Then, in her late 20s, she published her first book, A Suppressed Cry, which told the story of her great grand-aunt who had died at 22 from asthma.
They came here from Canada - although Jean was born in Waterford and still has a 96 year old grand-aunt living there.
She lives with her parents, Bobby and Helen and her grand-aunt Nora also lives with them.
But if he makes the noble gesture, a thankful nation will always remember a man made in the likeness of his illustrious grand-aunt, Constance.
I had a brilliant extended family that included a very generous grand-aunt, uncle and grandparents, who made it their business to regularly rescue me from the jaws of poverty.
The person I'm trying to trace was my great grand-aunt, who left some time in the 1850's.
‘My grand-aunt worked all of her life until she passed,’ says Hamlet, 27, who came to Canada with relatives seven years ago.
I recall about seven years ago writing a piece in the diary page about an old poem I remembered my grand-aunt, Kate Forde, reciting when we were children.
I reached the hospital on Wednesday at around 8 pm, where there was a cluster of aunts and uncles, and grand-aunts and grand-uncles I had never before seen, around the crumpled form of grandma.
Usually we would visit our great-grandmother, who used to live with a grand-aunt's family.
Although having no family of her own, she was a wonderful aunt and grand-aunt.
The gardens were laid out in the 1920s by Iris Orpen, Hill's grand-aunt and second cousin to painter William Orpen.