Friday 3 January 2014

Funeral Card Friday ~ Myles and Elizabeth Byrne

Not long ago, I received a copy of the memorial card for my great-granduncle Myles Byrne and his wife Elizabeth. It was found in a bible belonging to Elizabeth's God-daughter. Her daughter was kind enough to send a copy to me. Genealogically speaking, memorial cards often provide clues as to the subject’s date of death, their respective ages and their last place of residence, but it is those with photographs that I especially love! This card shows a picture of my Granny's Uncle Myles and Aunt Elizabeth.

Myles and Elizabeth Byrne, Memorial Card
Myles Byrne was the eldest child of Francis Byrne and Margaret McGrane. He was born on 15th January 1873, sixteen months before his brother James. James Byrne was my great-grandfather. Myles lived in Upper Mayor Street in Dublin’s north city for the first six years of his life. The family then moved to nearby Jane Place, off Oriel Street, where they lived for more than half a century.

In October 1897, Myles married Elizabeth Bethel in St. Agatha’s, North William St., Dublin. Myles was twenty-four years old and Elizabeth was twenty-three. Elizabeth was also the eldest child born to Patrick Bethel and Margaret Doyle, in 1874. For the first few years of their married life, they lived with Elizabeth’s parents in Clarence Street. By 31 March 1901, they had moved to 25 Upper Jane Place, where they occupied one room in a three-roomed cottage, sharing the house with another family. 


In 1911, they lived at 25 Lower Jane Place in a four-roomed cottage, where they and their growing family occupied two rooms.  Records show that Myles and Elizabeth had six children, five girls and a boy; Margaret, Elizabeth, Mary, Patrick, Kathleen, and Sarah.

Myles was a general labourer and carter by occupation.  He would have worked in the Dublin Docklands, which was then the chief port for trade between Ireland and England.  No doubt, times were poor, but the little cottages in Jane Place must have been better than the tenement conditions that many Dublin labourers found themselves in, at the time.

Myles died on 2 November 1928, aged fifty-five years, and was buried in Dublin’s Glasnevin Cemetery. He had suffered from 'cancer of the tongue' for five months before his death. Elizabeth died on 21 February 1954, just short of her eightieth birthday. She was also buried in Glasnevin Cemetery.

Ar dheis Dé go raibh a n-anam / Rest in Peace.


Sources available.

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© 2014 Black Raven Genealogy

6 comments:

  1. Hello, New to your blog and I was surprised with this post. This is because I was amazed that the pictures are on the Funeral Cards, is that something that was always done in Ireland? Here in the USA it is just a recent development. I like your blog, too bad none of the names your are searching are the names that I am searching..Happy New Year to you.

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  2. Hi Claudia, thanks for visiting my blog and for your kind comments. I’m not sure when pictures were first included on memorial cards here; certainly it seems to have been common practice since the 1950s, if not earlier. Best wishes for 2014!

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  3. Hi, your blog is the most amazing find....., Myles and Elizabeth are my grandparents, I'm the daughter of Patrick Byrne I remember that house in Jane Place and my Granny Byrne well
    My brother is also called Myles Byrne so the name lives on

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    1. Hi Lillian, lovely to 'meet' you. I would love to learn more about your grandparents, if you have any stories about them. My email address is blackraven.genealogy@gmail.com. Since I wrote this post I also discovered Myles and Elizabeth had another two children, who both died as infants, Christina born in 1903 and Jane born in 1909.

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  4. Hello,
    I believe we are related! My (Great) Aunt Kathleen was a lovely lady who eventually moved to England and lived around the corner from me. I’d see her several times a week.

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    1. Hi, I love meeting new cousins and swapping family stories. Maybe you'd like to email me?

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I'd love to hear your thoughts on this!