Birth and Death Sources for Denis McDonald (County Cavan, Ireland)

+5 votes
257 views
I have a selection of sources for the man I believe to my great Grandfather. However, these are all from the middle of his life, such as Census records, local court cases. I have a photo of the memorial plaque from St Michaels Clifferna so I have the date of death from that.  But despite searching all sorts of combinations I can't find either a birth registration or death registration on Irish Genealogy or any of the commercial sites.  Birth date is questionable, as he aged 15 years between the 1901 and 1911 census.

Can anyone help me with this please?
WikiTree profile: Denis McDonald
in Genealogy Help by Brian Stynes G2G6 Mach 2 (22.2k points)
The Irish Old Age Pension went into effect between the 1901 and 1911 censuses. As a result, many people enumerated gained many years on the 1911 census. They were working to prove they qualified for the pension. Many truly had not known their real age. My own 2nd great grandfather gained 14 years between 1901 and 1911, and he promptly lost them all again on his 1912 death record.
A couple of people had explained the background to this, and it is really interesting. I wonder what would have happened in the 1921 census if it was actually taken?

However, I just noted it in my question as a red light about the birth date not being set in concrete.

2 Answers

+6 votes
I can have a go. There maybe others more helpful than me.

If you have any information from the census, can you add it to this profile? It would save the effort to rediscover what you already know.
by Steve Thomas G2G6 Pilot (122k points)
Thanks Steve, I was just about to upload the 2 census forms, as images, but was just checking if this is allowable under Archives policy. It seems to be allowable, so I have just uploaded the first one, and the second will come soon.
Thanks Brian. The first image is informative. My first comment is that adult ages were rounded to the nearest 5 years. An apparent age increase of 15 years between 2 census 10 years apart seems unlikely, but it's possible.

Anything you can add to the profile, even as a research note, could help someone else who looks at this question.

Lesley's answer (Denis, son of Denis, age apprx 1 in 1901) is consistent with the the census.
+7 votes
Hi Brian,

I've had a look on this site  https://civilrecords.irishgenealogy.ie/  which is great for Irish research.

Looked at a few McDonalds  in Cavan. These folk may be of interest to you.

1901 Birth - Denis McDonald ( Folio No: 500)

https://civilrecords.irishgenealogy.ie/churchrecords/images/birth_returns/births_1901/01941/1750583.pdf

1933 Marriage - Denis McDonald - Bridget Clarke  https://civilrecords.irishgenealogy.ie/churchrecords/images/marriage_returns/marriages_1933/08976/5248582.pdf

1936 - Death - Denis McDonald (Folio No 231 )

https://civilrecords.irishgenealogy.ie/churchrecords/images/deaths_returns/deaths_1936/04797/4290075.pdf
by Lesley Robertson G2G6 Mach 2 (20.7k points)
@ Lesley. Well found. Denis Jr birthplace of Moylett is 1km from Denis Sr deathplace of Greaghagibney.
@ Lesley, I had the first two, but the death notice had evaded me. Not sure what I was doing in my search boxes.  Thank you.  I believe the two of them are my GTGF and GF respectively, but I have a choice of 3 father options with insufficient DNA information to pin it down at this stage. Sadly all are well deceased, and finding information about living relatives is obviously harder because of privacy issues.
Thank you and thank you @Steve for your answers.

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