The Mackey family moved from North City Cork to the North Dock area of Dublin about 1864. John was born in 1871. His father Richard was a boilermaker, and four of his brothers would also become boilermakers, while another, Cornelius, would become a seaman like himself. The family were either making ships or sailing them. Two of his sisters would marry seamen, Bridget to Michael Daly and Mary Anne to Frank Mangan.
In 1897 John married Ellen Lynch in the Church of St. Nicholas of Myra Without, Francis Street. Ellen had been born in this part of the City in 1869, to Patrick Lynch and Anne Brien.
John and Ellen had seven children in total, one boy and six girls.
Tragedy struck in December 1917, when John (along with brother-in-law Frank Mangan) died aboard the SS Adela. Responsibility for maintaining the family fell to his son and older daughters, Christy, Mary and Norah. Ellen died in 1926 aged 56 at her home at 17 Upper Oriel Street.
When we commemorate those who lost their lives in these tragedies, we must also remember their dependents left behind who often had to struggle to survive.
