Isabella Martin of Enniskillen, County Fermanagh

The townland where Isabella lived was Inisclin, in the parish of Drumkeeran. (That’s about 30 miles from Enniskillen). Her father William is listed there in Griffiths Valuation of 1862. He had plot 11 which was a 21 acre farm. It’s in Co. Fermanagh on the border with Co. Donegal, near Pettigo.

The revaluation records show that William acquired plot 10 in 1868 making his farm 58 acres. In 1889 the tenant changes to James Martin. James remains listed as tenant in 1929 when that series of records stops.

https://www.nidirect.gov.uk/proni

William Martin died 26.3.1896 at Inisclin, aged 82. Cause of death was “probably old age.” Informant was daughter Anne.

2 Martin households in Inisclin in 1901:

http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/pages/1901/Fermanagh/Glenvannan/Iniselm/1354323/

Widow Jane in the above census may be your Mary’s mother.

http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/pages/1901/Fermanagh/Glenvannan/Iniselm/1354324/

Just the one family by 1911:

http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/pages/1911/Fermanagh/Glenvannon/Inisclin/520021/

Evidently the family were still farming there in the 1930s.

Probate abstract from the PRONI wills site:

Martin Margaret of Inisclin county Fermanagh widow died 7 November 1937 Probate Belfast 27 July to James Mills farmer. Effects £65.

The family was Church of Ireland. Drumkeeran parish records start in 1801. So you may be able to find Isabella’s baptism and that of siblings from those records. Likewise the parent’s marriage assuming they married in that parish. There’s a copy of those records in PRONI (the public record office) in Belfast.

There’s no Martin farm in Inisclin in the 1832 tithe applotment records, so probably the family hadn’t arrive din the townland then. Or at least they weren’t farming in it.

http://www.irishgenealogyhub.com/fermanagh/tithe-applotment-books/paris…

Ron,

The names Jennie and Jane or Janet are interchangeable in Ireland (and in Scotland). Like Agnes and Ann, or Henry and Harry, Ellen & Helen, William & Billy. My grandmother was baptised Janet but known as Jenny all her life. So it’s not about misheard accents just alternative names. (There are dozens of them. Some people seem to find it confusing but there’s a certain logic to it when you get to know them).

Regarding Isabella’s birth and age, I have a couple of different thoughts. Firstly, have you looked for a second Isabella? If there was one born in 1855 and she died young, the parents would often have used the name again. Is there another birth around 1860? Probably worth searching for. They liked to keep the names alive. Literally. Alternatively it may be that Isabella was born in 1855 but may not have known her exact age.  A discrepancy of 5 years isn’t unusual. You see that all the time on the censuses. Death certificate ages, for folk over 60, are often up to 10 years out. In general, people in Ireland in the 1800s didn’t celebrate birthdays, didn’t have birth certificates (they only started in 1864) or passports (though they might sometimes have had a baptismal cert) and often had little accurate idea of their ages. Most ages on official documents were just a guess. Invented to satisfy officialdom’s requirements.

Alexander Irvine was born in 1863 in Antrim town and became a Minister living in the US. This extract from his book “The Chimney Corner revisited” perhaps explains why people often had to guess their ages:

“My mother kept a mental record of the twelve births. None of us ever knew, or cared to know, when we were born. When I heard of anybody in the more fortunate class celebrating a birthday I considered it a foolish imitation of the Queen’s birthday, which rankled in our little minds with 25th December or 12th July. In manhood there were times when I had to prove I was born somewhere, somewhen, and then it was that I discovered that I also had a birthday. The clerk of the parish informed me.”

 

Ron,

Farmers tend not to move about very much, unless they have to. You spend a lot of time putting work into improving the land, so you don’t willingly waste that and move every few years. Most farmers stay on the same farm for many years. They wouldn't switch back and forth between 2 farms.

There’s a William Martin in Mullaghmore in Griffiths and “your” family in Innnisclin, at the same time. I’d say they are two separate families. Farmers did sometimes own more than one farm, but where that happened, Griffiths would usually note that in the records (often with the townland where the person resided being in brackets in the other townland). And since most people didn’t need two farmhouses, what you also see is that the spare farmhouse is sublet, with the farmer just retaining the land and perhaps the outbuildings (offices as they are described in Griffiths). That hasn't happened here.

There were 3 Martin families in Mullaghmore in the 1901 census:

http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/pages/1901/Fermanagh/Ederny/Mulla…

 

So I am pretty sure the Inisclin and Mullaghmore William Martins are separate families.

There’s no Martin farming in Tullynaloob in Griffiths so that might be one of these Martins prior to moving to Innisclin or Mullaghmore.

Ron,

Yes, some (but not all) Irish births, deaths & marriages are on-line free.

Births 1864 to 1915, marriages 1882 – 1940 (1921 for Northern Ireland) and deaths 1891 to 1965 (1921 for Northern Ireland) are on line free on this site:

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

Outwith those years, you have to go to other sites, and you may have to pay to view the certs.

 

You need to be sure of searching under civil records, not church records. Place of registration was Irvinestown.

Ron,

The William Martin death certificate is available to view free on the site I gave you the link to.

Some of the other sites aren’t free. I suppose the way to look at it is that 20 years ago none of these records were on-line. You would then have either had to come to Ireland or pay a researcher to find them. Now some commercial companies have uploaded the data but in return they expect people to pay for access in return for the work they have done. Not an unreasonable commercial position.

I have read that an Australian certificate costs AUS $20 or $30. Records cost a lot less than that in Ireland. Access to a death on the GRONI site is about AUS$4. That’s seems pretty fair.

Yes the 1902 Jane Martin death you have found is your Inisclin family. The certificate is available free on the irishgenealogy site. However in case of problems accessing it, it says Jane died 5th April 1902 at Inisclin. She was a farmer’s widow aged 91. Cause of death was ”probably old age” No medical attendant. Informant was James Martin, son, present at death. (You don’t get a lot of information on an Irish death certificate).

Dear Ron:

 

You have made great progress with Elwyn's help.

 

Would you consider writing a new message under the heading of Mary Shaw and list the area as Pettigo?  It might get lost if kept in this thread.

 

All the best,

 

Jane.

Daniel,

Porter Martin married Margaret Craig in 1900:

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

His father was another Porter Martin, a Sgt in the RIC. Porter in 1901:

http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/pages/1901/Fermanagh/Bellisle/Drumleagues_Big/1358962/

Porter junior’s place of birth is shown as Fermanagh in the 1901 & 1911 censuses, but actually he appears to have been born in Co. Antrim in 1877. Presumably his father was stationed in Glenwhirry at the time:

https://civilrecords.irishgenealogy.ie/churchrecords/images/birth_returns/births_1877/03001/2099769.pdf

Porter Martin senior died in 1903:

https://civilrecords.irishgenealogy.ie/churchrecords/images/deaths_returns/deaths_1903/05661/4593845.pdf

He was originally from Co Tyrone:

http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/pages/1901/Fermanagh/Lisnaskee/Slushill/1358684/

Here’s his marriage in Tyrone in 1872:

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

This looks to be a different Martin family to the one in the original post. (In the 1901 census of Co. Fermanagh there are 468 people named Martin, so a fairly common name).