Clive Gardner's recent response to Mary Hart regarding the exploits of the Royal Welsh
Fusiliers in the 1800s got me wondering.
Might the military involvement of men from the Newtown/Kerry area explain some otherwise
strange gaps in their family history?
My own gg grandfather, William Trow, was I believe 23 when he married Margaret in Kerry in
1808. Yet their first child, John, wasn't christened until 1820. My great grandmother,
Margaret, was christened in 1824. When the last of their four children, Emma, was
christened in 1827, William was recorded as 'deceased'.
Might the 12 year gap between his marriage and the birth of his first child be explicable
by absence at war? And might his early death aged 42 be perhaps at least in part due to
injuries he may have received?
Are there records of where men from the Kerry area may have served between 1808 and 1820,
and of the conflicts at which they may have suffered injuries?
Steve Trow