Person:Susan Wilson (23)

Susan - (this user's grandmother) - was a warm lady, who loved children. She was fun and entertaining, with twinkling brown eyes, and must have been beautiful in her youth.

Susan reminisced often, in her soft, Westmeath accent - of the good times enjoyed so much in childhood. She was obviously much loved by her parents, and one imagines that they too were fun people, passing on the gift of humour to her. The family lived in rural Ireland, on a farm on the Townland of Hiskinstown, near Delvin, Westmeath. The farmhouse was a traditional, small cottage, with oil lamps and a turf fire. The well was opposite the cottage, on the other side of the road.

Susan was the youngest, and the only girl - she said her brothers nicknamed her 'Stumpy'.

The young Susan played the piano, as well as turning the pages for the organist at Delvin Church of a Sunday. At their home, friends would gather for singalongs, around the piano. Of course, Susan helped a great deal on the farm, and feeding the chickens was her particular responsibility. She later joked that the reason she had long arms (she really did) was because of carrying milk churns! School was three miles away, and she said she walked there and back across the fields.

Protestant Susan married Catholic Patrick in October 1911. Their first home was a large one called Battstown House, on the Townland of Battstown, near to Hiskinstown. The young family, with the first two children, moved to Everton, Liverpool so that Patrick could easily reach home when on leave from fighting in WW1. Later they moved to Eastham in the Wirral - not far away.

As a mother, Susan made all the children's clothes, including suits for the boys.

Her father, William, always promised to leave her the cottage - 'Hiskinstown House' - but in adulthood she became content in Liverpool and did not wish to return to Westmeath and Hiskinstown. Apart from the excellent education available to her children in the city, she was probably unwilling to part with such comforts as mains water, gas and electricity!

Widowhood came tragically early, and Susan was actually a widow for much longer than she was a wife. Her eldest daughter, Nancy, returned to live with her, after separating from her husband, and they remained together.

Nancy and Susan moved to a rented flat in Bradford, England after a promotion took Nancy there. In the period after Nancy retired, they lived in a council house in the village of Barrow, near Susan's son Arnold and his wife Florence, and this is where Susan died, a year after suffering a stroke which had left her bed-bound. At the time of writing - 2018 - that house has recently been renovated, and is looking really smart.

Susan's Confirmation Certificate

1. ↑ Personal Knowledge[User Helen-HWMT].

   Susan was my grandmother, and well known to me.

2. ↑ Cert: birth Wilson 1893 Susan.

   Printed in Gaelic and English, this 1972 copy of Susan's birth certificate states that she was born 1 Jun 1893 at Hiskenstown, Delvin, Westmeath, Ireland, and that her parents were William Wilson of Hiskenstown, a Butler, and Anna Maria Wilson formerly Mc Daniel. The informant was Hannah McDaniel, an Aunt who was present at the birth.

3. ↑ Personal Diary of User Helen-HWMT.

   Susan died at 6am.

4. ↑ Wilson - Death Notice: Clitheroe Advertiser and Times.

   Confirms date as 25 Feb 1982. From saved cutting; exact publication date unknown (published on Thursdays).