Found my late Mum's unknown brother!

[kathsgirl.48]

I can't remember exactly when my mum told me that she had a brother who died as a baby c.1922 or 1923, but she couldn't remember his name. None of my cousins knew his name either.

As the Irish birth registrations for that era don't show the mother's surname, I never imagined that I would be able to trace him.

A couple of weeks ago I found a Death Certificate on the irishgenealogy.ie/website for a Gerard Stephen Pollard who died in 1923 in Dublin. It stated that he was aged 9 mths Child of a Painter of 25 Charlemont St. Dublin. Mother Emily Pollard was the informant.

Emily Pollard (nee Brady) was my Granny's name, Grandpops was a painter and decorator by trade and the address was where Emily's father died in 1927.

I ordered his birth certificate which arrived this morning and Gerard Stephen Pollard was indeed mum's only brother and was born at the same address as mum's youngest sister Maureen!

Gerard might be gone, but now he's record in my family tree and will be remembered by all of his relatives. RIP.

[Guest]

oh how lovely , I found out by accident I had an older brother, that had died as a baby, pleased to say I found his birth and death.

[jenoco]

You must feel really good about finally finding him.

[Jill on the A272]

Glad your found your little lost lad.

I knew about my baby elder brother, but it was only when dad died in 2013 that I found he had kept the receipt for the funeral, £4 10s.

[kathsgirl.48]

Thanks for your replies. Yes, I'm over the moon to have solved the mystery of his name.

My grandparents must have been so pleased to have a son as they already had 4 daughters at that time..

I guess it was taboo to even mention his name after he had died, which seems so sad.

[kathsgirl.48]

Glad your found your little lost lad.

I knew about my baby elder brother, but it was only when dad died in 2013 that I found he had kept the receipt for the funeral, £4 10s.

That brought tears to my eyes. Heart breaking to discover the funeral receipt.

[kathsgirl.48]

oh how lovely , I found out by accident I had an older brother, that had died as a baby, pleased to say I found his birth and death.

So sad to discover by accident, an older brother. Glad you found his birth and death too.

[Lin Fisher]

How lovely for you to find this out.

I did Dads tree for his 80th birthday. Really proud of myself and the first thing he said to me was 'what about Gladys May?' Who!!

Apparently it was his elder sister who had died before he was born. His Dad would take him to the cemetery every Sunday morning.

If he hadn't said anything when would I have found out. That was 13 years ago and I now know a lot more about research so would have found out eventually but wouldn't have known how to approach him about it.

Luckily Dad is still with us and going to celebrate his 93rd birthday in 2 weeks time.