Feeney from Mosside, Country Antrim

Moss-side is in the civil parish of Grange of Drumtullagh. That’s the RC parish of Ballintoy.  (You haven’t said what denomination the family were, so I am assuming RC). The Ballintoy records only start in 1872, though my guide to church records says there may be some earlier ones for Ballintoy in Armoy. They start in 1848, so you might get lucky. The RC parish records are on-line free on the National Library site:

https://www.nli.ie/en/family-history-introduction.aspx

If the parents died after 1864 you might find their death certificates. A death in Moss-side should be registered in Ballycastle. It’s not a common surname in that part of Ireland. (There are no Feeny households in the parish or surrounding areas in the 1803 agricultural census).

https://churchrecords.irishgenealogy.ie/churchrecords/

Esther,

I did a bit more research. Looking at the statutory birth records (which start in 1864) I found a Thomas John Feeny born 24.6.1867 in Moss-side to William Feeny and Martha McMaster.  Perhaps that’s the same William & Martha Feeney that you are looking for? Could her surname have been McMaster rather than Smith?

https://civilrecords.irishgenealogy.ie/churchrecords/images/birth_returns/births_1867/03477/2277455.pdf

Also Samuel 8.1.1865 & James 18.1.1871 to the same parents. James seems to have died in 1971 aged 0.

William Feeney married Martha McMaster 19.1.1850 in Macosquin (Co. Derry). He was 21 and a servant, she 22. His father was James, a labourer. His address was Drimcroon, hers Camus. Her father was Archibald McMaster, a farmer.

There was no birth registration in Ireland prior to 1864. You need to rely on church records for baptism events before that year. To do that you need to know what church the family attended. Based on the fact that I have found that there was one other Feeney family in the area who were Presbyterian, that may be the best denomination to start with. The nearest Presbyterian church is Moss-side. It has baptism and marriage records from 1842, plus burial records for the years 1855-1878. I don’t think these records are on-line anywhere but there is a copy in PRONI (the public record office) in Belfast. If you can’t get there yourself, you may need to get a researcher to look them up for you. Researchers in the PRONI area: http://sgni.net

I had a look for deaths for William & Martha in Ireland but didn’t see any. That suggests they had left the area. So the next obvious place to look was Scotland because that’s where the vast majority of people from Antrim and nearby counties went to, to look for work.

William & Martha are in the 1881 Scottish census, at 11 Bouverie St, Port Glasgow, with children Eliza Jane 18, Samuel 16 & John 13. Possibly their departure from Ireland coincided with William’s departure for Australia. William, Eliza Jane & John were all mill workers in Port Glasgow, their son Samuel was an apprentice engineer. I don;t know what became of Thomas John but given that he would only have been 14 in 1881, I'd guess he had died.

I can see a death for Martha Feeney or McMaster in Greenock West in 1908, aged 78. GROS ref 564/1 348. That’ll tell you whether William was still alive then, and you’ll know which side of 1908 to look for his death.

You can also look for the family in the censuses 1891-1911 in Scotland. Plus you may be able to find some marriages for the 3 children that went to Scotland.  Assuming this is your family, you’ll maybe have living relatives in Scotland today. (For example, I see a marriage in Port Glasgow in 1885 between Samuel Feeney and Rosann McClure. That looks promising. I can see Samuel & Rose Ann in the 1901 census for Port Glasgow with 5 children. And so on. There’s a 1904 marriage in Port Glasgow for John Feeney to Elizabeth McKean. That might be worth checking too).

The births, deaths & marriages and censuses are on the Scotlandspeople site. You need to join and buy a few credits to see the records:

https://www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk

I also found this Presbyterian Feeney family in Moss-side in the 1901 census:

http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/pages/1901/Antrim/Drumtullagh/Mosside/922886/

http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/pages/1901/Antrim/Drumtullagh/Mosside/922892/

David John Feeney married Margaret Jane Watten on 27.1.1888 in Drumtullagh Church of Ireland. David’s father was Robert Feeney (who was born in Co Derry according to the 1901 census, so not originally from the Moss-side area).

Robert Feeney married Hannah McCallum on 22.1.1855 at Roseyards Presbyterian church. Robert’s father was also named Robert. Both were labourers.

Can’t see any immediate connection with your William born 1852, other than Moss-side itself. But they may be connected. Possibly William born 1829 & Robert b c 1835 were brothers.

Esther,

I think the 2 Moss-side families might be connected because both seem to come from Londonderry, and used the same family name David John. William b c 1829 was married in Macosquin and was living at Drumcroon then. (It’s Drimcroon on the rootsireland transcript of the marriage certificate but should actually be Drumcroon. That’s about 5 miles south of Coleraine.).  We know Robert born c 1835 was born in the county too, from the 1901 census. However they had different fathers (James & Robert) so they aren’t brothers. Moss-side is about 6 miles east of Coleraine so they didn’t have to move very far to get there from Co. Londonderry.

If the William & Martha from Moss-side aren’t your family, then I don’t know who yours can be. As I said in my first post, it’s a really rare name in that part of Co. Antrim. There’s only a handful of Feeny/Feeney births, deaths & marriages in the Ballycastle registration area (ie including Moss-side) in a 50 year period and there don’t appear to have been any other families living there, post 1864 anyway.

I did check the 1850 marriage transcript again on rootsireland to see if Martha had been married before (which could account for a different surname on the Australian certificates) but she is a spinster, aged 22, so that rules that out.

If you can’t get to PRONI to search the records yourself, you could use a researcher.  Researchers in the PRONI area: http://sgni.net

Moss-side is not a big place by the way. The 2001 census had 270 people living there. (Population in 1901 was 178 people in 40 houses). Not big at all. I looked in the local phone book but there are no Feeney households listed there today. However I know there are some families in the general area (possibly not listed in the phone book). They are descendants of David John Feeney (in Moss-side in the 1901 & 1911 censuses). I have marriage details for 5 of his children in the period 1918 - 1930 and all were in the Moss-side & Ballymoney area. (Let me know if you want them).

