I'm searching for any descendants of Mary Elizabeth Greene.. The 1930 US Census says she was born in "North Ireland' about 1859. My DNA test says to look in Ulster around Louth or Monaghan . Also counties Antrim and Down are suggested.If it helps she married Hugh Wilson in 1880.
Welcome to Ireland Reaching Out!
I searched for a marriage record for Hugh Wilson and Mary Greene from 1877-1883 and could not locate a civil marriage record in Ireland. Likely theywere married in the States. Have you located Mary Elizabeth's parents names from a death record or other source. This will allow us to see if a baptismal record is available. Civil registration of births started in 1864. Can you clarify the religious denomination?
Roger McDonnell
Mr McDonnell;
Thank you for your reply. I didn't include all of the info I have. From her death certificate I found her Father's first name.......William. Her Mother's name is unknown. From a reliable source (My Aunt Florence) Mary Greene was born in Ireland.....But raised in Scotland.(WHAT?!!!) This puzzled me. So I believe she was married in Scotland. Why??? Her two daughters Isabella (1883) and Mary J.Wilson (1887) were born in Scotland (1900 US census) Then in 1888 all 4 came to the US. I'm not privy to the Scotland database. Perhaps if you could it could help a major "Brick wall" One more thing....I believe she is protestent . The Wilsons I found in PEI are all presbyterian .But none of them can give me any info on Mary E Greene. I have three files attached to this reply. Maybe they can clarify my situation.
Harry
Harry:
I searched the subscription site Roots Ireland for 1856-1860 for Mary Greene baptismal records with father William. I found two records in Co. Down and I eliminated one in 1860 because the family was RC which leaves the 1858 record below. Roots Ireland is not an all-encompassing data base and some churches do not have records back to 1860.
Roger
Name:Mary GreenDate of Birth:21-Apr-1858
Date of Baptism:--:--:18--Address:SlievinamanParish/District:DRUMLEE PRESBYTERIANGender:
CountyCo. Down
Father:William GreenMother:Agnes Morow
Harry,
In 1930, the term “North Ireland” probably means the counties of Antrim, Down, Armagh, Tyrone, Fermanagh & Londonderry/Derry, all of which are in what is now Northern Ireland. But not Monaghan or Louth, in my opinion, as they were in what was then often called the Irish Free State in the 1930 census.
It’s not unusual to find folk from Ireland going to Scotland. The industrial revolution largely passed Ireland by because it has very few natural resources. The employment prospects in Scotland were much better than in Ireland and tens of thousands made the same short journey.
I can see a marriage between Hugh Wilson and Mary Green registered in Kelvin (a district in Glasgow) in 1879. GROS ref 644/9 154. Scottish marriage certificates are quite helpful as they normally name both sets of parents and tell you whether they were still alive at that date. They also include the parents occupations which can help trace a family.
You should be able to trace Hugh & Mary in the 1881 Scottish census. If they had a child named James Alexander Wilson in about 1880, then they may be in Anderston (another district in Glasgow) GROS ref 644/10 15/6. However there are a couple of other Hugh & Mary Wilsons of the right age around that same area. You might need to look at a several to find the right couple.
There’s 3 or 4 of Isabella Wilson births in 1884, in that area (Kelvin, Dennistoun & Calvin), that might fit too. Mary Wilson is too common to trace very easily. The marriage, births and censuses are all on Scotlandspeople. You’ll need to sign up to it and buy a few credits in order to view these documents.
https://www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk/search-our-records
If you give me Mary‘s parents names and occupations from the 1879 marriage certificate, I’ll look for their marriage in Ireland.
Update;
Mary Jane Wilson ; Born 1887 daughter to Hugh and Mary Elizabeth (Greene) Wilson Anderston Lanarkshire Glasgow Scotland
Isabella Wilson : born 1883 daughter to Hugh and Mary Elizabeth (greene) Wilson Anderston Lanarkshire Glasgow Scotland
Scotland 1881 Census Hugh Wilson and Mary E. Wilson with NEW finding; 4mos old James Alexander Wilson- (looks like he didn't suvive) They are in the same adress in 1881 as with Isabella 1883
So now I have a 22 year gap btween Mary's birth (1857) and her marriage to Hugh Wilson (1879) I have tried the 1861 census in Scotland and 1871 census. No luck. Where do I go from here?
Workhouses in Northern Ireland? in Scotland?
Have you viewed Mary & Hugh’s marriage certificate? It should give you both her parents names and occupations. It should also tell you whether they were still alive in 1879. (If dead it will say deceased or dcd after their name(s). If you give me that information I can see if there's a marriage for them in Ireland. Protestant marriages 1845 onwards are on-line.
As I mentioned in my previous post, better employment prospects are the likely reason for Mary going to Glasgow. It’s possible that the whole family went, so that could have been any time after her birth, or she might have gone alone, in which case that’s likely to have been when she reached working age say 16 or 17. So perhaps around 1874? She was obviously there by 1879 in order to have married. Hugh Wilson was born in England (according to the 1900 census) so chances are they met in Scotland. If you have searched the 1861 & 1871 censuses and she’s not there it suggests she went in the mid 1870s.
