Catherine of Scarriff

Hi Dianne

I'm afraid the 2 sources I tried for Catherine were no help.

www.rootsireland.ie/ has Scarriff R C records but requires a surname to search.

The RC registers at the nli have Scarriff baptisms but they only start in 1852; I suspect the roots records do too. Ancestry & findmypast do also.

Sorry!

Col

Hi Col

Thanks for looking for me. Our next option will be to try to find the marriage record. I think she was a Catholic. Their first child, Sarah Harper, was born in Ireland in 1859. Possibly Dublin or Belfast.

regards

Dianne

Hi Col

Thanks for looking for me. Our next option will be to try to find the marriage record. I think she was a Catholic. Their first child, Sarah Harper, was born in Ireland in 1859. Possibly Dublin or Belfast.

regards

Dianne

No luck with the marriage record but this COULD be Sara if John was a soldier? (Be aware a year's difference in a record is extremely common)
Name:Sarah Harper Date of Birth:
Date of Baptism:18-Oct-1858Address:
Parish/District:CURRAGHGender:FemaleCountyCo. Kildare
Denomination:Roman Catholic
Father:John HarperMother:Kate MiliterOccupation:1st Batt. 16th Regt.
Sponsor 1 /
Informant 1:William Chatters Sponsor 2 /
Informant 2:Marianne Alcock 

Col

Col I could KISS you right now !!!! That is them. Just yesterday I found the miltary records with his Battalion and Regiment when he was based in Kent in 1861 census.

My cousin Diane Harper is John's great-grandchild. She will be over the moon with excitement to finally find Kate (Catherine)'s maiden name. 

Any chance of finding a birth record for Kate Militer ? 

regards Dianne

Hello again

I just remembered this couple returned to Newry, Ireland circa 1871 according to Military records of 1871 and another daughter (6th child) was born there about 1872. Her name was Geraldine Harper. The family moved back to England around 1873 when John was about 40 and I think he retired from the army soon after as he was working as a butler in the 1881 census.

Geraldine was baptised at St. Paul's Catholic Parish in Dublin city on the 3rd April 1872, date of birth is noted as the 1st March. Parents are John Harper and Catherine Winter and residence as 'Royal Barracks'.  I had a search for a possible civil birth records but there were no likely matches.

No luck with Militer so thought it might be a mistranscription but then got Shane's post re Winter but still no luck.

Couldn't find the marriage to get her father's name either.

No kiss today!

Col

Gday Col and Shane Thank you for the info about Geraldine. Big kiss for Shane today :)

I did a little bit of digging on the Irish websites this morning and I think there is a possibilty that Catherine's maiden name was Miniter.  According to UK census records she was born in Scarrif. Miniter is the closest matching name to Militer that I could find in that region and there were 2 families of that name listed in Feakle in 1855 . Could explain the "Winter" - easy mistake in those days with phonetics and hard to read handwriting. The 1827 Tithe records also mention Miniter's living in Feakle parish near Scarriff - Edward and John of Curacloonbutlen. Maybe one of them is her father.

I had a look at the Curragh Camp RC church records where Sarah was baptised but couldn't find a matching marriage record there. Bit of a mystery. The Feakle Parish records don't seem to start until later dates.

Dianne

My records show that Geraldine Harper was born in Dublin, but one of the threads here mentions she was born in Newry.   Does anyone have any documentation to confirm where she was born please?   John Harper has a record in the Royal Hospital Chelsea . His service number was 3057. He later became a butler. Would be interested in any further information about these people - thanks guys!