The 1926 Census

What we learned

Stannie and Alice were living on Morrison's Road in April 1926 — an address not recorded in Colm's research. Their eldest son Thomas went on to become a priest; for whatever reason he doesn't feature in the family history volumes, though Jenifer recalls Mavis mentioning him. Family oral history places him as the eldest of Stannie's children.

The infant listed as "Aloysius" is almost certainly Donal — registered under his grandfather's name as was the family custom, but known throughout his life by his middle name. Donal was born in August 1925 and would have been eight months old at the time of the census.

Alice lists her age as 29. She was born in April 1890, making her 35 or 36. She was seven years older than Stannie and apparently preferred not to advertise the fact.

What we learned

By 1926, Stannie's father Aloysius was 60 years old, widowed (his wife Maimie had died of TB in 1908), and boarding on Michael Street — not living in his own home. His grocery shop at 77 The Quay had been burned down decades earlier, and the family had long since scattered. The Michael Street address was not in Colm's records.

Stannie died in August 1929, just three years after this census. Aloysius outlived his son by at least a few years — the exact date of his own death has not been established.

What we learned

In April 1926, Patrick and Nora were living with Nora's parents at St Alphonsus Road — ten people under one roof, including a newborn. Mavis, who would become Jenifer's mother, was not yet born; she arrived in 1929. The census confirms what the family already knew: the Fanning and Keane households were tightly intertwined on the same road.

Edward Kane's birthplace is recorded as Mountmellick — independently confirming Colm's identification of the family as the Mountmellick Canes/Kanes, despite the surname having evolved to Keane by this generation.

The third child listed as "3 born alive, 2 living" suggests one of Patrick and Nora's children died in infancy before April 1926 — a detail not recorded in Colm's research.

What we learned

Patrick and Hannah had been married 51 years by 1926 — since 1875. Hannah's column records 15 children born alive. Colm's research traces several of them but not all; twelve had already left the household by April 1926, leaving only Catherine (42), Ellen (32), and Paul (28) still at home with their elderly parents.

Patrick's age of 73 is consistent with Colm's baptism cert date of 27 February 1853, supporting his argument against the death cert (which gave age 73 at death in 1933 — implying born 1860, which Colm considered impossible given the birth dates of his children).

What we learned

Margaret was 71 and head of the Patrick Street household. Her husband Daniel O'Neill is not present — he was likely already living at 16 Jail Street, the address recorded on his death cert three years later in 1929. The census records Margaret as "Married" not "Widowed," which is consistent with Daniel still being alive at this point.

This confirms something Colm could only infer: that Margaret survived her husband. Daniel died in May 1929 recorded as "Married," meaning Margaret was still alive then. The census is the only direct sighting of her we have — Colm found no death cert for her.

Alice, who had married Stannie in 1923 and was living on Morrison's Road, does not appear in this household. Her sister Mary Josephine (age 28) and brothers Patrick (39) and Daniel (27) were still at home with their mother.