Anderston is in Glasgow city centre. A business and residential area near the River Clyde. A lot of young women went to Scotland as servants, so that’s one possibility. Her marriage certificate should contain her occupation which may resolve that aspect.
So what does the marriage certificate say? (You can attach it to your post I can view it that way).
James Alexander Wilson death in Anderston 1884 aged 3. GROS ref 644/10 382.
Dia duit Elwyn;
I hope I typed it correctly.Thank you for responding. This search has taken me to a path I was not anticipating. My Dad said there was a little bit of Scot in us. I bekieve he underestimated that.
The Marriage says March 17th, 1879 in Glasgow, This is in both birth registrations of my Grand Aunts documents.The only document is the one I attached to this reply. It is a different date and it says they were married in an episcopal church. (this is a new one on me) St. Paul of Glasgow.
I'm going to acquire the death registration of James later today. I would like to talk with you more. I have a skype account with the same username here.
My real name is Harry Paige ( my Dad's adopted last name; therefore mine) Hope to correspond with you again.
Slan
I found a likely marriage for James Green and Elizabeth McMullan (Mary Elizabeth’s parents). It was on 30th March 1854 in Bovevagh Church of Ireland (which is an episcopal church), between Limavady and Dungiven in Co Londonderry. Tradition was to marry in the bride’s church, so that may be where Elizabeth was baptised. James was a labourer living in Burnfoot, and Elizabeth was living in Ardinarive.
There was another couple of exactly the same names married in Cork in 1852. However he was an engineer, not a labourer, and so I very much doubt it’s your family:
Looking at Griffiths Valuation for 1858 I don’t see a Frederick McMullan in Ardinarive but there was a Catherine McMullan who was probably a widow. That might be Frederick’s widow. She had a labourer’s cottage on plot 2d which today is just all moorland but which in the 1800s had some labourer’s cottage son it. It’s up a dead end lane off the Polly’s Brae Rd.
In 1879, James Green was alive and was an iron foundry labourer. There are no iron foundries anywhere near Londonderry and so my guess is he was working in Scotland (where there were hundreds of foundries).
There are several trees on Ancestry with this Green(e) family. One, (the Green-Houston family) has James Alexander Green lodging in Govan in Glasgow in the 1871 census. It also records that he had a sister Martha 1835 – 1896 (died 13.9.1896 Belfast) and a brother William 1830 – 1919 died Limavady. The tree does not record James’ wife’s name or any of their children. James parents are listed as Hugh Greene and Mary Fowler (no dates).
Another tree (Greene family) does have Elizabeth McMullen listed as James’ wife together with the 1854 marriage I have found. However there is no further information on James or Elizabeth after 1854 on that tree.
There are several trees which have James Green but which are private so they might have more information. I can’t tell. You can e-mail the owners and ask for information though.
Regarding Scottish background, given that the Green & McMullan families were protestant and lived in Co Londonderry, the chances are that they originated in Scotland and came to Ireland in the 1600s (as did 200,000 Scots). They have been going back and forth to Scotland ever since and still do to this day.
I don’t have a Skype account but I do use Zoom. If you e-mail me on ahoghill@irelandxo.com we can probably set something up that way.
Harry,
I received an invitation to Zoom you but when I clicked on the link I got this message:
Sorry, your friend invitation confirmation link is expired. (124)
So there seems to be a technical snag.
Hi I also have connection to family Greene from moville Donegal Ireland. What is strange is the name Greene going back was changed from mcgranahan/mcgrenehan/To Greene when I have looked into this there is no explanation they just changed it? My grandfather Patrick Greene came to Lancashire England... I believe my grandad had connections to Scotland as did all his brothers who all married Scottish women I believe they travelled for work still today I have family in Scotland Ireland I'm just learning how to do this try searching the names mcgranahan it still means Greene so I'm told and Mc is son of???
Dannii,
You are correct that the Mc prefix just means son of. It’s detachable and was often dropped from a surname on whim. O’ is likewise a prefix meaning “of..” The female equivalent is Ni, though the spelling can vary according to grammatical use and the woman’s marital status. Here’s an example. This is John & Mary Gallagher (and family) as written in gaelic (Irish) in the 1911 census:
http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/pages/1911/Donegal/Mulmoseg/Meentinadea/486028/
Here’s James & Ellen McDyre with son Hugh aged 9, and their servant Anna Flynn:
http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/pages/1911/Donegal/Ardara/Kilrean_Upper/485324/
So these names often got anglicised. Sometimes by doing a sound alike change, and sometimes by translating the Irish word into English. MacEntaggart for example means son of the priest. That can make it’s way into English either as Taggart, or as Priest. Both mean the same. Green looks to be a straight anglicization of Granahan/Grenahan.
Huge numbers of people from the Inishowen peninsula (where Moville is) and Donegal generally went to Scotland to work. In fact they still do. There was little employment in Donegal, apart from subsistence farming, and plenty to be found around Glasgow which was also easy and cheap to get to. There was an overnight ferry from Londonderry to Glasgow until the 1960s and now there are direct flights from the City of Derry Airport to both Glasgow & Edinburgh.