Cathy,
I've checked some records at the National Library.
First the marriage of John Lane's parents. As already reported this took place in Monagea on 16 January 1875. Unfortubately, at this point in time, the recorder at Monagea only wrote down the names of the groom, bride and witnesses. Nothing else. I thought there might be names of their parents and their local addresses. But Monagea was a bit slow to move to the standard recording system which had been introduced in most parishes by this time.
I found baptism records for three children of Michael Lane and Bridget Barrett:
1. 28 Oct 1875 - Mary (godparents Patrick Lane and Margaret Barrett)
2. 8 Mar 1877 - John (godparents John and Catherine Barrett)
3. 19 Aug 1879 - John (godparents Patrick O'Donnell and Margaret Lane)
So, you see there are two Johns. Presumably the first John died in infancy. It was common at the time to use the same name again if the first child died, Since John is the eldest son, it's almost certain that the paternal grandfather was John. Now there is a slight complication. For the entry of the first John, it says in the margin that he married Catherine Murphy in 1913. I think this is a mistake - it should have been noted where the entry for the second John is. You can well imagine how such an error would be made - the priest (or whoever) would have had to go through the old books in 1913 to make the amendment. Obviously when they came across the first John, they reckoned that was the right one. The other thing that convinces me that your grandfather is the second John is his age in 1901 Census. He was said to be 21 then which tallies with the August 1879 birth. (Census date was the end of March 1901). In 1911 he gave his age as 31 which, again, is consistent with what we have already. Check the census record yourself. In 1901 it's house no. 20, townland of Caher Hayes, DED of Caher, County Limerick. Same in 1911 except the house is no. 9.
Now for Catherine Murphy. She was born in Cahir Hayes on 25 June 1888 and baptised in Abbeyfeale 2 days later, Her parents names are William Murphy and Johanna Brosnan. The godparents are David Brosnan and Ellen Connors. And in the observation column, it says that she married John Lane on 4 Feb1913. It even states that John's parents are Michael Lane and Brigid Barrett. So we definitely know we are dealing with the right person. As previously reported, in the entry for her marriage, her mother's name is given as Julie. But I think Johanna is correct. Likewise I think the address of Crag on the marriage record is wrong. (Crag is adjacent to Caher Hayes, so you can understand how the mistake would be made.) You can see the family on the census pages. In 1901 the Murphy's are house no. 1 and in 1911 they are house no. 3. (Same townland etc. as for her future husband John.)
Okay I hope all that is clear. By the way I came across two other Murphy-Brosnan baptisms: (i) Mary was born on 17 Nov 1883 and (ii) William on 10 Nov 1884. In the months ahead I'll be transcribing the Abbeyfeale births for the period 1880-1904 into Excel. I should come across the other Murphy-Brosnan children. When I do, I'll let you know.
All the best
Tom
