Biography
John ‘Jack’ was born on March 23rd 1909 to Patrick Callaghan and Mary Jane Kelly.
In the 1911 census John is living in No 13, Shields Court, Dundalk, Co Louth with his parents and four siblings.
Shields Court no longer exists. It was one of three rows of tenement houses that once ran parallel to Patrick Street. Follow the link, the houses ran at 90 degrees to the back of the Bicycle Doctor shop. I have found a thesis titled an Oral History of Dundalk that gives some insight into the area and living conditions. There is also a map from 1900 showing Shields Court location.
At some point after 1911 and before 1919 the family moved to No. 5 York Street, as this is the address listed for Mary Jane on Francis death documents. I visited Dundalk last summer (2016) and took some photos, here is one of the dilapidated No.5 York Street, up for sale at the time.
I also went to visit Castletown Cemetery on the outskirts of the town on the Castleblaney road, on the wall outside is a map of the cemetery with the plot locations, the Kelly family plot is located next to the Callaghan plot, unfortunately both were overgrown so I could not physically locate them. The council were onsite and were busy clearing the overgrowth but had not got all the way to the corner where the plots are located.
Jack married Kitty Cleary, they had 3 children, Patrick (Barney), Renee and Margaret.
Jack passed away in the 1990's.