An unusual twin birth, Coolmeen 1872

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murf
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Joined: Fri Mar 20, 2009 12:58 am
Location: Qld Australia

An unusual twin birth, Coolmeen 1872

Post by murf » Sat Feb 17, 2018 1:05 am

An unusual twin birth occurred in Coolmeen in 1872 to parents Michael Ahern and Mary Brooks.
According to the Kilfiddane Parish Baptism Register, baby Bridget Ahern was born On 15 April 1872, and baptised by Rev John Stanley C.C. that same day.
Bridget's twin sister Honora is shown as born on 18 April and baptised by Rev Bartholemew Stanley P.P. Now whilst having twins born three days apart is somewhat unusual, it is not unheard of, and one must feel for poor Mary Brooks in this circumstance.
Upon consulting the civil birth register we find that Bridget has been born on the 3rd of May and younger sister Honora on the following day. This information was provided to the registrar by the father, Michael on 13th May, 28 days after the baptism of Bridget.
All persons required by this act failing to give notice of any birth within twenty-one days shall be liable to a penalty of twenty shillings.
Clare Journal Monday 14 Dec 1863.(prior to introduction of civil registration)

Perhaps Michael thought if he reported a three-day separation the registrar may have started asking awkward questions.

Jimbo
Posts: 591
Joined: Mon Aug 26, 2013 9:43 am

Re: An unusual twin birth, Coolmeen 1872

Post by Jimbo » Sat Feb 17, 2018 1:35 am

An even more unusual birth of triplets in County Limerick made the Irish American Weekly newspaper. This was in 1861 prior to the civil registration act so no reason to be suspicious.
Last edited by Jimbo on Fri Apr 13, 2018 6:55 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Sduddy
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Re: An unusual twin birth, Coolmeen 1872

Post by Sduddy » Sun Feb 18, 2018 11:57 am

Hi Murf

I imagine that one twin was born before midnight and the other in the early morning - then mother and babies began to “do well”, we hope.

My feeling is that the first twin was doing badly after birth and the priest was sent for. It may be that the mother seemed in danger of dying too and that she was anointed at the same time, but that’s an aside. You will have noticed “Conditional baptism” added to the record for some baptisms: this was usually because the baby was in danger of dying and a lay baptism was given – by the midwife very likely. But it was expected by the priest that the baby would be taken to the church at a later date for the full ceremony, and so the usual offering would be earned by the priest – who needed this income and guarded it well, not being in receipt of kind of support from the government that was issued to Church of Ireland clergy*. I am guessing that taking Honora to the church a couple of days later satisfied this expectation.
Priests were often sent for in those days and spent a lot of time on horseback. I have noticed that when twins are baptised, very often the sponsors are two women, one for each twin. When I see that, I suspect that they are the women who attended the birth and that the baptism was given in the home, the priest having been called there.

*After the disestablishment of the (Anglican) Church of Ireland came into law in 1871, the existing Church of Ireland clergy continued to receive a life annuity in lieu of revenues to which they were not longer entitled.

Here is a coincidence: just as I was reading your piece on the Ahern twins, I was transcribing the names (Patrick, Catherine and Anne) of the Crowley triplets baptised in Killard (Doonbeg) on Aug. 21, 1858.

Sheila

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