Catherine Cosgrove was the first of my great grandfather’s siblings to be born in Scotland and her birth record allows me to estimate when the Cosgrove family left County Longford in Ireland. She was the 6th of ten children born to Peter Cosgrove and Catherine Mullervy.

By the time of her birth the family had settled in the village of Newmains in Lanarkshire. There was work to be had up in the local ironworks and the village had many Irish immigrants among the population. They lived mainly in the row housing built by Coltness Ironworks to house their workers.

These small houses were home to large families and the cramped conditions would have offered little by way of home comforts. I imagine mum Catherine in particular may have longed for the rural life back in Killoe.

Catherine’s birth record shows she was born at 25 Furnace Row in Newmains. Her death record shows the same address. She was just 11 months old when she died of bronchitis.

It’s such a short and tragic life and it easy to forget about the wee ones who never got to experience life or make an impact. But I’m thinking of Catherine today.