in about 1864.  A stationer, on 19th June 1890, he married Eliza Amelia Thomas, daughter of William Thomas.  had been born in Launceston, Cornwall, in 1867, and who may possibly be related to the wife of William Schomberg Gale, Mary Charlotte Thomas. In 1890 stationer Andrew James Eakins was living in Sir Harry's Mall, Limerick, while his bride, Eliza Amelia Thomas, was living at George Street. Their wedding witnesses were George Thomas O'Neill and the groom's brother Henry Albert Eakins.
Eliza Amelia Thomas was the daughter of William Thomas and Helen Rosa Haddy  (born Devon 1836) who had married in Devon in 1862.   Other children were Benjamin Thomas, born Cornwall 1866, and Helen Jane Thomas born Cornwall 1863.   By 1871, the father, William Thomas, was either dead or absent;  his wife, Helen Rosa Thomas, died in Limerick on 20th November 1919, and her will was proved by her son-in-law, Andrew James Eakins.

Andrew James Eakins, brother of Henry Albert Eakins, bought McKerns Printers in Limerick in 1902; following his death in 1945, McKerns was run by his daughter, Lilian Whyte Eakins.  Her sister, Ethel Rose Eakins, worked in Guinnesses, Limerick, but the Eakins sisters left Limerick in 1955, and went to live with another of the sisters, Ina Russell Eakins, in Bangor, Co. Down, who had married James Hayley Field in 1932.  Another of the Eakins sisters, Olive Maude Eakins, married George Johnston McNeill in 1918 in Dublin.

A third son of Constable George Eakins and Agnes Whyte was the accountant, George William Eakins, who married Maria Cleary Hogan, the daughter of farmer, John Hogan, in St. Michael's Catholic Church in Limerick, on 30th April 1938.


9) Finally, the couple's youngest son, Henry Fitzgerald Gale, was born in Roches Street, Limerick, on 8th May 1881.
    He worked as a sorting clerk and telegraphist in the Post Office.  On 25th April 1931, Henry Gale, accountant, son of schoolmaster John Gale, married Mary Catherine Gibbons, a nurse in the Limerick Mental Hospital, the daughter of Daniel Gibbons of the Royal Artillery;  this was witnessed by John Geaney and Margaret McDermott.

http://alison-stewart.blogspot.ie/2012/09/the-family-of-john-thomas-gale-of-laois.html