My maternal grandfather was William Ryan, born in Newry, 18??, (I do have the details somewhere), married to a Hannah Ferrigan in Coghoge (RC) church. Seems his father was also from Newry, but probably a sailor . Relatively few Ryan families in Newry or that part of Down, and I would love to find out more about the Ryan families in the area and perhaps identify mine.
David,
William & Hannah’s marriage took place on 22.7.1875 in Cloghoge RC chapel. Wm Ryan was a sailor or tailor (it’s unclear), address Newry, his father James was a stonecutter and was noted as being alive). Hannah’s townland was Cloghoge and her father Bernard was a carpenter. Bride & groom were both full age, neither had been married before.
2 Ferrigan households in Cloghoge in the 1901 census, who may be related to Hannah.
http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/pages/1901/Armagh/Ballybok/Cloyhogue/1032289/
http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/pages/1901/Armagh/Ballybok/Cloyhogue/1032266/
Bernard Ferrigan, widower & carpenter, died in Newry workhouse 4.9.1894 aged 72. His normal address was Castle St, Newry.
I don’t see Hannah’s baptism but I do see some siblings: Catherine 23.7.1869; Edward 25.9.1856; Bernard 21.10.1859 & Thomas 22.12.1854. Mother was Mary Rice. She died 2.4.1879 at Cloghoge aged 54:
Bernard Ferrigan married Mary Rice on 2.11.1847 in Upper Killeavy parish.
Can’t find anything definite on James Ryan. However there are about 3 or 4 deaths in Newry in the period 1875 – 1900 which are men of that name who are of an age to be William’s father. There’s one here for a sculptor which could be a stone mason:
There’s another in 1876 which is not viewable on-line free yet. You can view the original certificate on-line on the GRONI website, using the “search registrations” option:
You will need to open an account and buy some credits. It costs £2.50 (sterling) to a view a certificate.
This appears to be William Ryan in the 1901 census:
http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/pages/1901/Down/Newry_West_Urban/Bridge_Street/1245511/
Hannah Ryan (nee Ferrigan) died 15.4.1899 aged 43.
https://civilrecords.irishgenealogy.ie/churchrecords/images/deaths_retu…
Thank you so very much. This is fantastic, no idea how you could do that so fast. All of those are 'my people', and I do already have a lot of that information - but not terribly neatly filed (yet), but it took me a lot of time and effort. I do not think I already had the info on Hannah's siblings, so thanks for that. I am well aware of the difficult writing on the cert which does not allow Sailor or Tailor to be distinguished, but I am pretty sure he was a Sailor, I have found three references (again I have copies) on merchant shipping records mentioning a Wm Ryan of Newry. I spent a day in Newry a year or so ago, trying to trace Ryan graves - there are several in the main Catholic cemetery in town but they seem to be of a different Ryan family that actually lived close to 'my' Ryan's in Newry Town, possibly related. You have certainly inspired me to sort my existing records out and see where I might go next. The challenge that my mother, who unfortunately passed away earlier this year, gave me was to try to find any (other - apart from me) living relatives descended from her father, another William Ryan, who moved to London at the age of 24 or so, and served in British Army all over the place. My grandfather had brothers and sisters, but they all seemed to have died widows or widowers, and I have no evidence that he was ever in contact with them after he moved to England.
Me again, Elwyn said ..
This appears to be William Ryan in the 1901 census:
http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/pages/1901/Down/Newry_West_Urban/Bridge_Street/1245511/
This is indeed my maternal great grandfather, and my grandfather was the William Ryan listed last in the family listing, aged 21 years. But the age distribution of William Snr's children appears odd, there is a very long gap between my grandfather, William, and his other siblings.
David,
There was another Ferrigan family in the Newry area where the father was also a carpenter. I wonder if they are relations of Bernard? John Ferrigan, carpenter had similarly named children. Here’s his son Edward marrying in 1896:
He remarried in 1905:
Mary Ferrigan, daughter of Bernard, carpenter, married Bernard Lennon on 2.1.1882.
Bernard Ferrigan, son of Bernard, married Bridget McGuirke on 17.5.1888.
I can’t immediately spot either of the above 2 couples in the 1901 & 1911 Irish censuses, nor any children born to them In Ireland. I wonder if they left Ireland?
Regarding the age gap between William and his youngest sibling, there’s an 18 year span which was not unusual in Ireland at that time. (My mother-in law was one of 10 children, born over a 20 year period). The average woman would have had children till she was in her mid 40s, so depending on how old she was when she married there could be children over a 25 year span. Hannah was 19 or so when she married, so that fits. There were other children to the marriage who had presumably either died or left home by the 1901 census:
James 4.7.1877
Hugh 11.7.1882
Bernard 30.12.1884
Fanny 25.1.1887
Mary 17.1.1889
Fanny 4.9.1891
(A second daughter named Fanny indicates the first had likely died).
Thanks again Elwyn for your continued research and insight, very valuable to me! I think your speculation that many of the Ferrigan offspring emigrated post famine and beyond is correct. I did try to research living people in Ireland with the Ferrigan name in the island of Ireland a ferw years ago, using the very crude method of phone book listings. II found very few - 3 or 4 families at most, I I got in touch with one family in the Newry area, who responded, and may or may not have been related, they were not very sure. On the other hand, a quick search of free US records reveals hundreds of families with the name. Voters registers for UK might give me a more accurate listing of present day Ferrigans in NI, there did seem to be more when I checked following the 192 adverts that pops up on this very site.
.
David,
Families in Ireland not knowing if they were related to yours is fairly common. The interest in genealogy tends to be much greater outside Ireland (where we mostly know where our ancestors came from). Unless someone has an interest in their genealogy, the furthest back the average family can go in Ireland is about 3 generations (back to the late 1800s). Then their knowledge becomes very fuzzy. So the genealogist from say, America, often knows more about their family than they do. And the Irish family never have that mythical family bible with all the names in. I’ve never seen one.
Possibly DNA testing may be a way of matching with others who have additional information about where the family originate. Family Tree DNA reportedly has more people with Ulster roots than any other company. That obviously increases the chances of finding a match. You might want to try them or, if you have already tested, you can transfer your results to them for no fee.
The North of Ireland Family History Society is running an Ulster DNA project and can offer FTDNA testing kits at a reduced price. http://www.nifhs.org (Go to DNA project on the website).