By Dionne Meehan
A LETTERKENNY family travelled to Scotland this week to place a headstone on their long-lost grandparents’ grave which lay unmarked for 102 years.
Following years of research, Noel Sweeney and his sisters Kathleen Ponsonby and Margaret Toner, who are all now in their 70s, said they have “found the missing link” after decades of being kept in the dark about their grandparents.
Growing up, all Noel knew was that his father was born in Scotland, his grandfather was killed in a mining accident and his grandmother passed away a few years later.
With his father and his two sisters orphaned at such a young age, they were put into a home in Scotland before eventually being taken back to Donegal by an uncle.
Becoming more curious as time went on, Noel started his own research.
“I started trying to research a bit to see if I could find out a bit more of the family history.
“You see these programmes like ‘Who do you think you are’ and they’re tracking back many generations.
“It was interesting to think that my father lost his own father at two and his mother shortly afterwards and no one quite knew what happened,” he said.
With no traces of Noel’s grandparents in the census, he enlisted the help of Dave Kenny.
Being led to a website called ‘Scotlandspeople’, Dave began searching deaths and birth registers in Scotland.
With 36 results showing up for ‘John Sweeney’, Noel said he managed to narrow it down based on his father’s age.
“Lo and behold he came up with my father’s birth cert and subsequently, a marriage cert showing my grandfather’s name ‘John Sweeney’ married to Mary Gallagher in Kilmacrennan, Co. Donegal, in 1896.
“This uncovered real data and a link in my connection that was missing for years,” he said.
Noel’s grandfather’s death cert was located next, which confirmed he was an oil worker.
“There was an oil fracking mine in Uphall, Broxburn, Scotland at that time,” he said.
Equipped with all this information, Noel was able to investigate further.
When Dave located Noel’s grandmother’s death cert, it showed she died in 1907, five years later in Uphall, Broxburn.
Being advised to search the local newspaper archives as the next step of his research, Noel began searching through the ‘Linlithrowshire Gazette’.
“I came on an accident where a man by the name of John Sweeney was injured in the Broxburn shale mine on the 16th of April 1902 and died the next day at his home in 9 Holmes Road, Uphall, Broxburn.
“This ties up a lot of loose ends that were missing all these years.
“I have seen these programmes on television and it meant nothing to me watching them, but I have to admit, when I came on a death cert for my grandfather and grandmother and birth certs for Dadda, it set me back a little bit,” he said.
With all this information under their belts, there was one missing piece of the puzzle and that was locating their final resting place.
Noel was contacted by Brendan Sweeney, who was also searching for his family.
Travelling to Uphall to help Noel with his investigations, he visited the local graveyard where he was able to locate the plot where Noel’s grandparents were buried.
However, when Noel discovered his grandparents were buried in an unmarked grave for over a century, he decided to put up a headstone for them.
“I thought to myself, there would be none of us here only for him.
“If we don’t mark this grave now, then who is ever going to do it,” he said.
Getting in touch with a local monumental mason in Linlithrowshire, Noel gathered the family to travel over for the very special day.
Travelling to Edinburgh on Monday morning along with his wife, his son and his two sisters, Noel organised the local priest to say a few words at his grandparent’s graveside.
“It was very emotional.
“It was a missing link in the chain for so long,” he said.
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