Family:William Wilson and Anna McDaniel (1)

Married at Gowran, Kilkenny, Anna and William's first child was born in Co. Tipperary, the next in Co. Kilkenny, and the youngest two in Westmeath. According to census information, they didn't lose any children.

The family were very settled on the farm at Hiskinstown near Delvin, Westmeath, and it is very likely that both William and Anna Maria died there.

This was the farm where this user's father used to stay for glorious, long weeks during the school summer holidays. There was a dairy, a pigsty (very clean!) and there were chickens, but the main business was calf fattening for the Dublin market. Transport was by pony and trap/riding the pony. The land was fertile, and the house had its own well, on the far side of the narrow road. This user visited the house, which was a traditional little cottage with two bedrooms whose windows were on the ends. In this family's time, there was a dairy adjoining the back of the cottage. Fuel was peat, cut from the local bog then dried, and lighting was by oil lamps.

However, William was a butler, rather than a farmer, and this user does not know who was responsible for most of the physical farming while the children were small. Joshua took over the farm eventually.

William's niece Elizabeth Mary Milne grew up within this family, alongside the daughter Susan. (The informer was Susan. Additionally, Elizabeth Mary Milne can be seen on the 1901 census).

1. ↑ Cert:marriage Wilson 1881 W&AM.