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I guess the information / family member I found weren't of interest then.

I have now got a bit further into this mystery.
In October 1901 William Atkinson Monaghan is born and daddy is John Atkinson Monaghan, General Labourer.
In June 1902 William unfortunately dies and he is shown as son of John Atkinson Monaghan General labourer deceased, the informant was a aunt - sister of Catherine Monaghan (nee Vasey)
This would fit with the death certificate I have recieved for the soliders death, but why does Williams death cert not show John as a soldier?
Am I still ok with saying that the man who died in SA was my John Monaghan?

I was just curious about the name so I went googling.

"Atkinson Monaghan" comes from Henry Monaghan 1795 who married Elizabth Atkinson 1803, apparently. You probably know all this.

http://genforum.genealogy.com/monaghan/messages/148.html

The person who replied to that post seems to be a grx2 grandchild of your John Monaghan:

"John married a Catherine in the 1890's and they had the following children as of the 1901 census (Gateshead):-
John Atkinson Monaghan b 1892
Jane Ellen Atkinson Monaghan b 1894
Elizabeth A Atkinson Monaghan b 1896
Jane Ellen Atkinson Monaghan is my great grandmother and she married a Thomas WATSON in 1915. They had 3 children: Thomas, Robert and Stanley (my maternal grandfather)."

I wonder whether he knows anything? Or you already know him. ;)

Well done. I concur with Janey.

Ozi

Updates always appreciated, and glad that referral worked out! Well, not that you found anything new, unfortunately. Sounds to me like your deductions are pretty sound, though.

Have now had a search done at Kew and unfortunately they had nothing that could confirm or deny that this man who died while bathing in a river in natal was my missing grandparent.

however I have just realised that my man's sister was married in St Mary's Gateshead although that was 12 years before his death.
and checking back at his marriage cert in 1892 he was married in St Mary's as John Atkinson Monaghan.

Makes it more likely then that this is indeed my man, although i will never be able to prove it.

Will update my tree with the drowning as the date of death and stick a note on to say cant fully confirm

I had a look at Kevin Asplin's site for the Imperial Yeomanry as well.

http://www.britishmedals.us/files/iym.htm

has:

Monaghan, John 29204, Private 39th Coy., 10th Bn. I.Y.

Just to confuse the issue. ;)

Aha --

http://www.roll-of-honour.com/Regiments/ImperialYeomanryCompaniesBoer.html

The 39th company was from Berkshire, so that might rule that one out. Mind you, my relation in that war enrolled in Rugby, and was in a company associated with Leicestershire, so who knows?

A GR member found my relations' IY enrolment papers at Kew. If you want to PM me, I can give you her contact details.

Have now received the certificate.
It is typed, while the origial index (found in FMP) is hand written.
The origianl index appears to show a JA Monagahan but they have typed it as JH Monaghan. There is no age at death, just his number and rank.

The problem I now have is that all record for Pivate 6601 J Monaghan 4th Battalion Durham Light Infantry appear to have gone missing so I now have no obvious ways of confirming that this is my man.

Anyone got any ideas of where I go from here

Will wait for the result.

Ozi.

I have applied for the certificate from GRO Natal. Should have the results on 20th May.
Wish me luck - will post to say whether it is my man or not

I emailed the DLI following the previous post and recieved the following back

Thank you for your e-mail of 28 April 2009.

I am afraid that The Durham Light Infantry collection deposited in the Durham County Record Office, reference D/DLI, does not include the official Army service records of men who served in the regiment. The National Archives, Ruskin Avenue, Kew, Richmond, Surrey, TW9 4DU, United Kingdom; http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk holds service records before 1920. For further information, go to the homepage www.nationalarchives.gov.uk and follow the links to Start your Research: Popular Topicsand Catalogues: Information Leaflets.

An online catalogue of The Durham Light Infantry collection, D/DLI, is available on our website www.durhamrecordoffice.org.uk. In the catalogue I found the following document:

4th Battalion, South African War, 1900 - 1902

Ref No. D/DLI 2/3/8
Return of officers, non-commissioned officers, and men, of the 4th Battalion, The Durham Light Infantry, who have been killed, died of wounds, or disease, in South Africa, 1900 - 1902
(1 paper)


When I checked this return I found the following brief details:

Pte. J. Monaghan, no. 6601, died of disease on 8 April 1902, Schmidts Drift

This means that it could still be my man as the date of death is after the 1901 census.
Will have to write to the National Archives now I suppose - or annoy one of my colleagues who seems to know his way round the NA site :-)

Erin,
thanks for this - you are correct that he had a brother Matthew (as well as sisters Eleanor, Elizabeth, Margaret and a half sister jane). Sadly Matthew died at only 3 weeks old from Scarlatina.
I have birth certs for all the children and the death cert for Matthew.
Fiona

Carol Ann thanks for this information.
I will see what i can find out about John from regimental records and possibly overseas death information.
If it is my man it is the first soldier I have found who was not in the first world war.
My John doesn't have had a middle initial on his birth certificate but calls himes John Atkinson Monaghan on his children's birth certificates. having checked on find my past the man from
Durham could be a JA so he is not ruled out yet
Thanks again
Fiona

Hi Fiona

Could this be your man, there is a Private J Monaghan listed on the St Mary's Gateshead Boer War Memorial for the men who lost their lives whilst serving with the 4th Battalion Durham Light Infantry in South Africa in 1900, 1901 and 1902. I found him on the Roll of Honour for the Boer War the link as follows:-

http://www.roll-of-honour.com/Boer/

This could explain the lack of a death certificate and the marriage of his widow.

If you find a male member of the family has disappeared around this time always worth checking the Boer War casualties.

Hope this helps Carol

Ouestion - Did John have a middle name?

Nudged to bring back in view

He was born in Gateshead, married in gateshead and his 3 children were born in gateshead.
There were 2 possible matches in 1911 in newcastle (age was 40) but they were both born in newcastle so unlikely to be him.
On his wedding cert he is shown as a striker and on 1901 census he is shown as a general labourer so he could be doing anything by the time we get to 1911

Edit - ther is also a 40 year old in Stockton but he has been married to his wife for 17 years so that would be a negative again

This isn't him with wrong age?

Deaths Jun 1902
Monaghan John 0 Gateshead 10a 541

Although there is this birth

Births Dec 1901
MONAGHAN John Gateshead 10a 1032

I have the birth and marriage certificates for John Monaghan who is shown as being in gateshead in the 1901 census married to Catherine Vasey with 3 children. I also have a marriage certificate for catherine in October 1902 where she marrries a Thomas Gladstone Murray and is shown as a widow.

My problem is that I can't find a death certificate for John anywhere in England or Scotland between 1901 and 1902.

Anyone got ideas on where John may have disappeared to or could I be looking at a bigamist who told fibs to the registrar as my husband's 2g granny?