Can you solve my Irish mystery?
QI have a copy of the baptism record of my great great grandfather, James Grennan, on 4 December 1826 in the parish of Rahan, County Offaly (King’s), Ireland. His parents were Edward Grennan and Mary Lamb. The date of their marriage in Rahan and Lynally is 18 January 1846! Why did they marry 20 years after the birth of their son James? June Grant
ABoth events are recorded in the registers of the Roman Catholic parish of Rahan and Lynally, County Offaly (formerly King’s County). The parish registers begin in July 1810, although there is a gap: baptisms, May 1816 to December 1821; and marriages, March 1816 to December 1821. They are online up to February 1880 as scanned images at the National Library of Ireland’s website nli.ie, and as indexed transcripts to 1899 at RootsIreland ( rootsireland.ie). Grennan is not an uncommon surname in County Offaly – there are 168 people with the name in the county in 1901.
I searched RootsIreland and found a number of baptisms in the period 1810–1860 in County Offaly where the father was called Edward Grennan. I checked these against the scans at nli.ie. While there were several couples, the only one in Rahan parish was Edward Grennan and Mary/Ellen Lamb. They had six recorded baptisms: Honor (24 June 1812 – mother Ellen), William (26 May 1823 – mother Ellen), James (4 December 1826 – mother Mary), Mary (28 August 1832 – mother Ellen), Sarah (15 January 1836 – mother Ellen) and William (3 January 1847 – mother Maria). Unfortunately, no home addresses were recorded. Was this one family or two? I would suggest it was two. In all likelihood, Edward Grennan and Ellen Lamb married before the parish register began in July 1810. The baptism of the second William in January 1847 is probably the first child of Edward Grennan and Mary Lamb who married a year earlier in January 1846, although no further issue is in the database. Perhaps one parent died? This would suggest that James’ mother’s name was recorded as Mary when it should have been Ellen.