This is the second post (see Double checking – part 1 for the rest of the story) following up, and correcting, my post titled ‘Definitely related’ (Dated September 2020), in which I recorded the following:
John (born 1866, son of GGF John) is staying in Dewsbury with Catherine (b 1851-1857 – his half-sister) at the time of the 1891 census. He married Catherine (or Kate) Delaney in Dewsbury later that same year. She was born in Ireland. Apparently they met on the boat coming over from Ireland. She was heading for London but changed her plans to stay with John. She died in 1901. He died in 1932. There were three children, only two of which lived into adulthood. John (born 1898) was killed in September 1918 serving in the Army (5th Battalion, Kings Own Yorkshire Light Infantry). Bridget, more commonly known as Delia, born 1897, lived until 1964. Edward was stillborn (1900). Catherine died in childbirth.
I have obtained a copy of the marriage certificate for John and Catherine. The marriage took place on December 26, 1894, at Our Lady and St. Paulinus in Dewsbury. John is recorded as being 29, which is correct. Catherine was 25, so born in 1869. Her father’s name was Peter. The only record that I can find that is a close match to the information to hand is a birth in Belfast in November 1870. The mother’s name was Catherine McCarten. If this is the correct person, then she had at least two siblings: John (born May 1866) and Patrick (born 1868).
As previously stated, in 1891, John was living with his married half-sister Catherine Senior. Their address was 13, Back New Street. By 1894, Catherine Delaney’s address is given as Back New Street (no number recorded). One of the witnesses was Catherine Muldowney. She was living at 9 Back New Street three years earlier.
John was in Swallow Road (again, no number recorded) at the time of his wedding. This is 100-150 metres away. In 1891, John’s sister and brother-in-law (Patrick and Mary Muldoon) were living at 23 Swallow Road.
All the players in the story were to be found in close proximity to each other. It is the timeline that does not seem to fit. Catherine Delaney does not appear on the 1891 census. This suggests that she moved from Ireland to England after April 5, 1891. John and his (full) sister Mary were already living in Dewsbury at that time. In order for the first meeting to have taken place on the boat from Ireland, John would have had to go back home before returning to England. As a general labourer, this does not sound very likely. Not impossible, just unlikely.
Stories passed down through the generations are usually true in substance, but often have some details mixed up.
Footnote: the church of Our Lady and St. Paulinus was designed by Edward Pugin. He was the son of Augustus Pugin who worked on the Palace of Westminster in London. The family firm was responsible for many famous churches.