There are very few parish and civil records from the time before partition – most have been destroyed – so when I visited my grandfather’s birthplace, I documented all the gravestones in his churchyard. 797 souls.
Two of the graves shared my maiden name. 4 men together. A man & woman together. I started by researching the woman.
Her name was Mary Mullan and she worked as a housemaid in the townland of Bonamargy, near Ballycastle. She died at the age of 60 and never married.
On her death record, I found her sister’s married name. With her sister’s married name, I found a wedding record which gave me their father’s name, Robert O’Mullan. The same as my father’s name – but Mary’s father was a shepherd.
From there, I was able to daisy chain, record by record, until I found all 9 of her siblings. It was a hard life – 1 died of whooping cough, 1 of paralysis, 1 was crushed by a gate, some fled to Scotland.
It turns out, 5 of the 6 people buried in these 2 graves were siblings. None married.
But what of the 6th man?
Mary Mullan gave birth to Anthony Mullan over 100 years ago in the Ballycastle workhouse. She was in her late 20s, and the father is unnamed.
Given the time, the place and the fact that she worked as a housemaid until her death, I think there is no chance that she raised him. Given that he was buried with his uncles, and not his mother, it seems more likely that they did.
When I recorded their graves online, I linked them together as mother and son, and I cried for them a little when I did it.
People ask me why I do genealogy… That’s why…
Daniel William O’Mullan, a postman & my great-grandfather, is buried at St. Olcan’s with his 3 siblings. His father, my 2nd great-grandfather, Daniel O’Mullan was a shoemaker from Mount Hamilton who married a dressmaker from Moyaver called Isabella Scally, my 2nd great-grandmother. They lie together with their 4 children, under 1 stone.