Marilyn, I dont know if you have seen, on the shipping record, a detailed description of Patrick Gahan, as to height, colouring etc
There are details of scars , moles and a number of tatoos.
It is an easy matter to google details of what the different tatoos mean,
In addtional to some standard tattoos ( anchor etc0 Patrick has six letters tattooed , as you can see in the extract
I have uploaded and attached.
Could these letters be initials? B G PG?
It is interesting that the second daughter was named for the maternal grandmother, Margaret, which fits
the naming pattern used by Irish families so very consistently,
Could the first daughter, Bridget, be named for the paternal grandmother?
I also note the third son is named Patrick, for his father, which fits with the naming pattern
which was fol
lowed by Irish families up to the early part of the 20th century.
Of course we dont see the name Michael, the maternal grandfather, unless this name was given to a child
who did not survive
I presume you have seen the originals of all the birth records for all Patrick's children? They can give an amazing amount of detail as to the number of children the parents already have etc.
It is also interesting to note the distinction made in the record between Dublin city and Dublin county. Athough tried in Dublin city, his place of origin is given as County Dublin. If Patrick was indeed from the county, and not the city, this presents a problem. Although the city had many churches dating to much earlier times, many of the rural villages that ringed Dublin, to the north, south east and west may not have had a church when Patrick was baptised circa 1825. This was a few years before catholic emancipation ( 1829) and it is after this time that you get the building of parish churches.
Carmel
