Real Research Stories

A Soldier, a Tenement, and a Family Found:
The McDonalds of Abbey Street

Dublin, Ireland · 1896 – 1979

It started with a Commonwealth War Graves certificate and a name: Corporal Christopher McDonald, who died on 8 July 1916, age 19. What followed was one of those research conversations that reminds me exactly why I love this work.

A client reached out with a photograph of a memorial certificate, the kind issued by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission. On it: a young soldier, buried at St. Patrick's Cemetery, Loos, France. Son of Francis and Catherine McDonald, of 143 Abbey Street, Dublin.

She had one question: could I find anything about Christy and that address on the census? It seemed simple enough. What unfolded over the next 48 hours was anything but.

The conversation that started it all

This is how a lot of my research begins, not with a formal brief, but with a message, a photograph, and a family's curiosity. Here's how it went:

Amanda W████

26 Jun

Can you see if you can find anything about Christy and 143 Abbey Street on census if you have time or access please xxx

It was a tenement building so just McDonalds xxx

Sure I can look later today for you

27 Jun

1901 Census — Eccles Street, Inns Quay, Dublin

McDonald Household

Francis McDonald, 42, Head of Family
Kathleen McDonald, 30, Wife
Rosaura, 6 · Francis, 8 · Christopher, 4 · James, 3

Ireland Census 1901, NAI

1911 Census — 143 Abbey St. Upper, North City, Dublin

McDonald Household

Frank McDonald, 50, Head of Family
Cathern, 42 · Frank, 17 · Rosaura, 16
Christopher, 13 · James, 11 · Lilly · Mary

Ireland Census 1911, NAI

Looks like they moved from Eccles Street (1901) to Abbey Street. In 1901 Francis was a Tea Taster. By 1911 he was a labourer. I can send you the actual census records if you want.

Christopher was born 15th December 1896 at 1 Eccles Street. Parents were Francis MacDonald and Catherine Markey — Francis was a wine porter in 1896.

27 Jun — 12:40 PM

Who is Christopher?

I think he was Auntie Kathleen and Rosaleen's uncle Christy xxx Thank you xxx

Ahh. Do you want me to do more research and try and connect them?

27 Jun — 4:06 PM

1926 — they were still in Abbey Road. James was still at home with his parents. He was 26, born 24 Jun 1899.

27 Jun — 10:38 PM

Thank you. The marriage confirms that Nanny Catherine was actually Kathleen and that she married James. Can you find death certificates for them both or is that too hard? I remember Nanny McDonald, always cleaning stairs, so she died between 1976–1979. James died much earlier.

They had 4–5 children xx

That exchange, spanning less than three days, uncovered four decades of a Dublin family's life. And every answer led to a new question, which is exactly how the best genealogy research goes.

What the records revealed

Starting with a single name and address, here's what emerged from the Irish census records, birth registers, and historical databases:

1896
Christopher (Christy) McDonald is born on 15 December at 1 Eccles Street, Dublin. His father Francis is working as a wine porter. His mother is Catherine Markey.
1899
Brother James is born on 24 June, also at Eccles Street.
1901
The family appears in the census at 1 Eccles Street, Inns Quay. Francis lists his occupation as Tea Taster. Six children in the household including Christopher (age 4) and James (age 3).
1911
The McDonalds have moved to 143 Abbey Street Upper — a tenement building in North City Dublin. Francis is now listed as a labourer. Christopher is 13. James is 11. The family has grown.
1916
Corporal Christopher McDonald, 8th Battalion Royal Irish Fusiliers, dies in France on 8 July, age 19. He is buried at St. Patrick's Cemetery, Loos. His parents are listed on his memorial as living at 143 Abbey Street.
1926
The 1926 census shows the family still at Abbey Street. James, now 26, is still living at home with his parents Francis (69) and Kathleen (57).
c. 1930s
James McDonald marries Kathleen (known to the family as "Nanny Catherine"). They go on to have 4–5 children.
1976–1979
Kathleen (Nanny McDonald) passes away. She is remembered by the family always cleaning the stairs — a vivid, affectionate detail that no census record could ever capture.

I remember Nanny McDonald, always cleaning the stairs.

— Amanda W████, client

Why this case stays with me

What struck me about this research wasn't just the records it was the way the family's story shifted in just a few decades. Francis McDonald went from wine porter to tea taster to labourer. The family moved from Eccles Street to a tenement on Abbey Street. And in 1916, they lost their eldest son in France, one of tens of thousands of Irish men who served in the First World War.

The Commonwealth War Graves certificate sitting in her family collection wasn't just a document. It was evidence of a grief that shaped everything that came after, the family who stayed on Abbey Street, the brother James who remained at home into his late twenties, the Nanny McDonald who lived long enough to be remembered by her grandchildren.

Irish Records Worth Knowing

The 1901 and 1911 Irish Census records are fully available and searchable free at IrishGenealogy.ie. Birth, marriage, and death records from 1864 onwards are also searchable there. If your family came from Ireland, these are your first stop.

What started as one question became a family history

My client sent me a photograph of a war grave certificate. Two days later, she had a family timeline stretching from 1896 to 1979, a clear picture of where her family lived and how they lived, and the knowledge that "Nanny Catherine" was actually Kathleen the wife of Christopher's brother James, who grew up in the same tenement on Abbey Street.

This is what genealogy research looks like in practice. Not just searching databases, but following threads, asking the next question, and connecting the documents to the memories that families carry without always knowing why.

The best part of my job is the moment when a name becomes a person, and a person becomes part of a story a family can finally tell.

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