Beck/Hastings

Stephanie,

Birth registration didn’t start in Ireland till 1864 so finding Theresa Hastings birth may be challenging. Pre 1864 we rely on church baptism records but they don’t all exist, and even where they do, they are not always on-line.

I can see that Theresa married in the Church of Scotland. Was she baptised a Presbyterian? Or were her parents a mixed denomination relationship?

In the 1881 census Theresa’s place of birth is given as Ochiltree, Ayrshire but in 1891 it is Ireland. Suspect the 1881 may be a mistake.  I don’t see a birth for her in Scotland on Scotlandspeople, so assume she was born in Ireland.

Did Theresa’s parents have any children born in Scotland, 1861 onwards? If they did, the birth certificates should record where and when the parents married (assuming they did marry), which would be a great help.

Did Margaret Hastings marry in 1871 to a John McFarlane in Sorn? If so, I note she said she was a spinster then. Aged 50. So maybe she never married Theresa’s father? Margaret’s death certificate makes no mention of being born as Beck. Her parents names are given as Hastings (John Hastings farmer, deceased & Janet Hastings ms Hastings deceased). Informant was Theresa who presumably knew the facts. Possibly Theresa was illegitimate? Father;s details created for the benefit of her marriage?

I have attached  a copy of the 1871 marriage for Theresa’s mother and you will see she described herself as a spinster.  So unless she was lying I think it’s fair to assume Theresa was illegitimate.  There was no earlier marriage to John Hastings.

Have you found any trace of “John Hastings”? Eg in a Scottish census or a death certificate for him? I suspect not, because he probably didn’t exist.

It’s worth paying to view the original documents on Scotlandspeople and elsewhere to get additional information. For example, the 1921 Scottish census actually records where Theresa was born. She was born in Co Down, Mount Stuart.” (It’s actually spelled Mount Stewart).  It’s mostly agricultural land and there’s a great big stately home there belonging to the Londonderry family but looked after by the National Trust these days:

https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/visit/northern-ireland/mount-stewart

Theresa’s mother married in a Catholic church in Scotland. It’s my guess therefore that Theresa herself was born Catholic too. Mount Stewart is in the RC parish of Ballygalget. They have baptism records for 1852 - 1864. You might want to go through them looking for Theresa’s baptism. Suspect it will be under the surname Hastings.

https://registers.nli.ie/

Stephanie,

If you are struggling with this you might need to employ a Scottish researcher to help.

Bear in mind that when events were registered in the 1800s and early 1900s, no documentation was required, so any information on birth, death and marriage certificates was normally unverified. So it doesn’t always agree.

I have suggested that Theresa was probably illegitimate.  If that was so, then it would not be surprising to find that some of her ancestors as shown on trees on Ancestry etc don’t quite fit. Quite common in my experience. (Often to cover the matter up).

But really you will need to decide, based on the information you uncover.

There was no requirement to produce nay documentation when registering a death, and the information was taken on trust. So if the informant made a mistake or invented names and occupations that would go unchallenged. Mistakes on death certificates are very common.