Gillespie Linked to Drumnagee, County Antrim and or Tullybrick, County Derry

Alison,

The date of Joseph & Elizabeth’s marriage looks to me to be 29th Jan 1852, rather than 28th.

They married in Bushmills Presbyterian church. Tradition was to marry in the bride’s church, so that’s possibly where she was baptised So that may give you Elizabeth’s mothers name (and you may get her siblings from that too). That church’s records start in 1820. They are not on-line anywhere so far as I know, but there is a copy in PRONI (the public record office) in Belfast.  

However there were no Gillespies in Drumnagee in Rev Traill’s 1803 census of the townland nor in the 1803 agricultural census, so it looks as though they moved there after 1803. Daniel is listed there in 1824 in the tithes so that narrows it a bit.

http://www.irishgenealogyhub.com/antrim/tithe-applotments/ballintoy-parish.php

The Tullybrick that you refer to. Is that the one in Co Derry near Magherafelt? (That would be about 40 miles from Drumnagee). If that’s the location, then the parish is Ballynascreen, and if you think the family was also Presbyterian then Draperstown Presbyterian only has records from 1837 onwards which is probably too late for you. The local RC church has records from 1834.

There were 8 Gillespie families in Tullybrick in the 1831 census (headed respectively by Mary, Daniel, Henry, 2 separate Johns, Thomas, Bernard & Francis).  All were Catholic. Here’s Mary:

http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/pages/1831/Londonderry/Loughinshollin/Ballynascreen/Tullybrick/1/

The geographic distance and different religious denominations would make me wonder if the 2 families are related but it seems your DNA results suggest they are. However you may struggle to establish the precise relationship due to the general lack of records at that time.

Alison,

There were always plenty of mixed denomination marriages. It’s easy enough to find such couples. From 1845 onwards they often married in a Register Office, to overcome any difficulties about which denomination to marry in. Prior to 1845 they’d often have married in the Church of Ireland as it would marry anyone.

But I would check the Bushmills Presbyterian baptism records to see if your Elizabeth was baptised there. (The church is Bushmills Presbyterian, not Billy. Billy is the name of the parish). That would resolve the question of whether she had been born Catholic. If you are unable to go to PRONI yourself, you could employ a researcher. Researchers in the PRONI area: http://sgni.net

You could try contacting the Minister and asking for a look up. Can’t guarantee he/she will agree to do that. (Many churches here get rather more genealogical queries than they can cope with and not all reply. Or they may just re-direct you to the PRONI copy. So you might find it easer and quicker to get a researcher to do it at PRONI).

https://www.facebook.com/BushmillsPresbyterianChurch