My great-great grandmother Sarah Boyle, b. 16th June 1879, was one of 11 children born to Owen Boyle and Sarah Doogan/Duggan. The family lived in Loughannure which is in County Donegal. The rest of her siblings include:
1. John Boyle b. 29th October 1873
2. Mary Boyle b. 17th November 1874, m. Owen Sweeney on 7th January 1903 and d. 27th December 1961. Mary and Owen moved to Dungloe where they had seven children:
• Owen Sweeney b. 13th October 1903 and d. 21st July 1911 – cause of death was an infection
• Bridget Sweeney b. 23rd March 1905 and d. 8th November 1909 – cause of death was malnutrition
• Fred Sweeney b. 3rd August 1906
• Denis Sweeney b. 14th February 1908 and d. 8th February 1918 – cause of death was diabetes
• Sarah Sweeney b. 30th January 1910 and d. 29th March 1919 – cause of death was pneumonia
• James Joseph Sweeney b. 6th August 1913 and d. December 1970
• Owen Sweeney b. 25th July 1915 and d. September 1993
3. Daniel Boyle b. 16th June 1893, m. Rose McGarvey on 23rd August 1918 and d. July 1968. It said that they had 14 children but at present I have only been able to find two, a son James who died in 1940 and a daughter Ellen Boyle b. 1936 and d. 2007 in Glasgow. James is buried in the same grave as his parents and there is a plaque on top of the grave with Ellen’s details on it.
The story goes that Daniel and Rose were out cutting peat when they were struck by lightning and killed. It is hard to imagine what their children must have gone through but as yet no one really knows what happened to them afterwards
4. Edward Boyle b. 16th March 1894 and d. July 1981
5. Patrick Boyle b. 20th June 1898 and d. July 1975
6. Fred Boyle b. 28th September 1876, m. Hannah McGarvey on 16th December 1919 and d. 10th June 1945
7. James Boyle b. 2nd March 1886
8. Anna Boyle b. 4th January 1888, m. Charles Quinn on 10th January 1910. They lived in County Tyrone and had five children:
• Joseph Patrick Quinn b. 18th March 1911
• Mary Ellen Quinn b. 29th August 1913
• John Henry Quinn b. 5th December 1915
• Lillie Quinn b. 26th October 1917
• Charles Edward Quinn b. 13th January 1920
9. Ellen Boyle b. 21st March 1884
10. Margaret Boyle b. 25th November 1881 and d. 24th May 1883 – cause of death was given as whooping cough
Owen Boyle died on 28th November 1930 and was buried in Annagry. He is in the same grave as daughter Sarah, sons Daniel, Edward and Patrick, daughter-in-law Rose, grandson James Boyle and granddaughter Annie Bonner. His other son Fred in buried in the same graveyard but in a separate grave with his wife Hannah. Sarah Boyle (nee Doogan) died 30th September 1913 at the age of 60 with the cause of death being given as pneumonia. At the moment I have not been able to find a grave for Sarah, no doubt there will more grave hunting on my trips to Donegal which has become a regular habit. I knew genealogy had become an addiction when graveyards suddenly became more fascinating!
