Anne Caulfield : Short Biography

Anne Caulfield was born 22 Dec 1851 in the townland of Ballyhad to parents Andrew Caulfield and Margaret Brady. Her godparents were Patrick and Anne Brady. Her siblings included Thomas, Mary, Eleanor and Bridget. 

When she was twenty four years old, Anne married Andrew Belton of Rathdrum on 14 Jan 1875. The witnesses were Frances Caulfield and Michael Wedrick(?).

Children of Andrew and Anne

Sarah  B. 28 Nov 1875  Godparents- Ellen O'Doyle and Michael Wedrick

Margaret  B. 19 Sep 1877  Godparents- Myles and Frances Caulfield

Mary Anne  B. 20 Oct 1879  Godparents- Thomas and Ellen Caulfield

Andrew  B. 24 Dec 1881

Frances  B. 31 Oct 1887

Ellen  B. 3 Jan 1890

Elizabeth Anne  B. 21 Apr 1892  Godparents- Thomas and Elizabeth Kennedy

Anne  B. 1892

Sarah  B. 17 Oct 1893  Godparents- Andrew Belton and Catherine Byrne

Andrew was a tin plate worker who provided well for the family. Their first child was born less than a year after their marriage, followed by eight more within the eighteen years of their marraige.

Anne's father in law, Andrew Belton, moved in with the family after his wife died in 1873. He later died in 1888. Anne and Andrew's first child Sarah died a year later on 26 Oct 1889 from typhoid fever, a month shy of her fourteenth birthday. They gave another child her name a few years later.

Anne's husband died on the tenth of April 1893. 

In May of 1893, a month after the death of her husband, Anne accused Mr WH Saunders of putting ten young cattle onto her land on the tenth of April (the day Andrew died) and another ten the next day. She demanded twenty shillings for the trespass. Her son Andrew acted as witness. Anne and he told the judge Saunders came for the cattle that evening and offered her 5s. She said her husband had died that same morning and she thought it was strange for a man to offer her money. Saunders said the cattle had broken in to the Belton's field and he was unaware it had happened until he was sent for. He apologized but said the amount Anne was looking for was unreasonable. The judge ordered him to pay 9 shillings and 4 pence to Anne. He said he would pay it with pleasure. 

In 1901, the Beltons were living at house 22 on Main Street, Rathdrum. Anne took in boarders to earn money while her son Andrew worked as a house painter. At this time, Andrew, Fanny, Ellen, Anne and Sarah II were all living at home. Two "R Porters", Denis Ryan and Laurence Murphy were living with them along with two tea agents, Denis Murphy and Patrick Dilton. The Belton's house had five rooms with a slated roof and five front windows. Like many families nearby, it was rented from Earl Fitzwilliam. 

In October 1909, Earl Fitzwilliam announced in the Wicklow People that he would be selling the property he owned in Rathdrum by auction on 10 Nov 1909 in the Assembly Hall of Wicklow, at half twelve in the morning. The papers list his various properties and say he has been renting a house to Anne Belton from 1905 for £7 16s. She must have moved home between 1901 and 1905. Anne bought their home at the auction on 10 Nov.

In 1911, the Beltons were living in their recently bought home of 1 Main Street.. A stable, a fowl house, a work shop,a  shed and a piggery were situated outside their house. Only Anne and Sarah were still at home with her. Her boarders included Patrick Murphy and Samuel Walshe, both painters, Patrick Bolger, a carpenter, and Peter Doyle, a farmer. 

In 1918, Anne fell ill with "mitral valve disease" and suffered with it for a year. She died on 31 July 1919, witnessed by her married daughter Margaret.