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Looking for Archibald Black, of Tyrone, c.1818-1875

Hi all!

Looking for any connections to the Black family of Tyrone.

Archibald Black seems to have been born between 1817 and 1820 in Tyrone. According to the 1861 census in England, all his family were born there, including his wife Eleanor (bet.1817-1820), and children Silas (1839), Elizabeth (1841), Stewart (1843, my ancestor), Lewis (1845), Jeremiah (1848), and Delilah (1851).

I therefore assume that they emigrated to England between 1851 (Delilah's birth) and 1861 (the census), but can't find any info on this.

Archibald died in England in 1875. Many of his children remained there, including Silas (died 1883), Lewis (died 1897), Jeremiah (died 1917) and Delilah (died 1932). Elizabeth and Stewart married and had families in England but seem to disappear (Elizabeth doesn't appear in the 1871 census and Stewart has disappeared by 1881 - did they return to Ireland perhaps?).

To add a twist to the story. While most censuses (1861, 1881, 1891 and 1901) are consistent with a birthplace of Ireland, the three relevant households in the 1871 census all claim that they were born in Cumberland. Archibald's household, also including Eleanor, Lewis, Jeremiah, and Delilah) all claim to have been born in Cleether (Cleator?). Silas and Stewart, who now have their own families, also claimed to have been born in Cumberland (Stewart in Cleether and Silas in Whitehaven).

Since four censuses support Ireland I am fully of the belief that is where they originated, but as a matter of policy I did search English records for them and found no birth or baptism records for them there.

On the other hand, I have tried searching for the family on FamilySearch but can't find them at all before the 1861 census.

I am guessing there won't be many of his descendants in Ireland, but there may well be descendants of his ancestors. Of course the other possibility (especially with a name like Archibald) is that he may actually be Scottish in origin and may have only been born in Ireland. Again, I have no idea.

Any help you can provide would be very gratefully received.

Thanks so much.

 

day_1

8 replies

Griffith's Valuation of Tyrone was 1861, so the family likely left Ireland before it was taken.

glanvil3@aol.com

There are no passenger records for travel from Tyrone to England. That was (and still is) a short domestic journey, of a few hours, and no records have ever been kept. So apart from the information on the various births (which point at places of birth etc), you are unlikely to narrow that date much more.

The missing family seem unlikely to me to have returned to Ireland. They will have left for economic reasons ie more and better jobs in England and returning here would make no sense at all. If some have disappeared from English records then perhaps they migrated elsewhere eg to north America or further afield eg Australia, New Zealand, South Africa?

What denomination were they? That may tell you something about their origins. If Church of England or Presbyterian, and from Tyrone, then that points to settler origins. Their ancestors likely came over from Scotland or England to Ireland in the 1600s. They are less likely to have arrived in the 1700s. By then migration was out of Ireland, and so an arrival then, whilst not impossible, would have bene against the flow.

To trace their births and the parents marriage involves a search of church records, not all of which have survived and many of which are not on-line. If the records have survived they should be in PRONI in Belfast.

Elwyn, IrelandXO Volunteer ☘IrelandXO Volunteer

Thanks for this Elwyn. I wasn't able to find out their denomination - census records don't tell me that. Stewart married at a Parish Church so I would assume that's Church of England, but even if that's the case I'm guessing that might not be the same for Archibald.

Especially if they wanted to hide their Irish births in 1871 (Stewart married in 1866).

Also unfortunately I can only really access online records - moreover transcribed ones - as I am totally blind.

I very much appreciate the info though. I don't know much about Irish history, much less migration patterns so that was very interesting. Thanks.

 

day_1

Daygar,

Tradition was to marry in the bride’s church (after which she’d normally attend her husband’s). So it’s where the daughter’s married that might help. That said, there aren’t too many Presbyterian churches in England and so they may have compromised on C of E. Or they may have already been C of E. No easy way of telling but it does give you a wide search field.

I have a possible hint for you. The forenames are fairly unusual – well some of them are.  Families in Ireland and in Scotland had naming traditions and so the same names can appear in generation after generation. (So, as an example, 3 brothers may all give their children some of the same names).

I took Silas Black and searched on it in the 1901 census. There was only 1 in the whole of Ireland and he was in Co Tyrone, in Drumshanbo Glebe in the parish of Kildress:

http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/pages/1901/Tyrone/Killeenan/Drumshanbo_Glebe/1730825/

He was Presbyterian. I think he was the son of James Black and Eliza Jane Happer or Hopper who married in 1868:

https://civilrecords.irishgenealogy.ie/churchrecords/images/marriage_returns/marriages_1868/11473/8217003.pdf

I think this is his birth in 1883 at Tulnacross:

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

I then searched for Jeremiah Black and found 5 in Ireland and just 1 in Tyrone. He lived in Corchoney, which again is in the parish of Kildress. He was Church of Ireland (ie Church of England).:

http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/pages/1901/Tyrone/Oaklands/Corchoney/1729377/

He was the son of William Black, a miller:

https://civilrecords.irishgenealogy.ie/churchrecords/images/marriage_returns/marriages_1870/11381/8178804.pdf

Silas and Jeremiah Black are both rare names and are only found in Kildress. So I wonder if that's where Stewart and family came from too? It might be worth focusing on that parish to see if you can find your family in the local church records. Kildress Church of Ireland has baptism from 1794 onwards.  There’s a copy in PRONI in Belfast. The local Presbyterian church is Orritor. It has baptisms from 1831 and marriages from 1827. The only set of records are held by the Minister, so you would need to contact him or her to get a look up. The church has a Facebook page:

https://www.facebook.com/OrritorPresbyterian/

 

Elwyn, IrelandXO Volunteer ☘IrelandXO Volunteer

Wow, that's amazing, thanks Elwyn.

Facebook isn't the best site for screen reader users but I'll see if they have a site or other contact details.

I'll see if I can contact the archives in Belfast as well - here in the UK a lot of our archives have in-house research teams, I'm hoping they'll have such a team or be able to direct me to someone.

Thanks so much for this.

day_1

Researchers in the PRONI area (Belfast): http://sgni.net

Elwyn, IrelandXO Volunteer ☘IrelandXO Volunteer

Oh wow, thanks so much for that.

 

day_1

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