Looking for any information on a William Bell, Born 1820 Cookstown, who married Margaret Ferguson, born 1820, and her Dad was William Ferguson. They married 1847 in Cookstown and she died around 1880 and he died around 1897. Any information is a great help.
Mema,
I am struggling with this one. I can’t see the 1847 marriage in the statutory records, nor can I see deaths for William & Margaret around the years you have given. Not in the Cookstown area anyway.
Where did you get the marriage and death information? Is there anything else you can tells us about the couple? What denomination were they?
FamilySearch has an Ontario death of a William T. Bell on the 31st May 1924 (with image from Ontario Archives) with parents William Bell & Maggie Ferguson. Place of birth for William jnr and his parents is given as Ireland, and estimated date of birth as 9th April 1844.
On a possible match for William and his wife (also Margaret) and daughter Eveline on the 1881 census in Middlesex West, Ontario religion for the family is listed as 'Bible Christian', on the 1921 census, in London Ontario (same area as the death) the couple are listed as Methodist, and give 1871 as the year they immigrated.
William Bell was married the 1st quarter of 1847 and died Mar. 1897 Vol. 1 Page 479 101599 and Margaret died 2nd qt. 1880 Vol. 1 Page 420 101590 Their kids were Catherine born 18849 mar. Aug. 4 1868 to Nathaniel Calhoon. Margaret was single, Martha Jane born 1873 Mar. Robert Hamilton 1898 Larne, Ire. Elizabeth born 1862 mar. Sept. 8 1881 Pres. Church Cookstown to Benjamin Sinnamon, died July 17 1953, Hannah B. 1859 Mar. Ict, 3 1878 to John Mitchell, D. Aug. 14 1934 Ballynagilly, Rachel B. 1848 Mar. May 10 1873 James Glasgow, D. 2nd qt. 1907 Cookstown, Walter and a William, no dates. William went to Canada. so the reply from Shanew147 is probably quite right, which I am very happy to have.. That's all I know.
Unfortunately that death reference for Margaret page 420 is incorrect, the death is for a Margaret Ferguson - deaths of married women would be registered under their married surname i.e. Bell (this Margaret's husband seems to be Robert Ferguson).
The death for that William Bell a widower age 78 was registered by a T.W. Bell, maybe a son ?,
I see a number of William Bell marriages in the BMD index for 1847, but none appear to cross-match to a Margaret Ferguson - which district was the marriage reference you located ?
The Margaret Ferguson marriage in Cookstown district in 1847 was to a Henry James Burrell (based on BMD Index, GRONI index and FamilySearch extracted civil records)
Mema,
If William & Maggie had a son born in 1844, as Shane’s information suggests, then that makes an 1847 marriage unlikely. (And there isn’t a Bell-Ferguson marriage in the 1847 records, as Shane and I can confirm). Their son’s birth in April 1844 points to a marriage in 1843 or earlier. Pre 1845 marriages are not in the statutory marriage records (which start in April 1845). To trace a pre 1845 marriage you need to know the location and denomination. Tradition was to marry in the bride’s church, so it’s her denomination then that matters.
Not all the pre 1845 marriage records have survived, and many of those that do survive are not on-line so tracing it can be difficult.
You say that William & Maggie had a daughter Martha Jane born 1873. I searched the births 1871 to 1875. There are 6 Martha Bells born in that period in what is now Northern Ireland. None has a mother named Ferguson. Also Martha’s birth in 1873 would be at least 30 years after her parents had married which makes it pretty unlikely (unless there had been a second marriage).
So I don’t think the above information is totally accurate and perhaps needs checking.
Statutory birth registration only started in Ireland in 1864, so for births before that (which I think is all their children) you need to rely on church baptism records. So you need to find the right church.
Catherine Bell married in 1868 in Orritor Presbyterian church. Her townland was Ballynasollus, and her father William was a farmer. Orritor Presbyterian church has baptism records from 1831 onwards. The only copy is held by the Minister, so you would need to write to him/her to see if there is any trace of the children’s baptisms. The church has no marriage records before 1845 so if that’s where the parents married around 1843, then sadly the records are lost. However as I say tradition was to marry in the bride’s church, and so they may have married elsewhere. You could try the local church of Ireland for example.
Griffiths Valuation records a William Bell in Ballynasollus in 1859. He had plot 19 which was a 12 acre farm. He died in 1873, aged 65 (so born c 1808, if the age was accurate).
The Will of William Bell late of Ballynasallus County Tyrone Farmer deceased who died 4 May 1873 at same place was proved at Armagh by the oaths of Richard Bell and William Dale of Ballynasallus (Cookstown) aforesaid Farmers the Executors.
William’s will is on-line on the PRONI wills site. It mentions his wife Maggie, 3 unmarried daughters Margaret, Hannah & Elizabeth plus 2 married daughters Rachel Glasgow and Catherine Calhoon, both of whom were living in Ballybriest. It also mentions a son Alexander who was evidently still a minor. So some of the children’s names tie in with your information but there are clearly some new ones, and no mention of any Martha Jane, who I suspect must be from a different family.
Elizabeth’s marriage in 1881 and Hannah’s in 1878 were both in Orritor Presbyterian which to my mind confirms it was the family church. Both gave their address as Ballynasollus.
This looks to be Alexander and family in 1901. The denomination suggests that at that date they were probably Brethren (often called Plymouth Brethren, though that’s not a term often used in Ireland).
http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/pages/1901/Tyrone/Ballynasollus/Ballynasollus/1730413/
This is probably Rachel Glasgow (nee Bell).
http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/pages/1901/Tyrone/Ballynasollus/Ballynasollus/1730405/
Maggie Bell nee Ferguson died 17.2.1897 aged 79 at Killary. She was staying with Elizabeth & Benjamin Sinnamon.
https://civilrecords.irishgenealogy.ie/churchrecords/images/deaths_retu…
This is them in 1901:
http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/pages/1901/Tyrone/Pomeroy/Lurganeden/1731214/
Hope this helps sort the family out.
I have researched this person, see: https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Bell-32239 ; . I have DNA matches with some of his descendants. Agree with the 1873 death record -- on ancestry.com people have gotten an 1897 death from somewhere that is clearly false as per the details in the will. (The danger of blindly copying other people's trees...)
Elwyn wrote:
It mentions his wife Maggie, 3 unmarried daughters Margaret, Hannah & Elizabeth
The exact wording used was: "I leave and bequeath [...] my wife and daughter Margaret and until Hannah and Elizabeth be married [...]" . It doesn't actually state anywhere that Margaret was not married .
I've attached to the above profile a daughter Margaret who was married at age 17 and her marriage record says Ballynasollus, father: William Bell. I'm not aware of any other William Bell of Ballynasollus of that generation. But have marked it as "uncertain" still; I have not yet found corroboration . Research of this Margaret is ongoing, and most of her children moved to Philadelphia.
Perhaps there was an elephant in the room -- e.g. perhaps William disliked Margaret's husband which may explain why his name was not mentioned in the will, and why he did not attend any of the funerals of William's children.