Where did my Irish great grandmother die?

QI am trying to trace a record of the death of my maternal great grandmother, Mary Shevlin (née White), who was born c1844 in Ireland. The 1911 Irish census records Mary as a widow, living with her family in the townland of Coolremony, near Carrickmacross. I have tried to locate her after this date, but haven’t been successful. I have tried the civil death records up to 1935 for Ireland, including Northern Ireland, and have found no trace of her. I have also tried a remarriage, but have drawn a blank.

I have also tried variations in her surname, including ‘Shevland’ and ‘Shevelin’. It’s unlikely Mary would have left Ireland after she was widowed, so I would not expect her to have died on the mainland. I would appreciate any guidance you can provide on finding her death certificate.

Ken Broomfield

A Like you, I have searched for Mary’s death in Co. Monaghan on www.irish

genealogy.ie/en and https://geni.nidirect.gov. uk without success. I agree that it is possible that she moved from here shortly after 1911 to an area that is now part of Northern Ireland, because Coolremony is just a few miles from what is now the Irish border, but it is certainly possible that she also moved to Britain, perhaps with a family member. It would be worth pursuing her children’s stories to see where they ended up, and to target those areas as possible registration districts for her death, whether in Britain or Ireland.

Beyond this, there are other options to consider. Did she die after 1935? Was her forename registered correctly when she died? It might be useful to target a search by surname only, and to narrow down possibilities based on the ages of those noted as having passed away in Carrickmacross registration district.

It might also be worth searching for a burial record in the area, not a death record. Carrickmacross Workhouse’s heritage team offers some burial records online, as well as a genealogy research service (although this is currently oversubscribed), at carrickmacross workhouse.com, which might help.

Chris Paton