In this episode David Crampton talks about our grandfather, John Joseph Wilson and his life from his birth in Corran, Leap, West Cork on 25th September 1884 through his emigation to America, his return to Ireland in 1925 and life at Derry House in the 1930s and 1940s to his death on 15th February 1959.

In this episode David continues the story of our grandfather, John Joseph Wilson's siblings. They were the children of Allen Wilson (1843-1925) and Catherine (Kate) Grace (1851-1925).

In this episode David Crampton talks about our paternal Wilson great grandparents and their forebears, and introduces us to their children (including our grandfather, John Joseph Wilson) and his siblings - three of whom died young. As a reference, here is the direct family tree:-

Hewitt Wilson (1798-1872) had a liaison with Mary Harrington, about whom we know virtually nothing. They had one child, our great grandfather, Allen Wilson (1843-1925) who married Catherine (Kate) Grace (1851-1925). They had 12 children, in order:-

Catherine Wilson (1865-1869)

Allen Wilson (1872-1873)

Hannah (Haddie) Wilson (1874-1921)

Hewitt (Sonny) Wilson (1876-1962)

Catherine Wilson (1878-1924)

Allen Wilson (1880-1949)

Ellen Wilson (1883-1951)

John Joseph Wilson (1884-1959)

Mary Wilson (1886-1904)

Elizabeth (Bessie) Wilson (1888-1969)

Jane Wilson (1888-1889)

Charles Wilson (1891-1943)

In this episode olive and iris talk about the stories they heard growing up in Ireland in the immediate aftermath of the Irish war of Independence (1919-1921) and the Irish Civil War (1922-1923).

In Memoriam

Elizabeth Olive Ethel Stuart Leslie (1919-2012)

Iris Susan Stuart Colin (1921-2021)

Robert John Stuart Weir (1922-2009)

Gertrude Elsie Joan Wilson (1928-2023)

The very much loved children of Robert Edward Weir (1877-1957) and Annie Bird (1886-1939) and the grandchildren of Robert William Weir (1843-1930) and Elizabeth Ann Fisher Ambrose (1857-1932) and of John Bird (1853-1927) and Elizabeth Good (1855-1921).

In this episode Olive and Iris continue to tell us about the Weir family (well, mainly Olive does!). 

The story of the Weirs that we're telling starts with Olive and Iris's grandparents (my great grandparents) Robert W Weir and Elizabeth Ann Fisher Ambrose. Their 9 children were:-

James Daniel Weir (1876-1954)

Robert Edward Weir (1877-1957) married Annie Bird (my grandparents)

Samuel Stuart Weir (1879-1945)

Edward Ambrose Weir (1881-1929)

Elizabeth Weir (1883-1890)

William John Stuart Weir (1887-1970)

Frederick Joseph Weir (1889-1956)

Richard Ambrose Weir (1891-1973)

Ethel isabel Stuart Weir (1894-1969)

Olive and Iris continue with the background to the Bird family. Here is the family tree, starting with John Bird and Elizabeth Good, who were first cousins. John and Elizabeth Bird are the grandparents of Olive (Leslie), Iris (Colin), Stuart and Joan (Wilson) Weir. They are also the grandparents of David, John Christopher and Richard Bird (Episodes 2, 3 and 4).

John Bird (1853-1927) married Elizabeth Good (1855-1921). Their 9 children were:

Rev. Richard Bird DSO (1882-1957)

Eleanor Georgina Bird (Elsie) (1883-1963)

George Edwin Bird (Edwin) (1885-1957) and twin John Bird (Jack) (1885-1958)

Annie Bird (1886-1939) married Rev. Robert Edward Weir

Minnie Ann Bird (Ina) (1888-1963)

William Bird (1890-1956)

Jason Grant Bird (1893-1957)

Thomas Hewitt Bird (1898-1965)

Olive Leslie and Iris Colin, the two eldest children of Robert Edward Weir and Annie Bird, discuss their recollections of their parents, grandparents and aunts and uncles and their lives growing up in Irishtown and their happy memories of Ballydulea, Ballybricken and Rossleague.

In this episode John Colin talks about growing up in Irishtown during the war (when his father was away on active service as a Chaplain in the RAF). He also tells about his trips to Cork (to Ballydulea and Ballybricken) to spend holidays with his Bird cousins and aunts and uncles.

We also have an introduction to the Weir family; the children of Robert William Weir and Elizabeth Ann Fisher Ambrose, including our grandfather, Robert Edward Weir.

John Wilson is talking to Richard Bird about his life in the Army and his father, Jason Grant Bird, a doctor, who after service in the RAF at the end of World War 1, settled in Reading where Richard and his siblings were brought up.

In this episode John Wilson talks to John Christopher Bird, his first cousin, once removed about growing up in Ireland, his memories of holidays in Ballydulea, his career and his marriage to Mary, a Roman Catholic, which not quite scandalised, but was met with a certain disapproval, let's say, by some of his Bird relatives.