Sarah Rankin
1846 - 1906
Birth
Sarah Rankin was born in County Laois (then Queen's County) around 1846. Her father, George Rankin, was a farmer.
Dublin
She came to Dublin and went into domestic service. In 1866 she was in service to Sir John Barrington, whose family business was located at 202 Great Britain Street (now Parnell Street). Sir John had been Lord Mayor of Dublin in the previous year, 1865, when he hosted the Prince of Wales who was visiting Ireland in that year. He was knighted in 1866.
Marriage
In 1866, Sarah married Christopher Burgess, a shoemaker living in Thomas Street (on the South Side!). Her marriage certificate shows that she was illiterate at this time; she was still illiterate in 1886 but by the time of the 1901 Census it was claimed she could read and write.
It is interesting to speculate how she might have met Christopher. Perhaps one of her domestic duties was collecting Sir John's shoes from the cobbler. On the other hand, the church marriage certificate records that they were second cousins.
Life and Death
In any event, she had a busy life ahead of her, bearing Christopher at least 10 children before her death, from cancer of the jaw, in 1906. She is buried with her husband and some of her children in the family plot in Glasnevin cemetery, Dublin.