Ring family headstone
Every community survey we work on is different - we follow the same process but every workshop is different because of the people. We worked in Kishkeam, north Cork, last week and the community volunteers were exclusively men. They were almost all farmers so they came and went throughout the day to fix a machine or attend a calving. They had a detailed knowledge of their own family history and also that of their neighbours.
One man told stories about Christy Ring, the great Cloyne hurler - remembering his steel blue eyes. And then coincidentally the 'lads' brought us to a Ring family headstone - the reason they were interested in this headstone was not for stories of sporting prowess but because, as they remembered it, the family had been decimated by TB in the late 1920s and early 30s. Reading the epitaph four of the family between the ages of 16 and 29 died between 1929 and 1933. This tallies with the local memories recounted to us. Cause of death is not listed on the headstone, it rarely is, but local memory is of a lovely family, not very well off and badly affected by TB. One man told us he heard tell that the undertakers were reluctant to enter the house to prepare the bodies for burial.
In
Loving Memory Of
Katie Ring Died Jan
17th 1929 Aged 29 Yrs
Danny
Died Jan 27th 1931 Aged
23 Yrs Timothy Died
12th July 1932 Aged 17 Years
Michael Died Nov 27
1933 Aged 30 Yrs Mary
Died Dec 8th 1933 Aged 16 Yrs
Hannah Died March 17th 1940/6 (?)
Patrick Died August 30
1946
RIP
Erected by Jeremiah
Jerh Ring Died 4 July 1959 Ellin
Died 14 Dec 1957
