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| Grave of Margaret Dunning, interred 1884, and Family grave of my granduncle Michael Francis Magee, his parents Patrick Magee and Mary Dunne Magee, and sister Anne Magee Geraghty. |
This is perhaps not a mystery as such, but a series of interesting happenings which led me to uncover a brief history about an unknown person interred in the same grave as my paternal great-grandparents, grandmother, and granduncle.
A while ago, when I was getting some documents in order, for some reason I could not find the hard copy record I had created of those buried in this family grave. I had been in possession of this record since 2008 when a woman in the (then very small) reception office of Glasnevin gave me the grave number, and a list of persons interred within, namely, my grandmother, her parents, and brother Michael.
Since about 2007 the Prospect Cemetery at Glasnevin, popularly known as Glasnevin Cemetery, has been undergoing a renovation programme. In addition to renovating the grounds and building the new visitor's centre, they rebuilt their website. It is now set up with lots of good information including a searchable records section. On my misplaced record, I thought I had all of the information about who was interred in the plot, so I could have just created another hard copy record; however, I had a sort of odd feeling that I should confirm the information I had, and so I looked up the record on the Glasnevin website. When I did I discovered there was something different about the record, an extended version was offered, with more information than the reception woman had offered in 2008. Much to my surprise I discovered another person is interred in the grave with my family members. A woman was interred in the plot a full thirty-seven years before Michael Magee was laid to rest in this grave, a woman to whom the Magees may or may not be related, a woman named Margaret Dunning.
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| Full record of Margaret Dunning's interment from Glasnevin Register |
Margaret Dunning was the wife of William Christopher Dunning, an Inland Revenue Officer. Together they lived in a house at 22 Nicholas Street in Dublin, Ireland. Margaret and William had one son, Samuel, who was born in April of 1884; he was only six months old when his mother died. Margaret died on 6 October 1884 of Phthisis {Tuberculosis}; she was 24 years old. On 8 October 1884, she was interred in plot #320.5 in the St. Bridget’s section of Glasnevin.
It is not unusual that someone who is not a family member would be interred in such a grave. There are many graves of this nature in Glasnevin. Margaret Dunning's family would have paid for her to be interred, but did not purchase the plot itself. The grave would have been unmarked, and able to be reopened for other persons to be interred within. When Michael Magee died in 1921 he was interred in this grave. Only the party who purchases the plot is allowed to erect a stone. In this case the plot was purchased by those connected to the Magees, a stone was erected, and so Margaret Dunning's presence in this grave goes unmentioned on the stone.
An interesting twist to this story...
In August of 2010, one Friday I decided to take an afternoon off from researching in Dublin. I walked over to the area near Trinity College and just hopped on the first bus I saw. Along the way this bus travelled down Nicholas Street. I had no reason for photographing anything on Nicholas Street, but for some inexplicable reason I felt drawn to photograph this group of houses; perhaps I was attracted to the brilliant orange shade of the brick. Little did I know at that time that one of these houses is number 22 Nicholas Street in which young Margaret Dunning lived with her family in 1884.
*Click on photographs to view larger version.
All Materials ©Copyright J.Geraghty-Gorman 2011.
