Hello x I am need of some assistance with my great grandmother Annie Maria Kirkwood who married my great grandfather William Adair Matthew's x On their wedding certificate,it states as father unknown for Annie,she hailed from Kilmood x This is my brick wall as I'm assuming her maiden name is that of her mothers x I would be very grateful for any assistance with this x
Sarah,
The marriage certificate suggests Anna did was probably either illegitimate, an orphan or a foundling. She gave her age as 20 (so born c 1876). Kilmood is in the Newtownards civil registration area. No-one of the name Anna Kirkwood had a birth registered there in the years 1870 -1879. So she might have been registered elsewhere, or under another name. No easy way of knowing.
The couple were married in Comber Remonstrant Presbyterian church. That could be Comber 2nd Presbyterian church or one of the Non Subscribing churches in the town. Tradition was to marry in the bride's church. So possibly that’s where you might find her baptism (but clearly that’s not guaranteed). Those churches records are not on-line but there are copies in PRONI (the public record office) in Belfast.
I looked in Griffiths Valuation for Lisbane townland in the 1860s but did not see any Matthews or Kirkwood families.
Frankly I think you may struggle with finding Annie’s antecedents through conventional paper based research. DNA might be a possible solution.
Researchers in the PRONI area: http://sgni.net
Many thanks,I am just seeing this now x On Annie's marriage certificate it says she lived in Kilmood x is there an 1891 cencus? What is a foundling?x
Sarah,
Sadly the 1891 census was completely destroyed during WW1. None of it has survived.
A foundling is a baby that was abandoned. (Perhaps a young single mother unable to look after it). Often left in the church porch where it would soon be found, hence “foundling.” The church would take it in, name and baptise it, and then – until formal adoption started in 1928 – they’d usually get someone in the local community to in effect adopt it, though there probably wouldn’t be any paperwork.
Both William & Annie gave their address at marriage as Lisbane, in the parish of Kilmood. Here they are still there in 1901:
http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/pages/1901/Down/Tullynakill/Lisbane/
The valuation revision records (on the PRONI website) list William in a house on plot 17b in the townland. In 1901 there were about 44 houses in Lisbane. Population was 194.
Here’s a link to a site with a little information and some photos of Lisbane.
https://townlandsofulster.com/2016/10/10/lisbane/
Thank you x I know Lisbane well x I have discovered that the remonstrant church in Comber at that time was Comber non subscribing prebyterian x
There's a copy of that church's records in PRONI in Belfast, as follows:
Baptisms, 1838-1904; marriages, 1838-45, 1848 and 1850-1971; notes on deaths, 1920-66; committee minutes, 1863-1911 and 1915-64; brief sketch of the history of the congregation, written c.1880.
Hi Elwyn x
I have an update, i discovered that when my great grandmother married for the 2nd time,the space for father on the marriage certificate says William Kirkwood,this is odd because on the first marriage it says father unknown x
Perhaps they had fell out for a time or that she had found who her father was sometime in between x
I have no info on where Annie was born or indeed who her mother was as yet x I cannot order a birth certificate without these x
Sarah,
Some people were embarassed to admit they didn't know who their father was. It wasn't unknown to make a name up, to avoid saying "not known." I wouldn't be certain that William Kirkwood was her father. I would search Comber NSP's baptism records around the time of her birth to see what you can find.