Ita Frances, born 24 June 1910 at Magazine Rd, Cork was the eleventh and youngest child of Mary B. (O’/Callaghan) and George DAVIS.
Ita, then 35 years old, married Michael A. GINNELLY on the 26th December 1945 at the (now demolished and replaced) Holy Trinity and St Augustine’s Church, Hitchin, Hertfordshire in England. At that time Ita was an Engineer’s machinist, living at the Woodland’s hostel in Baldock. [1] Michael was 47 years old. He was a bacon curer and lived at 3 Weston Way, Baldock. [1] Ita’s witness was M. Hyland – her niece and friend, my aunt Maura.
Ita Davis and Michael Ginnelly had the following children:
Ita and husband Michael split up when their sons were very young. [2] Ita raised the boys at Wolfetone St., Cork, with her sisters.
My grandmother and Ita appear to have been close, despite the 15 year age gap. Ita and my oldest aunt Maura were also close, with less than a 13 year age gap.
Death
Ita died 02 March 1972 of pneumonia aged 61. She reportedly had had asthma all her life.
Ita is buried with her mother and sister Veronica at the old Garrycloyne cemetery.
Family memories
My mother recalled her Aunt Ita as the greatest influence on them:
Ita came and stayed with us in Thurles cos she was a great mate of Mauras. There wasn’t much difference in age. And she met this fellow Mcguire or Dwyer. He had a house on Davi’s Rd or something, just around the corner. They were courting and he was dead keen to marry but she kept putting it off and putting it off and anyway she never did marry him….
Aunty Ita and Maura were more of an age and they were great mates. I can remember they would go to the 12 o’clock mass on Sunday. Aunty Ita had a white suit and skirt and she had a date for the evening. She’d have it washed and ironed and she’d hang it from the ceiling and my job was to keep the flies off it while she was at mass.
She was terrific. She was a great personality.
Describing teaching in Cork: I remember I got my first cheque and I couldn’t cash it, because I didn’t have an account. So Aunty Ita went to the Lord Mayor who was her cousin, Walter Furlong…
[1] Baldock is 33 miles north of London.
[2] Michael Ginnelly, reportedly originally of Achill Island, Co. Mayo, had lived in England.
A Michael Ginnelly, a labourer and U.S. resident aged 53, giving his last address as c/o Bunnahowna Rostork Post Office (Achill Island) departed Southampton 3rd September 1953 bound for New York. Was this our Michael Ginnelly?
In Search of Thomas Davis 