MY FAMILY HISTORY

This is a story about my family history.My mam and gran helped me put the story together.

My great, great, great grandfather was born on the 7th May 1866.

This is my Great Great Great Grandfather Henry Jones' birth certificate

His Mam and Dad's names were Joseph and Amelia Jones. He was born in a village in Wales called Burgage, Monmouth. My great, great Grandfather and his brother Joe came to Ireland and they both married and settled in Cork. My great, great, great grandfather married a woman from Cork named Anne Gleeson. My great, great, great Grandfather and his wife had five sons and three daughters. Joseph is my great, great Grandfather. He married a woman called Julia Cottrell. Julia Cottrell was a widow with one child before she married my great Grandfather. The child's name was Kitty. Joseph and Julia had two more children - Harry and my Nan, Annie. My Nan married Patrick O'Connell and had seven children, four boys and three girls. The youngest of the girls is my Mam and the youngest is my Uncle, Paddy.

This a picture of my Great Great Grandfather Joseph Jones

My Great Grandfather's Documents

My great Grandfather joined the Royal Munster Fusiliers on the 27th September 1910. He was discharged from the army after serving 8 years, 221 days with the colours, and 3 years and 144 days in the Army Reserve. He was 32 years old when he got discharged. My great Grandfather had one of his lungs removed and he survived to the age of 84 years.

This a picture of my Great Grandfather's discharge papers.

Conditions in Hospital in War Times

In war times the Doctor's didn't have the time to treat a wound, so often a leg or an arm was cut off. My great Grandfather was visiting a hospital in France. My great Grandfather was a Cork person. At that same time there was another Cork person in the hospital. My great Grandfather was like an assistant to an officer. An officer came to my great Grandfather's ward and told him about the other Cork person about to get his arm cut off. My great Grandfather asked the officer what was the soldier's name. He replied, Paddy Jones. My great Grandfather asked him to take him to the soldier's ward. My great Grandfather thought he was his brother. He was right. My great Grandfather told the Doctor to treat his arm. After all, the arm didn't get cut off.

The War

My great Grandfather joined the army, a division called the Royal Munster Fusiliers at that time. He was serving overseas when World War 1 broke out. His youngest brothers joined also. Their names were Denis, James and Paddy Jones. They were in the Royal Munster Fusiliers. Two of them forged their age so they could be in the army. That time, everybody thought that the army was brilliant. Two of them were killed in action. Denis and James were taking part in the landing of Dardanelles. When they were running to the beach from the landing craft, they were thrown into the air. One of them came down without a head but the dog-tags were still hanging around his neck. The other was blown to bits and never found. My great Grandfather and Paddy were the two survivors out of my great Grandfather and my great Uncles.

These are the scrolls which honour my two great grand uncles who died in World War 1
These are two of the medals my family still has.

by Gerard