My Family History

My name is Robert William Keating and I live in South Ayrshire in Scotland, in a small village called Symington. I have over a number of years been trying to trace my fathers family history. My fathers family are from Tipperary in the Irish Republic, and are mainly from in and around a small town called Cahir.

I decided to start this search for a number of reasons, the main ones being that my father rarely spoke of his life in Ireland, and also so that my children and grandchildren would have a record of their roots. My father Robert Francis Keating was born in Knockgraffon on the outskirts of Cahir in 1919 in a small farm cottage. The photograph below is, I believe, the cottage he was born in. this is also a photo of him during his service in Burma in World War 2. After my father was born, my family moved to No.3 Mountain Road in Cahir. (see pic below)

The only information I had about my father was that he was born in Knockgraffon, attended Rockwell College near Cashel and was a scholarship boy. He was highly educated and came 3rd in all Ireland for Greek/Latin/ Maths/ English at the age of 17.He with his mother Ellen and sister Nellie came to England around 1937/38 (no date recorded or to be found). I had been told that his father and my grandfather Michael had died when dad was about 3 years old in 1921/22. This was not a lot of information to go on but I guess it was a start. This website is an insight to the problems one has in seeking information in Ireland, and especially when looking for information in and around the time of the troubles, when the country was fighting against the English for independence.

Extra Info

No records: Great Grandfather on my Grandfathers side of the family Robert Keating
Great Grandmother on my Grandfathers side of the family Margaret Fraher

Great Great Grandparents on my Grandmother & Grandfathers side of the family

Dan Hanrahan
Edmond Maher
Ellen Maloney