In a previous post I told of how my great grandfather, Patrick Cosgrove and his friend , Edward Cooper appeared in court on a charge of serious assault. You can read about that here.

I found this newspaper article from May 1896 where it was the wives who were in trouble with the law.

Good to know that it wasn’t serious enough for them to be fined or imprisoned. I would love to know the circumstances because I’m interested in the relationship between the Cosgroves and the Coopers. Agnes Cooper died in 1897 and Patrick Cosgrove in 1901. My great granny Sarah married Edward Cooper in 1902.

Both couples had married in Dundee when they were employed in the jute mills. Edward and Patrick knew each other all their lives. That was something that surprised me when I started in my family tree. I hadn’t known of any connection between my great granny’s first and second husbands.

So were the two women friends and fighting perhaps with Mrs Colligan? Or maybe there was some jealousy between them. Had Edward paid Sarah some attention? I suppose I’ll never know but these newspaper articles really do give me a better idea of the kind of people my ancestors were. It’s not often good news!