You might want to put a message on Peter Thompson’s Dervock History site on Facebook looking for contact with any Feeneys still living in the area, particularly if descended from David John Feeney b 1870 and Margaret Watter who were living in Moss-side in 1911 and later years.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/1569745549911604/

You say that on William’s Australian marriage certificate it gives his father’s occupation as flax dresser. I looked at the 1865 birth cert for Samuel. The father’s occupation was flax dresser. (Thomas John’s had labourer as did James in 1871).

Flax dressing was a common occupation in Ulster in the mid 1800s. It’s part of the linen making process and most labouring families worked at the flax to make some extra money. Flax processing and weaving provided a little cash in a society that otherwise largely traded on barter, and the linen income was one reason why labouring families in Antrim and adjacent counties didn’t suffer so much in the Irish famines, because they had this to fall back on.

DNA testing might be another approach for you. If you can track down living descendants in Scotland, of the William & Martha in Port Glasgow, then you could do a comparison. I looked to see what happened to Samuel Feeney. He died in Port Glasgow in 1923, aged 58. GROS ref 574/78. I searched all Feeney deaths in Port Glasgow 1890 to 2018 and got just 16. (William appears to have died in 1897, I see). There was a David John Feeney who died 1975 aged 71, and a Robert who died 1978 aged 72. Both had mother’s maiden name McClure which links them to the Samuel Feeney – Rosann McClure family I mentioned before. So there were still 2 families in the Port Glasgow area just 40 years ago. The death certificates should give you the informants names and addresses and relationship to deceased. That might give you a lead to living descendants. Plus both men may have left wills, which again should give leads on descendants. There are 2 Feeney households in the current phone book for Port Glasgow (postcode PA14). You might want to track them down. (IRO's policy is not to give out information on living people directly on the site. But they should be easy enough to find).

If I can locate them, descendants of David John Feeney may also be worth testing with, though there's no proven link to them yet.

Good luck anyway.

Feeney Gravestone inscriptions from Moss-side Presbyterian graveyard. They are all comparatively recent but show that there are several families still in the area.

Inscription: Feeney / In loving memory of / a dear husband and father Robert Edmund / died 12th August 1963 / his wife Barbara Matheson / died 4th Aug 1971 aged 78 years / also their daughter Margaret Watton Black / died 14th Nov 2003 aged 83 years / at rest

Inscription: Feeney / in loving memory of / a dear husband and father / T E Hayden / died 26th June 1989 aged 46 years / sad the hearts that loved you

Inscription: Feeney / in loving memory of / a dear husband and father Frank / died 18th August 1965 / also his beloved wife / and our dear mother Fanny / died 21st January 1996

Inscription: Feeney / in loving memory of / Adam died 8th May 1974 / also his daughter Eleanor Stanton / died 18th Nov 1980 beloved wife of Robert / his wife Mima died 11th Jan 1998

Inscription: Feeney / in loving memory of / our dear parents / Daniel died 12th Dec 1973 aged 78 yrs / Rosetta C died 7th Nov 1975 aged 76 yrs / their son Daniel died 9th Aug 1992 aged 61 yrs / and her daughter Ruby died 16th July 2009 aged 82 yrs

Inscription: Feeney / in loving memory of / James Alexander (Jamie) / a loving husband, devoted father and grandfather / died 11th Oct 2001 aged 68 years / Until we meet again

Inscription: Feeney / cherished memories of / John / a much loved husband, father and grandfather / died 3rd March 1991 aged 55 years / your life a beautiful memory / your absence a silent grief

 

Esther,

You are looking for a marriage between James Feeney and a Galbraith, presumably before c1829, which is when William was born. That could prove challenging. Statutory recording of marriages started in 1845. Before that you need to rely on church records, but not all the records have survived and of those that do still exist many are not on-line.

I looked in the 1831 census for Co. Derry for a James Feeney who was Presbyterian. There wasn’t one, so possibly he wasn’t living in the county then. (The equivalent census for Antrim has been destroyed). Labourers moved around a lot to follow available work (in contrast to farmers who tended to stay put). Labourers are very hard to trace.

Martha McMaster who married William Feeney in 1850 lived in Camus, and was born c 1829. Her father was Archibald a farmer. This would appear to be him in the 1831 census. 1 male and 5 females in the household, all Presbyterian. So, assuming 1 female was he rmother, Martha may have 2 sisters.

http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/pages/1831/Londonderry/Coleraine/Mecasquin/Camus/55/

Griffiths Valuation for 1859 lists Archibald and 3 others farming plot 5, which was an 11 acre farm. He was farming in partnership with John, James & Alexander. Looking at the Revaluation records which take Griffiths forward, Archy is deleted in 1870 suggesting he had died. (There are a couple of possible deaths registered in Coleraine for 1868 & 1869, both aged 78). James & Alexander are both deleted in 1872 and John in 1876. No McMasters in the townland in the 1901 census for Camus.

There’s a death for Betty McMaster in Camus on 25.12.1879. She was 83 and a farmer’s widow. However it’s not obvious which of the 4 McMasters there she was married to. (I’d guess they were brothers).

https://civilrecords.irishgenealogy.ie/churchrecords/images/deaths_retu…

Macosquin Presbyterian church has baptisms from 1823 onwards but no marriages prior to 1845. So you might find Martha’s baptism and that of any siblings but if that’s where her parents married there won’t be a record. Copies of the baptism records are in PRONI in Belfast. I don’t think they are on-line anywhere.