John Diver

John Diver is my 2x great grandfather and is one of my brick walls. On 28 Feb 1874 he married Bridget Brogan at the Gortahork Roman Catholic Chapel. John was of full age, a bachelor residing in Falcarragh, Donegal, Ireland and the son of Michael Diver who was recorded as deceased. I have found 8 children of this marriage. Michael (b1874), Patrick (b1876), James (b1879), Annie (b 1881), Sarah (b1883), Denis (b1885), Jiley later changed to Julia (b1888) were all born at Crossroads, Dunfanaghy, Donegal.The last child I managed to find was John who was born in 1894 in Uddingston, Lanarkshire, Scotland. All of John and Bridget's children except Denis (who died in Crossroads as an infant) and Sarah (who I cannot trace) died in Lanarkshire, Scotland. They did not return to Donegal.

John's death register entry records his parents as Michael Diver, a labourer, deceased and Annie Diver, maiden surname Diver, also deceased. I have not managed to track down any information on Michael and Annie Diver.

John was listed as a servant in 1874 and then for each of his children's birth entries in Donegal, he was listed as a shopkeeper or a merchant. When his youngest son John was born in Scotland, his occupation was a railway surfaceman so I presume something signficant prompted a move of countries and also to a very manual job. This occupation was also recorded on his death registry entry in 1895. When John's daughter Julia was married for the first time, she listed her father's occupation as grocer's salesman (although this was a decade after he died).

It appears that John, Bridget and the surviving children moved to Scotland between 1888 and 1894 although I cannot find any record of them in the 1891 Scottish census or the 1901 census for Scotland or Ireland. They are present in the 1911 and 1921 Scottish censuses though. It looks like the surname Diver became Divers in Scotland's BMD records after 1895. I have tried many spelling variations of 'Diver' but have not been successful finding the elusive census records so far.

Both John Diver and Bridget Brogan have signed BMD records rather than making a mark (as a lot of other ancestors did at those times) so I assume they had some reading and writing ability.

I am based in New Zealand so all of my research is done online. I would gratefully accept suggestions on how to find anything further on John Diver of Falcarragh and his parents Michael and Annie.