The Merry Widow [Gen-041]

It is difficult to say with any degree of certainty what relationship existed between this lady and the O'Connell/ D'Arcy family. She was certainly well-known to them and a frequent visitor to the Enniskerry Road D'Arcys. Mrs. A.C. D'Arcy Rahilly identified the rather good-looking lady, dressed in black and wearing a very large black hat, standing next to Mrs. Rahilly's father in the group photo taken on the day of "Daisy" D'Arcy's wedding to W.F. Toolan, as the "Merry Widow".

Apparently the "Merry Widow's" family title was "Auntie Babs". The "Auntie" part must have been a courtesy title as she looked far too young to be a true aunt of Mrs. Rahilly. The name "Babs" seems to have been a "pet" name rather than a Christian name.

It is likely that she was a relation of Geo. F. Turner who married Kate Connell of Newbridge - possibly his niece. It is understood that her maiden name was Myers.

However, whatever about her origin, it is clear that she married a man called McAlinden (of Belfast?) and that she had two sons - Joseph and Harry. Following her husband's death she married a Jack O'Connell (a chemist?) and had two children — Iverna and Eithne.

The elder of these, Iverna, was probably born about 1919 and Eithne two or three years later. As teenagers they visited the Toolans at 128, St. Lawrence Road, Clontarf, Dublin on a few occasions. They emigrated to England eventually.

Another friend of the Toolan family was a lady named "Baba" Myers, probably born about 1900 She was working in Dublin in the early nineteen twenties. She was a niece of the "Merry Widow".

Iverna married, in England, a Michael Murray from Cork and had one child - Sharon. Eithne married Roy Thrower and had two children - John and Patricia ("Trish"). Eithne lived at 82, Glazebrook Road, New Park Estate, Leicester, England. She died in September, 1984.

The "Merry Widow's" mother, Mrs. Myers, had a public house in Newbridge, not far from that of the Turners. She owned one of the first, if not the first, sewing machine seen in Newbridge.

Editor's addition, 2025
The photo from The Connells of Newbridge seems more appropriately placed here.