If you’ve read this, then you’ll know that the name Sarah Cahill was one of the scant fragments of information we had when we started out. I’m happy to say that this particular chapter is now, finally, closed. Sarah Cahill was born Sara Frederika Vercuil in 1860, she married my ancestor Andrew Joseph Robinson in 1877 and bore him two children; my great grandfather, the elusive Philip Joseph, and in 1880 a sister for PJ called Magdalena Catherina. Six years after marrying, Andrew died aged 27 and Sarah married Johan Conradie who died in 1906 after 20 years of marriage.

Knowing at some point she had to have been married to a Cahill, I have finally established who and when that was. James Henry Cahill married the widow Conradie in 1907 but she was wearing black again four years later when he himself died in 1911. Sarah lived until 1945 without marrying again.

The story of Sarah Cahill is now closed as far as I’m concerned. I have no further interest in Mr Cahill or Mr Conradie and Sarah’s own ancestry (probably Dutch) is of only passing interest insofar as actively researching it is concerned. It’s very satisfying to tick that particular box in the initial research file (albeit metaphorically) though, as it neatly rounds off everything Dad started with.

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