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Henry & Ellen Gray - Armagh

Armagh

Hi, During COVID I have been reviewing my ancestry, leading me to my GGG Grandmother, Mary Jane Gray from Armagh, born circa 1832 and a possible sister, Ellen, born circa 1830. Mary Jane was an Irish famine orphan sent to Australia on the first ship, the Earl Grey, in 1848. Both her parents, Henry and Ellen Gray, were listed as having died. Mary Jane spent several years at the Armagh workhouse, but could read and write when she arrived in Australia. I am trying to find the possible burial site for Henry and Ellen in Ireland (Armagh). It is believed they were Church of England. As Mary Jane was at the Armagh workhouse after Henry died, circa 1842, would it be possible there are any records of death or their grave whereabouts please? I would appreciate any help you could provide. Thank you! 

Janine Waddell…

3 replies

J,

Here’s a link to information on Armagh workhouse:

http://www.workhouses.org.uk/Armagh/

The good news is that the workhouse admission records from 1843 onwards do still exist and are in PRONI (the public record office) in Belfast. They are not on-line and you either need to go yourself or get a researcher to do it for you. (The admission records for 1839 to 1842 appear to be lost).

Armagh Poor Law Union included the parishes of: Armagh, Clonfeacle, Derrynoose, Eglish, Grange, Keady, Kilclooney, Killyman, Kilmore, Lisnadill, Loughgall, Mullaghbrack, Newry (2 townlands only), Tartaraghan & Tynan.

In Ireland, Church of England is the Church of Ireland (COI). So if looking for the family, you would need to search the COI records for each of those 15 parishes. Again they are not on-line but they are in PRONI. (It’s possible not all the parishes have records. Some were COI records lost in the 1922 fire in Dublin). This link explains what records exist, parish by parish:

https://www.nidirect.gov.uk/publications/proni-guide-church-records

If you are unable to go yourself, you could employ a researcher. Researchers in the PRONI area: http://sgni.net

Elwyn, IrelandXO Volunteer ☘IrelandXO Volunteer

Thank you Elwyn. I live in Australia, so can't attend to view records, but really want to. I did have a holiday finally booked to visit Ireland this October, so a little disappointed is an understatement.

Janine Waddell…

The Church of Ireland does have a project on the go to put all it’s surviving records on-line free (on the irishgenealogy site). However that has no completion date and due to the volume is reckoned to be a couple of years away from completion. (Volunteers were doing it 1 day a week). And it’s presumably stopped at the moment due to Covid. But eventually these records should be available on line.

Elwyn, IrelandXO Volunteer ☘IrelandXO Volunteer

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