Connolly Or Crotty Which Is It? In Which I Finally Find Them...Maybe

 

     The photograph above was taken at the old Holy Cross Cemetery in Tramore, County Waterford.  The inscription reads:  

Erected By Nellie Crotty   Cullen Castle   In Memory Of Her Father David Died Nov 1st 1892    Her Mother Bridget Crotty (Nee O'Brien) Died Sep 11, 1878 Aged 57     Also Her Children Bridt Connolly Died April 15 1898 Aged 21   David Connolly Died May 3 1907 Aged 28   Patrick Connolly Died In America

     The picture, along with several others, was taken and sent to me by the obliging parish priest Father Michael.  The one below shows a full view of the stone from the side with the cross atop it and the church in the background.

     It's a nice stone, but like so many others erected years after the sad events, it contains errors.  The only David Crotty I could find in Civil Registrations died in 1886, not 1892 but the informant was "Ellen Crotty, daughter".  David was the brother of my third-great-grandmother Honora Crotty Power who immigrated to America as did her brother John Crotty.  The only Bridget Crotty I can find that comes close to fitting David's wife died in 1889 and was 78 years old, not in 1878 at age 57.  That's a big difference and may well be a different Bridget Crotty though it was an uncommon name in the Tramore area.  I didn't even set date parameters and still only eight hits were generated.  This lady passed away in the union hospital, there is no identifying information like an address and the informant was an employee but I have my doubts Bridget would have ended her days in the workhouse with a husband and her daughter Ellen, (aka Nellie), to care for her.  

     Ellen's children were a big stumbling block.  After searching for them for days I found nothing.  Which is odd considering their births and deaths were well within the time frame for civil registration.  I had an old baptism record for David Connolly, who was born to David Connolly & Ellen Crotty in April of 1876 in Cullen Castle, I'm sure he's my fellow, but not a thing for the other two children.  Using the dates on the tombstone I looked fruitlessly for their birth and death registrations.  Along with those for their parents Ellen and David Connolly-- nothing at all came up.

     Today, having run out of options, I did a search for Ellen's daughter Bridget Connolly using the surname Crotty, and up popped Bridget Crotty who died 1899 in Summer Hill, Tramore, aged 20.  That's pretty close to the "1898 aged 21" on the stone.  And, the informant was Ellen Crotty, mother. 

 I tried the same trick with David Connolly and found this--  David Crotty, died in Tramore May 18 1906 aged 29, instead of "May 3 1907 aged 28".  Informant?  His mother Ellen Crotty.  David and Bridget's registrations say they both died from tuberculosis.

     I made an attempt to find Patrick Connolly or Crotty in America, concentrating my search on the Farmington New York area his Crotty aunt and uncle had immigrated to but was unsuccessful.  I wonder if no death date for him appears on the stone in Tramore because he was still living when it was made but his mother wanted his name included?  I'm puzzled by all of this; I can't imagine why the children's surnames were changed, if indeed they were, and the dates for the older deaths are so off.  On the other hand, it appears Ellen was illiterate and it's easy to lose track of dates...