Our Family's Journey Through Time
Kate Courtney was our Great Grandmother. We still haven't nailed down her birth certificate. We know she was actually born in the vicinity of Sunderland around 1886. Her father John Courtney was a blacksmith and travelled for his work. As he was based in Dundalk he had easy access to the ferries that ran from Dundalk to Liverpool. It was then a case of a cross country trip to Tyneside and the surrounding areas where there were many iron mines and works where blacksmiths were in short supply. It was on one of these trips when Kate was born to John and Mary (nee Finnegan). Kate spent her early years according to Irish census in Dundalk where she met her future husband and life partner Thomas Watts, who was in the British Army and stationed at Dundalk Barracks.
Dundalk is the county town of County Louth, Ireland. The town is situated on the Castletown River, which flows into Dundalk Bay on the north-east coast of Ireland, and is halfway between Dublin and Belfast, close to and south of the border with Northern Ireland. It is surrounded by several townlands and villages that form the wider Dundalk Municipal District. It is the seventh largest urban area in Ireland, with a population of 43,112 as of the 2022 census. Kate Courtney who married Thomas Watts was out Great Grandmother on our Fathers side. Although she was born in England her parents and family were from here and this was where she was bought up.
On the 6th of June 1903 the 135th Battery of the Royal Field Artillery arrived in Dundalk. They were part of the 32nd Brigage of the Brithis Army. Thomas Watts was a member of this battery. They were resident here for nearly 3 years and during this time Thomas met Kathleen Courtney who became his wife. Their first two children Julianne and Emily were born here. The Battery later moved to Kildare between 1906 and 1907. Two more childen, Bernard and Gerald were born here. Gerald unfortunatley died within his first month.
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