Person:Rosanna Reid (1)

Childhood

Rosanna Reid was baptised on 1st January 1848 at Donaghmoyne in County Monaghan, daughter of a mason and builder named John Reid and his wife Julia Hanlon. The family travelled around extensively, following where railways were under construction. Less than two years before Rosanna's birth the family had been living in County Offaly (then King's County) and less than eighteen months after Rosanna's birth the family had moved on to Dundalk in County Louth. By the early 1850s the family appears to have settled in the city of Dublin. By 1870, Rosanna and her siblings and parents were living at 8 Lower Kevin Street - her sister Maria was married from that address in 1870.

Adulthood

In 1872, Rosanna's eldest sister, Margaret, was married to a Richard Farrell. Rosanna was one of the witnesses to that marriage, along with Richard's brother John. Rosanna and John would later marry each other on 27th June 1875, at St Kevin's Catholic Church on Harrington Street, Dublin. Rosanna was 27 when she married and still living at 8 Lower Kevin Street with her parents.

Shortly after their marriage, Rosanna and John moved to 19 Stephen Street, where they had ten children together. Sadly, most of the children died young - in 1911 Rosanna reported that only three of her children were still living. John was a tailor. He appears to have died some time between 1889 and 1901, as Rosanna was described as a widow in the 1901 census.

Rosanna's parents moved away from Dublin to Monasterevin in County Kildare in the late 1870s or 1880s. Rosanna's brother Michael stayed in Dublin, living with her at 19 Stephen Street. Michael was a grocer's assistant, but died at home in 1885, aged 38. Two years later, Rosanna's father John died at Monasterevin, aged 66. Rosanna's mother Julia subsequently came to live with Rosanna, and died at 19 Stephen Street on 25th October 1896.

In both the 1901 and 1911 cenuses, Rosanna was living at 19 Stephen Street. She worked as a machinist and tailor. In 1911 she had her nephew, Michael Thomas Reid (son of her brother William) living with her, along with her daughter Margaret. Her daughter Julia was still unmarried and living at 4 Abercorn Terrace, on Harold's Cross Road to the south of the city. Rosanna's sister Maria, who had emigrated to America in 1883, was staying with Julia at the time of the 1911 census, as parrt of a year-long visit back to Ireland - the only one she would make.

Rosanna's son William was in 1911 studying at the Carmelite College at Terenure, to the south of Dublin, as an undergraduate of the National University of Ireland. He later became a priest. In 1915, William emigrated to New York, at which time he gave his mother's address as 4 Aberdeen Terrace, Harold's Cross - presumably a mistake for 4 Abercorn Terrace, Harold's Cross, indicating that Rosanna must have left 19 Stephen Street and moved in with her daughter Julia.

Rosanna's three children who lived to adulthood appear not to have married. Julia and Margaret appear to have died within a few months of each other in 1925 and 1926. In New York, William intended to return to Ireland to visit his mother, but died himself in summer 1926. Thus Rosanna had outlived all ten of her children. She appears to have died in 1938, aged 90.

1. ↑ Irish Family History Foundation. RootsIreland. (Newbridge, County Kildare, Ireland), Primary quality.

   Name: Roseanne Reed
   Date of baptism / birth: 1 Jan 1848
   Parish / district: Donaghmoyne
   County: Monaghan
   Father: James Reed
   Mother: Julia Hanlon

   Although her father's name here is listed as James, it is considered this is an error. There is no evidence of a James Reid and Julia Hanlon couple anywhere else, whilst there is good evidence for John Reid and Julia Hanlon travelling around locations where railways were under construction - as was the case in Donaghmoyne (the Dundalk and Enniskillen Railway) in 1848. Rosanna's marriage records show that she was the daughter of John Reid and Julia Hanlon, thus we conclude this baptism is the right one, but that a mistake was made on her father's name. Such a mistake is understandable in light of the short period of time the family appears to have stayed in any one location.

2. ↑ Census Office. Ireland Census 1901. (National Archives of Ireland), County: City of Dublin / Parish: St Peter / Ward: Royal Exchange / Street: Stephens Street / Schedule: 19, 31 Mar 1901, Primary quality.

   Form A (about the family):
   Rosanna Farrell, head, Roman Catholic, Can Read & write, 40 [1860/1], female, Machinist Tailor, widow, born Dublin, speaks English
   Julia Farrell, daughter, Roman Catholic, Can Read & write, 21 [1879/80], female, Cashier, not married, born Dublin, speaks English
   Margaret Farrell, daughter, Roman Catholic, Can Read & write, 19 [1881/2], female, Shop Assistant, not married, born Dublin, speaks English
   William Farrell, son, Roman Catholic, Can Read & write, 14 [1886/7], male, Scholar, not married, born Dublin, speaks Irish & English
   Form B (about the house):
   Shop & Tenement
   No out-offices
   Walls of stone, brick or concrete
   Roof of slate, iron or tile
   9 rooms
   7 windows in front of house
   3 families in house
   Rosanna Farrell's household occupying 3 rooms (a John McKenna's family occupying 5 rooms and a Teresa Hall occupying one room)

3. ↑ Census Office. Ireland Census 1911. (Dublin: National Archives of Ireland), County: Dublin City, District Electoral Division: Royal Exchange Ward, Parish: St Peter, 2 Apr 1911, Primary quality.

   Address: 19 Upper Stephen Street, Dublin
   Form A (about the family):
   Rosanna Farrell, head, Catholic, Read & write, female, 58 [1852/3], Machinist, Widow, 10 children, 3 still living, b. Dublin, speaks English
   Margaret Farrell, daughter, Catholic, Read & write, female, 32 [1878/9], Shop assistant (bakery), single, b. Dublin, speaks English
   Michael T. Reid, nephew, Catholic, Read & write, male, 23 [1887/8], Drapers Clerk, single, b. Monasterevan, Co. Kildare, speaks Irish & English
   Form B (about the house):
   Dwelling & shop
   No outbuildings
   Walls of stone, brick or concrete
   Roof of slate, iron or tile
   11 rooms
   6 windows on front of house
   2 distinct families in house (Rosanna Farrell's family occupying 3 rooms, five people in the family of a John McKenna occupying other 8 rooms)

4. ↑ Deaths index, in General Register Office of Ireland. Civil Registration, Primary quality.

   d. Rosanna FARRELL, December Quarter 1938, Dublin North Registration District, Vol. 2, page 230, aged 85 [1852/3]
   (alternative death in 1931 has been ruled out - that death certificate was for a widow of a solicitor's clerk: d. Rosanna O'FARRELL, September Quarter 1931, Dublin South Registration District, Vol. 2, page 285, aged 71 [1859/60])