Frazers in Laois, early 19th century
One of the enduring brick walls in my genealogy is a great-great-great-great-grandmother, Elizabeth Frazer, who was born in Laois (then Queen’s County, of course) on Nov. 12, 1808, and later emigrated to Canada. I am in Canada and have so far found no Irish or Canadian records online that have been any help in figuring out what parish or townland she might have been born in, nor the names of either of her parents, but I hope that perhaps someone on the message board with deep knowledge of Laois might at least know of pockets of the county that had clusters of Protestant Frazers in the early 19th century.
Elizabeth Frazer was married in Montreal in 1827 to a fellow Irish immigrant, William Robinson, who had emigrated from North Tipperary with his family in 1819. Elizabeth was 18 at the time of her wedding, so almost certainly emigrated to Canada while still a minor, presumably with her parents. Although William Robinson’s family was Church of Ireland, Elizabeth and William’s wedding took place in a Presbyterian church in Montreal, which clearly suggests the bride’s family was Presbyterian (which would not be surprising, of course, given the Scots origins of the Frazer surname).
This is speculative, but since many Irish immigrants in the Americas married into families they had known back in the old country, it’s possible the Frazer and Robinson families knew each other in Ireland. William Robinson’s father was from Clareen, Seir Kieran, County Offaly, and William’s mother was from Borrisokane, North Tipperary -- both of which are not many miles from the western Laois border. So possibly my Frazer forebears were from a Laois parish close to the border with Offaly and/or Tipperary. But that’s just a hunch.
My only other clue is that Elizabeth and William named one of their sons John Frazer Robinson, which points very strongly to her father’s name being John Frazer.
Does anyone know of Laois parishes or townlands with Presbyterian Frazer families living there in the early decades of the 19th century? Or suggestions for how I might track down a Protestant Laois household of the period headed by a John Frazer? Thank you very much!