Teresa Conlon and John Lynch, both from Co Monaghan, married in Belfast on 25 December 1906. They left Belfast and moved to Australia in 1926

1906 marriage shows Teresa’s father was John Conlon, a farmer. This is the only birth c 1875 in Monaghan I can see with a father John, though he was a labourer then not a farmer. His wife was Alice Coyle:

https://civilrecords.irishgenealogy.ie/churchrecords/images/birth_returns/births_1875/03117/2143326.pdf

Their marriage in 1867:

https://civilrecords.irishgenealogy.ie/churchrecords/images/marriage_returns/marriages_1867/11509/8232641.pdf

Family in 1901:

http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/pages/1901/Monaghan/Creeve/Lisdrumcleve/1627922/

Alice’s death in 1902

            https://civilrecords.irishgenealogy.ie/churchrecords/images/deaths_returns/deaths_1902/05681/4601144.pdf

1911:

http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/pages/1911/Monaghan/Creeve/Lisdrumcleve/801060/

1911 census shows John & Teresa’s places of birth as Belfast not Monaghan:

http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/pages/1911/Antrim/Windsor/Donnybrook_Street/157316/

Irish Weekly and Ulster Examiner of 10th June 1922 reports extensive civil disorder in Belfast (this was the time of partition obviously, and there were attacks on Catholics all the time). The paper reports that: ”The premises of John Lynch, Spirit merchant, 72 Donnybrook St, were looted, practically every article being carried away.” The article contains details of many other similar events. Presumably that incident was a strong factor in the family’s decision to emigrate.

Thank you very much Eileen - you have found some exciting new information. I hadn't found Alice Conlon's death certificate, and the newspaper report is very significant. I had no idea of that event. In their last years in Belfast, the family address was 73 Falls Road: as far as I can see this was a hotel run by Daniel Mallon right through the 1920s. My father Dermot (born 1916) talked about Clonard in that area. Do you think they would have taken up residence in the hotel? Given the location, it seems like going from the frying pan to the fire!

Another curious thing: Teresa Lynch nee Conlon died in Melbourne in 1941 and her mother's maiden name was recorded as "Alice Martin". Do you think her family just made a mistake, or is there another explanation?

73 Falls Rd looks to have been another pub, rather than a hotel:

http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/pages/1911/Antrim/Falls/Falls_Road/173225/

If you look at the buildings return in that census, you will see it says “Private dwelling  & public house.” So I think it was a pub where the owner lived upstairs. It had 7 rooms and he perhaps had a room or two spare at times. Perhaps John Lynch knew him through their shared occupation? Daniel was from Co Down so probably no family connection there.

Irish News and Belfast Morning news 18^th Sept 1902 contains an advert placed by Daniel Mallon advertising for a “respectable young man capable of taking charge” of the pub. “Must be well recommended”.

Belfast Newsletter of 4^th Jan 1923 reported that Daniel Mallon had been prosecuted for selling liquor on Christmas Eve. He got off the charge by explaining that the people found on his premises had just gone in “to sell tickets.”  A likely tale!

As far as the surname Martin is concerned it’s probably just a mistake. Mistakes on death certificates are very common because the information is normally only as reliable as the informant’s knowledge. No paperwork was required to confirm the names etc. The person registering the death in Australia is most unlikely to have ever met Alice who had died 39 years previously. Making a mistake over her maiden name would be easy.

A lot of people, on both sides of the religious divide, left Ireland in the 1920s. There was obvious ill-feeling in the North in particular, a lot of violence for a couple of years after 1922, and the economy had gone into a post war depression, so there were many reasons for folk to leave.