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William Hamilton & Eliza McDowell

I am desperately looking for any information on my paternal 3 x Great Grandparents. 

This is all I know about them.

William Hamilton was born abt 1819 in "Ireland." I know, helpful -right? Eliza McDowell was born around the same time, also in Ireland. The source of this information is the 1861 Scottish Census. 

They had 5 children:

Catherine bc 1841

Mary Ann bc1846

Sarah Jane bc 1850

James bc 1852 (my 2x great grandfather) and 

Martha bc 1857

All the children are noted as born in Ireland on the 1861 Scottish Census. This gives a window of 1857-1861 for the family to have migrated to Scotland where they settled in Saltcauld Ardrossan.

 

This is all I know about the couple in question. I have no idea what part of Ireland they haled from, what parish, townland or county.

If anyone can help me narrow down a county etc, I would really appreciate it!

regards

Terri Usher (nee Hamilton)

Perth Western Australia 

Terri Usher

8 replies

Terri,

Assuming William & Elizabeth died in Scotland, you should get their parents names and occupations from their death certificates. I see a possible death for an Elizabeth Hamilton who had also been named McDowell in 1878 in Stevenston, Ayrshire aged 60. Her mother’s maiden name is shown (Scott).  You can view that on the Scotlandspeople site.  Stevenston is just beside Ardrossan.

Statutory registration of marriages started in Ireland in 1845. Your couple evidently married before that which will make searching for them difficult.  You need to rely on church records but not all churches have records pre 1845 and of those that do many are not on-line, especially Protestant ones.

The names Hamilton & McDowell are very common in Co. Antrim (which is just a few miles from Ardrossan) and it wouldn’t be surprising if that's where they came from, or perhaps from Co Down which is also close by, but without some idea of where, and what exact denomination they were, it will be very difficult to find any record of them in Ireland.

Check all the Scottish censuses for their childrens places of birth. Though it was normal just to put Ireland, you occasionally find that somewhere more specific is given, especially in the 1911 census.  If you can narrow the search that way, I will tell you what church records exist for the relevant area and where to find them.

Incidentally the town they settled in, near Ardrossan is probably Saltcoats (not Saultcauld).

Elwyn, IrelandXO Volunteer ☘IrelandXO Volunteer

Hi Elwyn,

 

Thank you for this information. I will follow up on the children in the later census records as suggested.

You are correct, they did settle in Saltcoats.

I really appreciate your advice.

 

kind regards

Terri

Terri Usher

You may already be aware of them, but there are records for what may be your William and Elizabeth in the Famly Search database [https://www.familysearch.org]. ; If you create a (free) account there, you can find William under ID number LLC6-JPK, and can access the records for others easily through his record, as you will see.

The record shows only two children, the Sarah whom you have as being born in 1850 (though it says that she was born in Scotland) and an older child, William, who is shown as being born in "Ardoe, Tyone" on 16 March 1842   That is a typo, though (or two typos), because there is a document attached to the record which says that it was Arboe, in CountyTyrone (which is east of Cookstown, on Lough Neagh).  I think the records may have been created by descendants of William (the son), because they then follow him to America, where he later married.

In each record at FS, you can see the screen names of those who have created or modified the record, and can send them private messages, so you might be able to get more info by contacting them (and perhaps also locate some relatives that way).

The surnames in this case seem to indicate that the family was not Catholic, but it's not always easy to be sure, and Catholics were numerous in that area.  If they were Catholic, then the parish records for the Catholic parish of Arboe (in irish, Ard Bó, meaning roughly "cow heights") should be useful, and they are available online, going back to 1827, at this site:

https://registers.nli.ie/parishes/0181

Arboe is also the name of the local civil parish (an administrative district), about which you can find more info here, including further links to info about the various townlands within the civil parish:

https://www.townlands.ie/tyrone/arboe/

On the page for each townland, there are also links to records for that townland from the 1901 and 1911 censuses, as well as Griffith’s Valuation (mid-1800's), if they’re available.  It's clear from the maps you will see at those sites that the Catholic parish is larger than the civil parish (a not uncommon occurrence), and part of the Catholic parish is actually across the border in County Derry.

If you're able to make use of the Catholic parish records, then each baptismal entry will usually indicate the townland in which the family lived, so you can combine the two sources and see where they lived (and possibly access the other links mentioned above).

If the family were Protestant, then the Church of Ireland or Presbyterian church(es) in the area should have records as well, and they often go further back than Catholic records do.  It's likely that the C of I parish will also be called Arboe.  Protestant records also frequently refer to the townland in which the family lived.

kevin45sf@yahoo.com

Building on what Kevin has found, if the family were from Arboe and were Church of Ireland (ie Anglican), then the following records exist for the parish:

Baptisms, 1775-1813 and 1824-71; marriages, 1773-1812 and 1824-45; burials, 1776-1813, 1827-1900 and 1905-06; vestry minutes, 1773-1833; list of the poor, 1789 and 1794; census, 1775; confirmation lists, 1775, 1828, 1833, 1837, 1840, 1843, 1870 and 1873; indexes

to baptisms, 1775-1871, and marriages, 1773-1845.

If they were Presbyterian then the nearest church is Ballyroney whose baptisms start in 1848 and marriages in 1845. There’s a copy of the Churhc of Ireland & Presbyterian records in PRONI (the public record office) in Belfast. 

If RC the records start in 1827 are on-line free on the National Library site:

https://www.nli.ie/en/family-history-introduction.aspx

 

Elwyn, IrelandXO Volunteer ☘IrelandXO Volunteer

Kevin and Elwyn,

Thank you to both of you for this information. I have a lot to look at! I look forward to confirming if this family is indeed my ancestors. 

Thanks again and I will keep you posted!

 

in much appreciation,

Terri

Terri Usher

How is your research going? I also have a McDowell ancestor. Esther McDowell, my 3x Great Grandmother is likely around 10 years older than your Eliza McDowell. The reason I find your post valuable enough to follow is that Esther McDowell's mother is Nancy Scott. The Elizabeth Hamilton that died in Scotland had a mother named Scott also. I suspect my family was Presbyterian and Ballyroney would probably be the correct location. Here is a quote from my Great-Grandfather's Autobiography, which is all the information I have about this family. "My grandmother's name was Esther McDowell, and my great grandmother's name was Nancy Scott. My mother, Mary Martin, was born in the year 1827, in Legananny, County Down, Ireland." 

lotsahunters

Hi Lotsahunters,

 

I am still following all the leads Elwyn and Kevin have provided. At the moment there are lots of constraints on my research time. Home renovations, caring for my aging mother, and administration responsibilities at my volunteer role as Public Relations and Marketing at Family History WA.

 

Right now I am working my way through Elwyn's first post, trying to find any mention of the son William mentioned as he is not on any of the Scotland Census.

Interestingly, I do have Scotts in my tree but at the moment they are only on my mother's side and hale from Suffolk, England. My husband also has Scotts in his line, from Shropshire.

 

I will keep you all posted.

 

kind regards

Terri

Terri Usher

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