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Smith family

I am searching for information about the Smith family. My 3rd great grandfather was William Smith and I believe he was born about 1805, and married Ann Liggett/Liggitt/Ligget/Legget in about 1834. I have found a gravestone inscription for Ann Smith who died 24 May 1897, and was from Roughan. The record shows that the graveyard location is at Ballynasaggart in the civil parish of Errigal Kererogue. She may be my 3rd ggmother.

My 2nd ggmother was William and Ann's daughter Elizabeth who was born about 1835. She travelled to Australia in about 1854 and married my 2nd great grandfather.

I have found records relating to Elizabeth's brother George and his wife, Mary Anne Morrison. Mary Anne is buried at Ballynasaggart as well, andshe died on 19 Nov 1897. I have located a baptism record for George - "Son of William and Ann Smith of the Parish of Errigle Keerough. Born April 30th 1841 and Baptized June 1st by me, William Starkey". That record was found in the Aughencloy Methodist church circuit records.

If anyone can help with any other information, it would be greatly appreciated.

Regards

Julie

jholtham@hotmail.com

5 replies

Julie,

You have found a baptism in the Methodist records for George for 1841.

Methodism took a lot longer to become established in Ireland as a separate denomination than in England. In Ireland there was considerable resistance to separating from the Church of Ireland. It was 1816 before Methodists agreed to conduct their own baptisms. However because of continuing loyalty and other factors, many continued to use the Church of Ireland for sacraments for many years after this date and it was 1871 before all Methodists routinely performed their own baptisms.

For marriages, the earliest ceremonies conducted by a Methodist Minister in Ireland that I am aware of, date from 1835 (Belfast Donegall Square, the first Methodist church in Ireland). However in the mid 1800s there were only a few Methodist Ministers in Ireland (Methodism relied heavily on lay preachers). So the shortage of Ministers contributed to the continuing practice of marrying in the Church of Ireland.

So to summarise, you are unlikely to find many Methodist baptisms before 1830. Few marriages before the 1840s and only a handful for many years after that. If there were no Methodist records in the location you are interested in, I would search the Church of Ireland instead, as that’s the most likely place to find the relevant event.

Aughnacloy Methodist church has baptisms for the years 1823 – 1843. (So it was one of the earliest meeting halls to keep baptisms in Ireland). If Elizabeth was born there c 1835 you might expect her baptism to be recorded in the same set of records as George. But her parent’s marriage and their baptisms are likely to be in Church of Ireland records. Errigal Keerogue Church of Ireland has marriages from 1825 onwards (copy in PRONI) but their baptisms only start in 1812 so that may be too late.  Ann Liggett’s age at death points to a birth c 1809. However ages on death certificates were often just a guess so she might have been younger. Probably worth checking the early records in case she is there.

Not many Methodist Meeting Houses have graveyards and so they may be buried in public or Church of Ireland graveyards (which are open to all denominations).

The  death certificate for the Ann Smith gravestone you have identified gives her place of residence and death as Ballygreenan, not Roughan.

https://civilrecords.irishgenealogy.ie/churchrecords/images/deaths_returns/deaths_1897/05863/4661852.pdf

She was a farmer’s widow. The informant was her son Henry, of the same townland. This looks to be her son George living there in the 1901 census:

http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/pages/1901/Tyrone/Augher/Ballygreenan/1725466/

There’s no Smith family there in Griffiths in 1860 but there were a couple of Morrison households, which I see was a family middle name. So perhaps the Smiths acquired a Morrison farm. The Valuation revision records on the PRONI site should tell you when the family arrived in that townland and from that you can find where the farm was, if you want.

Porbate abstra cts from the PRONI wills site:

Administration of the Estate of Robert George Smith late of Ballygreenan County Tyrone Farmer's son who died 16 May 1911 granted at Armagh to George Smith Farmer.

Probate of the Will of William Morrison Smith late of Ballygreenan County Tyrone Bank Clerk (Retired) who died 1 May 1912 at Rostrevor County Down granted at Armagh to George Smith Farmer.

The above will is on-line on the PRONI wills site. William left everything to his father George. He was single.

https://civilrecords.irishgenealogy.ie/churchrecords/images/deaths_returns/deaths_1912/05368/4497023.pdf

 

 

 

Elwyn, IrelandXO Volunteer ☘IrelandXO Volunteer

Dear Julie:

Many thanks for your post to the Ireland Reaching Out message board.

Have you checked out the PRONI website?  That has a large catalogue of online records that you may find useful.

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

We have a few very knowledgeable volunteers in Northern Ireland and I will copy this post to them for their reference.  They may well be able to add further information for you with your research.

Thank you for your interest in Ireland Reaching Out.  Please be sure to consider creating a profile for any of your ancestors with our XO Chronicles feature (link is located at the top of the page). 

 

Kind regards,

Jane.. 

jhalloranryan@…

Thank you very much for your help.  Much appreciated.

Regards

Julie Holtham

jholtham@hotmail.com

Hello Julie,

I hope you are still reading this... This is quite a long shot, but...

I have been looking at photos of Smith graves at Ballynasaggart.  My 2xgreats grandfather is buried there - Joseph Smith and his wife Isabella (McGinn) Smith, both born around 1800, and who lived at Tullyvernan nearer Clogher (Tyrone). I also see the gravestones for James Smith & Rebecca of Roughan, and William Smith and his wife Ann of Roughan together with George Smith (their son?) and his wife Mary Ann Morrison of Ballygreenan.  I was told years ago that the Roughan Smiths were supposedly cousins of the Tullyvernan Smiths.  Do you know of any connections? Their gravestones seem to be fairly close.

We are trying to find out where "Original Smith" came from and believe there is a Dutch connection.  Is there any folklore handed down in your family concerning the origins of the Smiths?

This appears to be a Church of Ireland church at Ballynasaggart, but all our Smiths seem to be Presbyterian with a Scottish heritage. One of Joseph Smith's sons, my great-grandfather, James Strother Smith, became a Presbyterian minister and had a church at Clogher, Co Mayo/Sligo (not to be confused with Clogher, Co Tyrone where most of our subsequent Smiths are buried at Carntall),

If you have any quick questions you can text me in the US at (+1) 650-823-8910.

Thanks,

Henry

Henry

Hi

If you are still in contact with this site, I have no idea about any connections but it makes sense that they could be related.  I have done DNA testing.  Have you?  If so, that might help us find out.

Regards

Julie 

jholtham@hotmail.com

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