Sunday, March 15, 2015

Remembering Mary Burke on Mother's Day

Today being Mother's Day it seems appropriate to remember Mary Burke who died on December 28th 1930. As I've outlined in previous posts she and her husband John led a remarkable life in many ways. She was born before the famine in 1843 and went on to marry John at the age of 17 in 1860.  She reared 13 children, nine of whom left to live and work in America. She only ever met three of them again and lived to see four of her children die, three in the US and her son Michael (my grandfather) who had taken over the family farm in Kilmacow. The newspaper notice of the death is very sparse and gives no hint of the life she led even referring to her in the convention of the times as "Mrs. John Burke". Funnily enough, there is no mention of a funeral Mass - she is taken from the house directly to the graveyard in Kilmacow. Anyway, there was no Mother's Day in her era but if anyone deserved a bunch of flowers she did!

No comments:

Post a Comment