BonoFox1
Blue Crack Supplier
^^ True that GG!!!
I love stuff like this...
I love stuff like this...
Galeongirl said:
I think I've heard about the marriage date.. might've been VH1 Ledgends from 2001.. I'll check it soon and you'll hear if I found some!
LemonMacPhisto said:
it's this guy:
biff said:I just checked in The Unforgettable Fire book.
No first name is given for Bono's paternal grandfather; he's just referred to as "Bobby Hewson's father". However, Bono's maternal grandfather is identified as Alec Rankin.
The marriage of Bobby and Iris took place on August 6th, 1950 at St. John the Baptist (Protestant) Church of Ireland located on Church Avenue in Drumcondra.
Alec Rankin died on September 6th, 1974. His daughter Iris died four days later, on September 10th.
Iris was one of eight children; two of her younger sisters were called Ruth and Stella.
I can keep digging around, but I don't think there was any information of this sort in U2: The Early Years. I have that book and I don't recall that kind of family-related detail.
Niamh_Saoirse said:I was searching a very comprehensive newspaper archive and although it returned some correct results, when i clicked to zoom into the file, the surnames I was looking for didn't show up.
let me know if you want the address.
Maoilbheannacht said:
The address for the newspaper archive? Is this something online?
Were you looking up the marriage date or the death dates? It might simply involve a process of going through several days of papers around the date simply looking in the marriage section or obit section. Its a long process that could take several hours.
As far as a search engine that helps to find surnames in papers, I have always found them difficult and unreliable. Often times when you zoom in, you can't find the results because they are not highlighted and then you have to scan the entire page looking for the mention of the surname which may in fact not be the person your looking for.
biff said:Alec Rankin died on September 6th, 1974.
Bono's American Wife said:try familysearch.org
Start with Iris Rankin and you can go back several generations. They have marriage, birth and death records and its all free.
biff said:Actually, I think familysearch must be wrong. They have two completely different death dates for her; the other is December 9, 1974. It's the same person, same parents.
biff said:Interesting to note the change in spelling from Ranken to Rankin a few generations back. Also interesting is the lack of info on the Hewsons.
I agree with your theory about the death dates.
Maoilbheannacht said:
William Ranken was born in Edinburgh Scotland in 1798, but his son "David Patrick Rankin" was born in Dublin in 1838. So it appears moving to Ireland had something to do with the change in spelling.
biff said:
I think you might be right.
Here's another interesting point: There's actually a thread in PLEBA with no drooling!
Niamh_Saoirse said:Any chance some of these Rankins could be from Donegal? I found an awful lot of them over there. And the records come from a Presbiterian Church.
aislinn said:This thread is awesome. Thanks for all the info.
Oops! There's some more drool for ya.
So Bono has Scottish roots! Who knew?
The name Aodh (like pay without the initial "p"), is anglicised as "Hugh" and has given rise to several surnames including Mac Aodha (literally "son of Hugh" or perhaps "Hughson"). This name is variously anglicised as McHugh, McKay, MacKay, McKee, McKey, McCoy, Eason, Hewson, Hughes and several other forms. A similarly derived surname has the prefix "Ó" but because of the two-vowel situation it becomes Ó hAodha (grandson or descendant of Hugh). This name has been anglicised as O'Hea, O'Hay, O'Hugh, Hay, Hayes, Hughes and so on. While there is some overlap, it is unlikely that many people would see the similarity between MacKay and O'Hea, yet all becomes clear when you look at the Irish form.
Maoilbheannacht said:There is also another record there that says that Iris was married August 19, 1950 as opposed to August 6, 1950 like in the Unforgettable Fire Book.
biff said:
Looks like he's the real McCoy (hahaha!):
That's from here, by the way: http://www.heraldry.ws/irish/index.html
Flavia! Completely off topic, but while I have your attention, I got that book you mentioned a few weeks ago, U2: An Irish Phenomenon. On what pages are you quoted? (I asked this question in the books forum ages ago, but it's deadsville in there, man.)