Hannah Keenan was the third child of my great great grandparents Patrick Keenan and Agnes Haughey. Her sister Helen, who was always known as Ellen, was my mother’s paternal grandmother.

Hannah was born on 29 September 1860 in the town of Cleland in Shotts Parish, Lanarkshire. Her father was originally from Clonallon in County Down. Her mother was born in Glasgow but her family were also from County Down. The family settled in Newmains, Lanarkshire. Hannah was one of ten children.

At the times of the 1871 census the family were residing at 8 Stonecraigs Row. Even with a big family cramped into one of the small row houses the family also had a lodger to help with the finances.

The 1881 census had Hannah living with her husband Hugh Bradley in a flat in Cambusnethan Street. When the couple married in 1879 Hannah had been employed as a domestic servant but would have given up her work to start a family.

Between 1881 and 1903 the couple had eleven children.

• Agnes
• Hugh
• James
• Helen (Ellen)
• Agnes
• Patrick
• Mary
• Susan
• John
• Hannah
• Catherine

You can see that there are two girls called Agnes. Their first child was named after her maternal grandmother following in the traditional naming patterns. Tragically when she was just 5 years old Agnes died. The cause of death was recorded as marasmus.

In 1902 Hannah lost another daughter when 9 year old Mary died of phthisis.

For a time the Bradley family lived with Hugh’s parents in Hope Street, Newmains. This is a street that still exists although the original houses are no longer there. They then moved to Main Street. The houses there have also been demolished but there some great photos of the area from around that time. The photo below is Newmains Cross with Main Street going off to the left.

When their youngest child, Catherine was just 6 years old Hugh died. Hannah had to deal with the grief of losing her husband and comfort the children who had lost their father but she was also left in dire financial circumstances.

In September of 1909 and again in October Hannah went to the parish for help. Once again I find the poorhouse applications to be a great source of information as it lists all of the family members. The record shows gives details of their spouses and occupations and tells me who is still living at home. Given that there was still some income in the household Hannah’s application was refused. It was left to the family to come together to support their widowed mother and younger siblings.

The last official record I have for Hannah apart from her death record in 1938 is the 1911 census. At that time she was living with her adult sons, Patrick and James and younger children Hannah and Catherine. Her children went on to have families of their own so her home would always have been busy.

I know that she remained close to her siblings who also married in Newmains and remained in the the village. You can read a previous post about the sisters by clicking here.

You can also read more about some of Hannah’s siblings by clicking on their names – Ann, Elizabeth, Margaret, Ellen, and Mary