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Agnew/McErlane from Ballynease Mcpeake

Looking for any relatives of Charles Agnew and Eliza McErlane Agnew. Many of their children settled in Whitewater , WI. , Philadelphia and Patterson, New Jersey. Children married Scullion's and Cassidy's. Thank you so much

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Thanks Elwyn.  We have most of the boys, Patrick being the only one who remained in Ireland, but have no idea about the 5 girls.  One of the boys William John is the grandfather of my husband who came to Whitewater Wi, along with brothers,Charles and Henry.  We will be visiting soon to visit cemeteries and hopefully findout the area where they raised their family.  They were in ??Culban in early marriage, then Ballynease McPeak and Strain.  Not sure how to find Eliza's family since we don't know her parents nor Charles's parents.  He was born 1837 she 1840.  Yes, the census was our first clue, then baptismal records at St. Mary's Culban and Bellaghy.  Checking out the Grif. Valua to see if there is any succession of the land they leased. We are not sure about how to find any of the girls.  We know they were weavers and an uncle here used to write to Patrick and Cassie after their parents died.

IrelandXO member

I had a look at the marriages in Magherafelt registration area from 1890 to 1921 but didn’t see any of the girls marrying. Suspect they may have moved away from the area.

I noticed a death for a Brigid Agnew on 25.1.1914 aged 40, in Magherafelt Workhouse hospital. (Cause of death was a tumour). Her usual address was Bellaghy. She was single and a servant.  So if it was your Brigid, and had moved from the family home to work in Bellaghy that could be her. Can’t really say. Can’t see any other family deaths up to 1921, apart from Charles in 1910.

In the 1911 census, Eliza did list how many children she had had, as well as how many were still alive. She then erased the information but you can just about make some of it out. It looks to be as though there were 10 or more children but that the number alive in 1911 was single figures. So some had died.

http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/pages/1911/Londonderry/Bellaghy/Ballynease__Macpeake_/607567/

PRONI should have Charles’ will. It might tell you where some of the children were at that time. It is not on-line and so you either need to go in in person, or pay PRONI to copy it for you. Here’s the abstract, from the wills site.

Probate of the Will of Charles Agnew late of Ballyneasemacpeake County Londonderry Farmer who died 4 May 1910 granted at Londonderry to Patrick Agnew Farmer 8 November 1911.

The Valuation revision records show the farm (plot 25a – just under 8 acres) remaining in Patrick’s name up to 1929 when that series of records ends. PRONI has later records, which are not on-line, that go up to the 1960s. In the VAL/3 series of records, if you go there.

You might be able to work out Charles and Elizas fathers names if you know the names of all their children and none are missing.  The traditional naming pattern was to name the first born male child after the husband’s father, the second after the wife’s father. Likewise for the first and second daughters. They’d be named after the respective mothers. Not every family followed this rigidly, but some did.

Elwyn, IrelandXO Volunteer ☘IrelandXO Volunteer

Hi my name is Deborah mc erlean I'm from belfast my 2 grandfather was william mc Erlean . Who lived in 71 ballynease my grandfather micheal lived here not sure if realated

Debbie Mac

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