Sepia Saturday

Challenge and image source from Sepia Saturday.

I rather like the quirky title for the above image 'Off to the Creamery' which comes from the Powerhouse Rural Life Seton Flickr Commons. If you like to match the theme of our Sepia Saturday prompts, how about: bowler hats, milk churns (or dairies), men (or women) posing on horseback, Australia, farms, or any combination of these. You don't have to theme at all of course and all we ask is that you post your response to the prompt for SS182 on or around Saturday 22nd June. Please link back to this Sepia Saturday page or add the mini-banner if your prefer. After you've published your own post don't forget to add the URL of the actual post into Mr Linky and then leave a comment below. Then you can enjoy visiting other Sepians and seeing what they've made of the prompt.


This photo was in my mother's photo box throughout the years, but I don't know anything about it. She was good at putting explanations on the back of the photos, but I don't know anything about this one.

My maternal great-grandfather did have vegetable (which he sold) gardens along the canal in Dublin. My grandfather was born in 1904 so this child, posing on a horse, could conceivably be him.

UPDATE - I rushed to post this photo and didn't notice it gave me a very obvious clue!! But thanks to some eagle-eyed readers, Brett and Alex, they pointed out that the cart reads N. Swift Emmett Rd. 
My grandfatether was Thomas (Tom) Swift and he named his only son (my uncle) Nicholas, so I am guessing my great-grandfather was Nicholas as well. I also knew that Swifts had lived on Emmet Rd. in Dublin.

When you google Emmett Rd. Dublin it is spelled with only one T.

I found this link in the National Archives which mentions Swift of Emmet Rd. as a coppersmith. This article of daily life was very interesting to read!

Then I was excited to find this image from the 1911 census.
Thomas Swift is 30 years old and head of the family and lived at 14.2 Emmet Rd.
Julia, 29, is his wife. Both can read and write. The name Julia doesn't ring any bell for me!!
Thomas Joseph is the two year old son. So he would have been born in 1909, however, my grandfather was born in 1904.
I do know however, that Grandfather had close cousins that he grew up with, so perhaps...
More to investigate. I think one of those cousins was called Joe and he emigrated to America
near Boston and we went to visit them once in the late 60s. Joe's sons grew up to be police/FBI officers. 

I then found this hadwritten note on the back of a photo 

UPDATE 2 - I found the 1911 census form for Nicholas Swift.

Within the details I found that my great-grandfather was a fruitierer and was born in Dublin. My great-grandmother was from Queens County.

This one shows a seven year old Thomas Swift which must be my Grandfather as he was born in 1904. It also shows they too lived on Emmet Rd. number 113.

It also shows a younger brother William. I know that Grandfather's mother died and his father remarried.

The 1901 and 1911 censuses are the only surviving full censuses of Ireland open to the public. Both censuses cover the island of Ireland. They were released to public inspection in 1961, because of the stream of requests for information about people's ages, particularly those born before civil registration of births began in 1864.

The 1901 census was taken on 31^st March 1901. The 1911 census was taken on 2 April 1911.

UPDATE 3 - I checked 1901 for a Nicholas Swift who would have been 23 or 24 years old and discovered him as a visitor. I know this is the right one as I knew that I had a great-great grandmother by the name of Coughlan.

Now the mission is to find out why he was a visitor and from where as I didn't find any other reference to a home in Dublin for the 23 year old Nicholas.