The poem, Two Sisters, started its life as a reimagination of the members of the household, 88 Hibernian Buildings. The head of the household was Sarah Hodes, a 24 year old woman. She lived with her two sisters, Jane (aged 17) and Annie (aged 8). There were also two boarders living in the house, Michael and Joseph Siro (I imagine they were probably actually called Spiro). I found it interesting for that time that a young female was the head of a household and there must have been a story behind this. I decided that because in the census form Sarah’s occupation is a shopkeeper and Jane is a seamstress, that I would reimagine them as entrepreneurial characters. Sarah works in her shop and sends men to her sister who make dresses for their wives.
From the records, it appears that all three sisters were born in Latvia and must have moved to Ireland. It appears that later in 1901, Sarah married a man by the name of David Elyan and by 1911, they had 5 children. From what I can find in the available records, Sarah died in Cork in 1956. I have less information on Jane except that she seemed to move to South Africa. I don’t have any information on whether she married or not. The youngest sister in the household that night was Annie who also seemed to go to Cape Town in South Africa.
Other interesting information from the census records indicate that the three sisters had brothers who were not in Cork on the night of the census. In 1901, the family seemed to consist of Sarah’s mother and father (who appeared to be based in the UK) and 7 other brothers, scattered about the place. It’s likely that the information here is incorrect and because of the size of the family, it is likely that members of this family are still around, possibly in Ireland.