Patrick Harper (~1832–~1891), Louisburgh
3× great-grandfather
Рождение: ABT 1832 · Louisburgh parish, Co. Mayo
Смерть: ABT 1891 · Louisburgh, Co. Mayo
Погребение: Old graveyard of Kilgeever, Louisburgh
Варианты имени: Pádraig Harper; Patt Harper
Patrick Harper was a small tenant farmer on the western edge of Louisburgh parish, County Mayo, where the hills run down to Clew Bay. He was a boy of about fifteen in the famine winter of 1847; family tradition says the Harpers survived it by working on the relief road along the coast and that two of Patrick's younger brothers did not.
In February 1856 he married Bridget Walsh in the parish chapel (S2). The register gives his age as 22, which would put his birth around 1834; the age at death that the family remembers points to about 1832, and we keep both versions until a baptism turns up.
Patrick never left Mayo. He saw his eldest son Michael off to Queenstown in the spring of 1880 and, as far as anyone knows, never saw him again. The family says he died 'the winter Parnell died', that is 1891; the 1901 census lists Bridget as a widow (S15, S16).