One of my cousins spent some time documenting our family history using the modern technology which is available today. She passed me the details she had found. I have not seen her for a while so she may have made even more progress.

She went back to our Great, Great grandfather. As you can see from the 1901 census he lived in Vere St which was in the old York St area. He was a retired soldier of the 1st and 4th Foot Regiments and he knew both the English language and the Irish language.

Here is a link which shows all the residents of Vere St in the 1901 census.

While my Great, Great grandfather was living in 2 Vere St in 1901, my Great grandfather is recorded as living in 36 Harrisburg St, his name is James and he is 35 years of age.  He has 4 sons and 2 daughters.  The son called John who is 10 years of age is my grandfather.

This link will show all the residents of Harrisburg St in the 1901 census.

In nearby Pitsburg St the census records a family named Salters whose head of the house is John Salters. He has a wife and 6 children, the child who is named Jane Salters and whose age is given as 10 is my grandmother.

This link gives all the residents of Pitsburg St.

When we move on to the 1910 census we find my grandfather John Flanagan is aged 20 and he is now married to  my grandmother Jane Salters, they have a 2 year old daughter named Nellie. They are living in lodgings above a Barber`s shop in O`Dempsey St.

This link shows all the residents of O`Dempsey St.

They later spent most of their married lives raising their family in Earl St, which was situated in the York St area. My grandfather was in the army in WW1 and was held as a prisoner of war by the Turks.

Here is a picture and a news story about the unveiling of a war memorial in Earl St.

The 1911 census also reveals my Great, Great grandfather and Great grandfather are all living together as a family in 40 Ritchie St.

Here is the link that provides the names and details of all the residents of Ritchie St in 1911.

As I have shown here in this part of my family background my Great, Great grandfather knew how to speak Irish. Is it conceivable that someone who spent a large part of his life as a soldier would not have insisted his children and grandchildren should learn the Irish language if he thought there was some benefit in it for them?  Most Irish speaking Protestants concluded it was no longer necessary to know or use Irish, the common language was English. That is why it fell into disuse among Protestants. To put it simply, learning  Irish is a waste of time!

You can also see from this part of my family background the whole notion of a so-called “Protestant Ascendency” was just a myth, a blatant lie concocted by the Jesuits of Rome in order to demonise Protestants in general.  I have no doubt the family background of 95% of the Unionist community is similar to my own, we did not enjoy or receive special privileges just because we were Protestants.

As a matter of fact, Ivan Foster highlighted this matter most succinctly a few weeks ago when explaining the remarks made by PopeLundy and the supposed discrimination “highlighted” by the so-called Civil Rights movement in the late 1960s.

Ivan Foster stated that Protestants had even more cause to protest for Civil Rights because they had been loyal to the state, yet the state had taken their loyalty and abused it. Sadly the remarks made by Ivan Foster never receive the MSM coverage they should have.

“If anything, the case for the Unionist people was far stronger, because they had given unconditional support (to the Unionist Party) for generations and were still socially neglected.”

 

In closing this article I must point out that most of the Unionist community who live between Duncairn Gardens and Shore Crescent all originate from the old York St area and they are all related and inter-related and inter-inter related. lol lol lol lol

If you read Matthew 1 you will find the ancient Hebrews were meticulous in keeping family records.

Mathew 1:17 So all the generations from Abraham to David are fourteen generations; and from David until the carrying away into Babylon are fourteen generations; and from the carrying away into Babylon unto Christ are fourteen generations.