William Rea and Family

Hi Drinagh

Newspaper death notices and obituaries are a good resource for places of burial. Try the British Newspaper Archive. The IGP Web Waterford headstones are also worth checking out.

For a full list of resources see Ten Facts about Irish Gravestones

Hope this helps!

Hi Rua

Thanks for the reply. Have searched the IGP's Waterford Headstones previously but nothing shows for William. I have, as you can see from my post, details of where his first wife and their son is buried and have a photo of the Headsone on FindaGrave. Have gone through newspaper archives and only the obit for his wife appears. Waterford County Council has burial details but not all cemeteries are covered The archivst at Waterford did some searching for me in the newspaper archives that they hold but nothing showed.

Hence the reason for posting to see if I could get a clue.

Kind Regards

Brian 

Hi, William died 14-2-1921 and Evangeline 1-4-1959 both are buried in Christchurch Tramore. They were married 20-9-1898 in Abbeyleix were she was a governess. She was born 25-11-1871 in Lisburn. Regards Sandra Church Warden Tramore. 

Hi, William died 14-2-1921 and Evangeline 1-4-1959 both are buried in Christchurch Tramore. They were married 20-9-1898 in Abbeyleix were she was a governess. She was born 25-11-1871 in Lisburn. Regards Sandra Church Warden.  

Hi Sandra

Many thanks for the details. I will now update my records and note burial location. Kind Regards Brian

The following is a bit of history on the Waterford and Tramore Railway.

William Rea was initially the bookkeeper for the Railway and prior to his retirement was the Manager and Secretary. He retired prior to 1892 as Arthur Prosser was now Secretary and Traffic Manager. In August 1888 William was listed as the Hon Secretary for the Waterford and Tramore Steeplechase and Flat Races. His son Christopher was a Steward at the same time.

The Waterford and Tramore Railway was unique. It was 7 ¼ miles long and unconnected to any other line. It opened independently from 1853 until 1925 when it reluctantly became part of the Great Southern Railways. On the 31 December 1960, despite considerable local opposition, the line was closed for good. The Waterford and Tramore Railway was one of Waterford's five Railways: The Waterford, Limerick and Western, the Waterford and Central Ireland, the Waterford, Dungarvan and Lismore, the Dublin and South Eastern, as well as the Waterford and Tramore line.

Construction began on 10 February 1853, the Waterford business community meeting the £77,000 cost. William Dargan's construction company completed the single-track line by 2 September 1853, less than seven months. This was a considerable achievement as a section of line outside Waterford ran over deep bog covered with bulrushes.[citation needed] Each terminus included a turntable.

In the first half of 1961 all the tracks were lifted, and the rails scrapped by a Dublin scrap firm with the sleepers were sold for use in defences against coastal erosion. Locally it was rumoured that the tracks were to be shipped to Nigeria. Similar false rumours attended many railway closures at the time. One of the few remaining traces of the railway is Tramore station house, which after lying derelict for many years is now owned by Waterford County Council.

William Rea signature 1882.