My Great-Grandfather - James Burns

I stopped by the Public Library in Pearse Street at lunch time today today in order to investigate my great-grandfather James Burns. My Mum's Dad was Patrick (Paddy) Byrne, and a son of James Burns. We are unsure of when the name changed from "Burns" to "Byrne" - I have previously written about finding the Burns family in the 1911 census returns. Pearse Street Library has a micro-fiche catalog of all deaths and burials in Mount Jerome cemetery in Harold's Cross, South Dublin.

I had to get a Researcher's card in order to access the archives, but this did not take too long and in a few minutes I was studying the Mount Jerome records for deaths and burials for 1925 - the year I was sure my great-grandfather died. It did not take too long to find a record of James Burns who died on 7th March, 1925 and was buried on the 10th March. The following image is created from a  printout taken of the record (click to see a bigger version):

The cause of death is given as "Heart failure" and he died in the old Adelaide Hospital. His age at death is given as "69" which must surely be a mistake - my records show he was born in 1874 which would have made him 51 years old at his death in 1925. He fought in the First World War, so he must have been younger. The 1911 census shows his age as 37. It's curious that he is listed as 69 - the notice is signed by his wife (Margaret) who died in 1965. The 1911 Census shows that she is listed as "Cannot read", so this may have been signed for her. James Burns is buried in Grave 33, Section A, Sub-section 414. I will endeavor to find this grave in Mount Jerome at the earliest opportunity.

My great-grandmother Margaret (Coburn) Burns is shown as living in 29 Rathmines Terrace - we know she had eight children, it must have been a struggle for her. The address might be a lodgings as the family moved to Dublin in the 1930's from Lorrha, Co. Tipperary. Strange to see this after all this time - he has been dead for 85 years.