Validation of Exceptional Longevity Katherine Plunket: A Well Documented Super-Centenarian in 1930 Annex B Census Returns for the Parish of Gernonstown (Castlebellingham) for the year 1821

[ Text | References | Annex A | Annex C ]

The Reverend Thomas Plunket, clerk in Holy Orders
Louisa, his wife
Catherine, his daughter

At her baptism, Catherine/Katherine Plunket was 'of Milestown'.

Milestown, in the Parish of Gernonstown, was the home of Mrs. Plunket's mother, 'Rebecca Foster, farmer and lady' according to the Census Return. Mrs. Foster was the holder of Pew 19 in the Parish Church in 1821.

Rebecca was the daughter of Hamilton McClure by his wife, Elizabeth Weld (married 1762) of Dublin. Rebecca McClure married in 1788, John William Foster M.P. for Dunleer, son of William Foster, also M.P. for Dunleer, by his wife, Patience Fowke, whom he married in 1743. Rebecca's grandfather was John Foster of Dunleer, County Louth, who married in 1704, Mary Fortescue, 1st cousin of Henry-William Fortescue, created 1st Earl of Clermont in 1778.

The Census Returns listed above were lost in the Civil War which followed the establishment of the Irish Free State. Canon Leslie copied the entry for the entire parish of Kilsaran - or rather the United Parish of Kilsaran - which included Gernonstown called Castle-Bellingham, County Louth, where he was Rector from 1899.

Note: We do not know in what month the Census Returns for 1821 were recorded in County Louth.

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