LI-SJKY-151

Record Date: 
16 April 2012
Graveyard: 
St. John's Knockainey
Exact wording of epitaph: 

John Murphy died the 11th
day of October 1784
aged 219 yrs.(sic)
May the Lord have mercy
on his soul

Memorial Type: 
Headstone
Grave location
County: 
Limerick
Latitude: 
52.474008055556
Longitude: 
-8.4673302777778
Number of people commemorated: 
1
People commemorated: 
Name: 
John
Surname: 
Murphy
Date of death - day: 
11
Date of death - month: 
October
Date of death - year: 
1784
Age: 
29
Notes: 

The database inscription was altered from 29 to 219 yrs (sic) on 6th Feb 2013 following some very useful discussion on

http://blog.eogn.com/eastmans_online_genealogy/2013/01/the-story-of-the-... and http://blog.eogn.com/eastmans_online_genealogy/2013/02/no-he-wasnt-reall...

Currently we believe there are two working hypotheses for interpreting this stone.
1. John Murphy lived to the age of 219 years 8-).
2. A mistake was made in carving the inscription and subsequently corrected without erasing the mistake.
a. either John was 29 and 21 was mistakenly carved and the 9 added or vice versa, he was 21, 29 was carved and the error was fixed by inserting the 1.

Mistakes are commonly encountered in carved inscriptions, sometimes they are corrected by 'carving over', 'erasing (by cutting deeper into the stone surface)' or by 'insertion'. It is possible that as well as adding the correct number the incorrect number may have been filled by grit/dust to hide it and that this material washed away in time.

Knockainey is a great parish with a wonderful graveyard - come and visit!
http://www.irelandxo.com/group/knockainey-limerick
http://visitballyhoura.com/index.php/ballyhoura-country-genealogy/