Looking for Patterson family in Armargh

 

The civil registration areas did not follow county boundaries. Consequently quite a bit of Armagh was covered by Castleblaney registration area. Though the 1852 marriage was registered in Castleblaney, you will probably find it took place in Co Armagh.

I?d suggest you order a copy of that certificate to get the family?s townlands (address), fathers name and occupation etc. That should enable to you to trace them back. Tradition was also to marry in the bride?s church (which will be on the marriage certificate unless it was a registry office ceremony). So that would be the place to look for her baptism and that of any siblings.

You can order a photocopy of the marriage certificate from GRO Roscommon for 4 euros. http://www.groireland.ie/

I looked in Griffiths Valuation for Armaghbrague in 1864 but there are no Henderson or Patterson families listed so evidently they had moved away from that townland by that year.

Tradition was to marry in the bride?s church, so if the marriage took place in Monaghan, that suggests she was living there at that time. (In a Church of Ireland marriage, at least one party must reside in the parish where the ceremony takes place). Since she was a servant chances are she was working for a family in the townland on the marriage certificate, which I suspect was Aghnadamph in the parish of Muckno. She was almost certainly Church of Ireland but it doesn?t necessarily follow that Andrew was. However he might have been. Perhaps you know? (It matters if you are to search the correct church records).

Armaghbrague is in the parish of Lisnadill. There appear to be 2 Church of Ireland churches in that parish. One at Armaghbrague itself and the other at Aghavilly. Armaghbrague?s early records have all been lost and they have nothing before the 1870s.  Aghavilly?s start in 1844 (long after Andrew & Sarah would have been born) so they may not be of great use either. They might contain marriages for Andrew & Sarah?s siblings though, if that was the church both families attended.

Copies of the Aghavilly parish records are held in PRONI, Belfast.

If the Pattersons & Hendersons were farmers then you may find them in the tithe applotment records for Armabrague (1820/30s). However if they were agricultural labourers or weavers, then they are unlikely to be listed and you may struggle to find any earlier documentary records for them.

I looked for George Patterson deaths 1864 ? 1900, registered in Armagh (which covers the townland of Armaghbrague). Death registration only started in 1864 so if he died before that it won?t be listed (though it might be in the Church of Ireland burial records). There was only 1 statutory death of anyone of an age to be Andrew?s father. Death registered 1866 Armagh volume 16, page 27. Estimated year of birth 1798.

There?s also a record of a George Patterson of Armagh who was a merchant and whose will was probated in 1836. Can?t say whether there is any connection and the original papers have all been destroyed.

There?s a couple of Samuel Henderson deaths registered in Armagh who could just be Sarah?s father. One 1813 ? Jan ? Mar 1891, the other 1814 ? Oct ? Dec 1897.

Irish births, deaths and marriages are not viewable on-line anywhere. You have to order a copy from the registrar, either in Belfats or Roscommon. Roscommon is cheaper.  You can order a photocopy of that 1866 death cert from GRO Roscommon for ?4. Put the place, year, volume & page number on the application form (anywhere). http://www.groireland.ie/ You have to post or fax the form to them but they will e-mail the copy certificate to you if you wish. Put ?please e-mail to?..? clearly on the top of the form.

The only on-line directory for the area and time is Pigot?s for 1824. It lists about 4 towns in Co Armagh but no mills and no Pattersons are listed that I can see:

http://www.failteromhat.com/pigotu.htm

I am not sure whether a weaving mill in Armagh would have been commonplace in the 1830s. Originally most weaving was done at home, on small hand looms. Often in the winter when the family had spare time from other work. They would make up lengths of linen which they would then take to markets in places like Armagh or Markethill, and sell for cash (so providing a little ready money in an economy that was otherwise largely based on barter). Cash came in useful for purchasing things you couldn?t obtain by barter eg tobacco or a ticket to Australia, and this linen money was a reason why the standard of life in Ulster (where most linen was made) was slightly better than in the rest of Ireland. As the 1800s progressed big mechanised linen mills, powered by water or steam, were built. There were some in Co. Armagh eg in Bessbrook, Lurgan & Portadown. But I don?t think they were built till about the 1850s. These factories could make linen much more quickly than home weaving, and they also provided thousands of new and comparatively reasonably paid jobs, especially for women. So this basically killed off home based hand loom weaving, though some people continued right up until about 1900. So were there linen mills in Armagh in the 1830s? I am not sure. There would of course have been corn mills etc, every 10 miles or so, to grind all the corn and wheat grown by local farmers. Perhaps that?s what the Patterson?s had?

There?s a museum to linen making in Ulster, based in Lisburn, Co Antrim. I imagine they might be able to help you. You could e-mail them and ask if they know of any mills owned by Pattersons in Co. Armagh:

http://www.lisburncity.gov.uk/irish-linen-centre-and-lisburn-museum/

Here?s a link giving a little history about linen making in Armagh.

http://www.culturenorthernireland.org/article/703/the-industrial-herita…

Here?s another link that tells you a bit more about linen making:

http://www.irish-genealogy-toolkit.com/flax-plant.html

Yes I would say your Pattersons are likely to be descended from Scottish settlers. The name is Scottish, they were evidently protestant, and they lived in one of the counties that was heavily settled during the Plantation. If they turned out to have been Presbyterian at any time that would clinch it.

In the 1600s some 100,000 Scots settled in Ireland (representing about 10% of the entire Scottish population at the time). There are no records of the individuals who moved, save for the major land owners (known as undertakers because they undertook to build roads, houses and forts etc, as well as bring an agreed number of their Scottish & English tenants with them.) Many of those who settled in Co Armagh are known to have come from East Lothian and Midlothian (ie around Edinburgh). See:

http://www.thereformation.info/plantnire1610.htm