Births , deaths and marriage records as well as the census records are probably my main sources of information relating to my family tree. They provide me with the names and dates I need but they don’t give me any indication of the type of people my ancestors were. Newspapers are a fabulous source of background information. This article from 1891 is a bit of a goldmine. On one day both sets of my maternal great grandparents appeared in court.

Patrick Cosgrove and Sarah Cosgrove were my granny’s parents and Daniel Brawley and Helen Keenan were my grandfather’s parents. The Catherine Keenan mentioned in the article was Helen’s sister who happened to be married to Daniel’s brother.

Also in court that day was Charles McCafferty who was married to Daniel’s sister, Elizabeth Brawley .

At the end of the article we find John Brawley and his wife. This is probably the John Brawley who died in 1892. He was Daniel’s older brother.

I’d love to know if they paid their fines or took the prison time. Given what I know their financial circumstances I suspect it may have been the latter.