Padraig Mor O'Gealagain said: >The only obvious answer is the Draftee got it all wrong - >didn't he/she? There is only one Co. Limerick, and >likewise, only one Limerick city. It may be the obvious answer, but it's not the only one. I've spent a lot of time over the years puzzling out in which county various Irish placenames occur. Indexing death notices from the 19th century Cork Examiner could be a challenge when it wasn't obvious where the death or burial occurred. I wish I could remember the example I'd like to give, but it was a placename that, if asked, almost any Irish genealogist would say was in county x. It was only after I had made this assumption many times that I discovered it was also the local name for a place in Cork that was not listed that way in the 1851 Index to Townlands, etc., or any other of the standard sources. The source of this Limerick/Cork puzzlement is an online database of WWI draft registrations at http://userdb.rootsweb.com/ww1/draft/search.cgi If you enter "Ahern, Norman" you will get a result that shows "his dad b. Limerick Cork Irel." which very likely is not precisely what it says on the original card, but rather what the volunteer who entered the data perceived. I can't be sure until I can get a photocopy of the original card, which by the way should be at the National Archives regional branch in Georgia. Maybe the indexer misread Limerick. Maybe it says Limekiln which was shortened from Limekilnclose and the handwriting was so bad that the only thing that came to mind for the indexer was Limerick. Keep in mind that the volunteer indexer was not necessarily familiar at all with Irish placenames. Yes, the obvious answer is that the record is in error, but when was obvious ever the primary adjective applied to Irish genealogy? -dja

On Fri, 9 Jun 2006, Dennis Ahern wrote: > Padraig Mor O'Gealagain said: > >> The only obvious answer is the Draftee got it all wrong - >> didn't he/she? There is only one Co. Limerick, and >> likewise, only one Limerick city. > > It may be the obvious answer, but it's not the only one. I've spent a lot of > time over the years puzzling out in which county various Irish placenames > occur. Indexing death notices from the 19th century Cork Examiner could be a > challenge when it wasn't obvious where the death or burial occurred. I wish I > could remember the example I'd like to give, but it was a placename that, if > asked, almost any Irish genealogist would say was in county x. It was only > after I had made this assumption many times that I discovered it was also the > local name for a place in Cork that was not listed that way in the 1851 Index > to Townlands, etc., or any other of the standard sources. > > The source of this Limerick/Cork puzzlement is an online database of WWI > draft registrations at http://userdb.rootsweb.com/ww1/draft/search.cgi > If you enter "Ahern, Norman" you will get a result that shows "his dad b. > Limerick Cork Irel." which very likely is not precisely what it says on the > original card, but rather what the volunteer who entered the data perceived. > I can't be sure until I can get a photocopy of the original card, which by > the way should be at the National Archives regional branch in Georgia. Maybe > the indexer misread Limerick. Maybe it says Limekiln > which was shortened from Limekilnclose and the handwriting was so bad that > the only thing that came to mind for the indexer was Limerick. Keep in mind > that the volunteer indexer was not necessarily familiar at all with Irish > placenames. Yes, the obvious answer is that the record is in error, but when > was obvious ever the primary adjective applied to Irish genealogy? Someone on this list kindly sent me a picture of Norman Ahern's draft card, probably off of Ancetry.com. I've put it online at the Ahern website at http://homepages.rootsweb.com/~aherns/normanahern.jpg It looks like in answer to Father's Birthplace it could possibly be read as "Limerick Lane Cork Ireland". Was there a Limerick Lane in Cork City? -dja

While the card at http://homepages.rootsweb.com/~aherns/normanahern.jpg looks like it says "Limerick Lane Cork Ireland" the street index for Cork City at http://www.corkcorp.ie/maps/ doesn't show any such street. I also checked a list of obsolete street names for Cork City and there's no Limerick Lane. -dja