The Mystery of the Misses Bonnynge

Last October, while I was in Dublin, I took a trip to Glasnevin Cemetery on the northside of the city to visit some family graves.  My great-great-great grandparents, Laurence and Bridget (Treston) O'Reilly, are buried there as are four of their children and two of their grandchildren.  While those plots are unmarked, as many in the cemetery are, I did find a marker on another plot that raised some questions.

In the area of the old chapel (since demolished), the section of graves are still called the Chapel Circle.  My great-great-great grandfather's predecessor at Mount Albion House in Dundrum, James O'Reilly, and his brother, Dr. Laurence O'Reilly, as well as a presumed sister of theirs, Bridget, are all buried in the Chapel Circle section.  Now, I still haven't determined the precise relationship between these O'Reillys to mine, but my working theory is that James and Dr. Laurence are most likely uncles of my Laurence.  The surprise here is that the grave was marked after all (a previous attempt my parents made on an earlier trip had not found the correct location, it turned out), and not only that, the O'Reillys weren't alone.  The marker on the grave reads:

Photo © the author, 2016

Erected in memory of the
MISSES BONNYNGE.
By DOCTOR O'REILLY - Ratoath.
In life respected
In death regretted.
May they rest in peace amen.
J. Farrell F^t 1841

I knew this was the right O'Reilly, because he was a doctor and did live in Ratoath, but the Bonnynge name was wholly unfamiliar to me.  So who were they?  How were they connected to the O'Reillys?  Once I'd arrived back in the States, I emailed the cemetery's office and received confirmation that the O'Reilly plot and the Bonnynge plot were, in fact, one and the same.  I've also since uncovered some more information that superficially answers one of my initial questions - who they were.  That's an entire post in itself, though, so it will have to wait.

Additional historical note: the bottom left of the inscription is the mason's signature.  The "Ft" is probably an abbreviation of the Latin "fecit" - literally "J. Farrell made it".  To this day, the company of Farrell & Son continues to make headstones and monuments just down the road from the cemetery.  The Irish Times published an article on the history of the company back in 2008.

Post-Travel: Dublin

St. Kevin's, Harrington Street, Dublin

As you might have noticed, I've been on hiatus for quite a while.  Longer than I realized, even!  I spent quite a bit of last year prepping for a trip to Ireland at the end of the year, in which I managed to achieve some of my genealogical goals there, missed out on others, and created a few brand new ones.  Since then I've had a bit of a travel hangover, and subsequently got more than a little distracted with current events in America, but the less said of that, the better.

Accomplished: visiting one of the neighborhoods my Dublin ancestors lived in, walking down their streets and even stepping inside their parish church, St. Kevin's (pictured).  This one was a big one for me!  I also got to visit Glasnevin Cemetery, where many of them are buried, and got to see their gravesites as well as the graves of many people who are important to Irish history.

Missed out: visiting the National Library, National Archives, and Registry of Deeds.  Unfortunately, none of the days I was in Dublin corresponded with times any of these repositories were open.  The only weekday we were there was Halloween, which is a big public holiday in Ireland and so they were all closed that day too.  Next trip over I'm definitely staying in Dublin during the week!

Stained glass window, St. Kevin's

Brand new research goals:  I'll leave those to their own posts!  That's honestly been part of the problem picking up again and blogging, I can't decide where to even start.  Let's just say I've uncovered some interesting new research angles to explore with my Irish relatives, including a recent discovery of additional ties to Dublin in another branch of the family.  Of course, my main goal is to go back!  Dublin is an incredible city, and despite it not being "home", thanks to spending much of the last few years researching it, it felt comfortable and familiar.  There's so much to see and do there as well.  It truly is a global treasure and I couldn't help but understand why so many people in my family made it their home.

Photographs of St. Kevin's © the author, 2016.