William HERRELL/ Elenore NICHOLSON

There is or was a Methodist church in Sligo town. It has baptism records for the years 1819 – 1842. The records are not on-line anywhere so far as I am aware but there is a copy in PRONI (the public record office) in Belfast. A personal visit is required to view them.

Methodism took a long time to become established as a separate denomination in Ireland. There are no Methodist baptisms earlier than about 1818. They didn’t start marrying in their own Meeting Houses until the late 1830s, but in many cases not until the 1870s. There are no marriage records for Sligo Methodists at all. Probably their Meeting House wasn’t licensed for marriage. So their marriages would have been in the local Church of Ireland instead.

If you are unable to go to PRONI yourself, you could employ a researcher. Researchers in the PRONI area: http://sgni.net

 

Nora,

A colleague has kindly told me that the Sligo Methodist baptism records I referred to are on the rootsireland site but that there is no sign of your family in them. That would point to them probably using the Church of Ireland for baptisms and marriages. Some Church of Ireland records are on-line but not all are, and many of that denominations records were lost in the 1922 fire in Dublin during the civil war, so it can be a bit hit and miss.

Nora,

Tradition was to marry in the bride’s church, so that suggests that Ellen/Eleanor at least came from the parish of Killala. (William may also have come from there too of course). Killala is very close to Sligo but doesn’t actually adjoin it. Civil parish map here:

https://www.johngrenham.com/browse/county_civil.php?county=Mayo

That parishes birth, death & marriage records start in 1757. The originals are in the RCB library in Dublin with a microfilm copy in the National Archives in Dublin. My guide to church records says some coverage on rootsireland, so they may not have all years but if you still have your one month subscription, it would be worth searching for their baptisms. Or likely baptisms. If their death certificates in Canada contain their parents names that would obviously help.

Check rootsireland for baptisms of the children born in Ireland in case they show a townland. (Sometimes they do and sometimes they don’t).

I searched Griffiths Valuation (1856) for Nicholson in Killala but none are listed. No Harroll/Herrells either in either Sligo or Mayo. Not a common name at all. Most of the Nicholsons in Mayo were RC, I noted.