One of the characters in Alan Bennett’s play ‘The History Boys’ expresses the sentiment that history is just one thing after another. (I am not repeating the exact quote. It is easily accessible on line!) And, at one level, so it is. I have tried to convey in these blogs that history has a profound…
All posts by Keith Stanley
Name mutations
Mary Cannan first appeared as a visitor in ‘Room at the Inn’. A subsequent blog (Mary Cannan) explored her story in more detail. At the time there were gaps in the story: she seems to disappear. I have investigated in more detail and now have a reasonably complete story. The key was looking for sufficiently…
More Indians
As covered in ‘Late 1915’, there were many hospitals treating wounded servicemen in Brighton. From an architectural point of view, the most interesting building pressed into medical service was the Royal Pavilion. Started in 1787 as a seaside retreat for the Prince of Wales (later King George IV), it features an astonishing mix of styles:…
Late 1915
When Patrick returned from service in India in October 1910 he went back to Dewsbury. So where did he go after insisting on his discharge in October 1915? He headed south. He went back to the town that he first saw almost exactly a year before: Brighton. Originally, he arrived on a stretcher. His recuperation…
Acceptable casualty rates?
Over time, I have delved ever deeper into the details of my Grandfather Patrick’s experience of the Great War. Many others will have conducted similar research for their relatives. The almost casual acceptance of horrifying casualty rates stands out. The scale of the losses on the first day of the Battle of the Somme is…
Algorithms
As mentioned in ‘Sue Alice McHugh and her father, John’, there are some differences in the various trees that mention Patrick McHugh. Most agree that his wife was Catherine Kelly (1833-1909). There is general agreement that he was born in 1825. But where was he born? Sligo, Cork, Mayo, Galway and Roscommon are all offered.…
Sue Alice McHugh and her father, John
The 1986 obituary for Sue says that her parents were John William McHugh and Ella Price Foster. Her father is also reported as John Edward McHugh. Is there any possibility that there are two people with very similar names? It is possible, but highly unlikely. I have already come across people who are commonly referred…
Heber McHugh
In an effort to make sure that the Mc Cune family that appears on the 1880 Census is the right one, I decided to look at Heber, aged 8. The unusual name helps at this point. The spellings continue to be variable. The 1900 census refers to Healer J McHugh in Burr Oak Township, Lincoln.…
Anna McHugh
As related in Changing Tack and McHugh & Kelly, when Catherine Kelly and her husband Patrick McHugh moved to Missouri, their daughter Anna stayed behind. She was living with her Aunt Susan. What happened to her? Anna married Dennis Kelleher in November 1881, in Cook County, Illinois. She would have been about 26 years of…
McHugh and Kelly
I am picking up on the story told in Changing Tack. Catherine Kelly married Patrick McHugh in Michigan, before moving to Missouri in 1873 with most of their children. One daughter, Anna, stayed behind. Anna McHugh stayed in Michigan with her Aunt Susan. The 1880 Census reveals that Anna was born in Michigan in 1857.…