Mongo13,
If you are looking for the marriage of Thomas Patterson & Sarah Parks it was registered in Magherafelt on 7.1.1881. GRONI have the bride’s name mistranscribed as Jacob. (So the index shows Thomas Patterson married to Jacob Parks!). That doesn’t appear to have been noticed and there is a facility for reporting an error if you want, on the GRONI site. I mentioned the website link earlier but here it is again: https://geni.nidirect.gov.uk
Use the “search registrations” option. You will need to open an account and buy some credits. It costs £2.50 (sterling) to a view a certificate. GRONI is the only repository for birth, death and marriage records in what is now Northern Ireland, from 1.1.1922 onwards. (Ancestry and other websites don’t have them).
Births in Northern Ireland within the past 100 years, marriages within the past 75 and deaths within the past 50 aren’t searchable on-line. They are open to the public, just not on-line. If you know all the key details eg exact date and place of birth, parents names etc, you can order a copy of a certificate from GRONI for £15. But if you don’t have all the information, you need to get in touch with them to get a search done. They will do a 5 year search for £7 and if they find a matching certificate you can purchase it for £8, coming to a total of £15. It will be posted to you a few days later. You pay over the phone using a credit card. You type your number in on the phone keypad. They don’t know what it is. They won’t deal with these searches and orders by e-mail because they need you to type the credit card number in yourself.
Phone: 0300 200 7890 (+44 300 200 7890 from outside the UK).
The irishgenealogy site should also have the Patterson-Parks marriage (free to view) but when you go to that particular entry, the message “Error 404 – not found” comes up.
I looked for a death for Sarah around 1945 but without success. There are 3 Sarah Patterson deaths in the 1930s, registered in Magherafelt. 18.2.1932 aged 64, 20.2.1933 aged 65 & 4.9.1933 aged 69. All are reasonably close but the last is the nearest to the 1911 age. However ages were often just guessed then so you can never be really sure.
PRONI (the public record office) is on this site:
https://www.nidirect.gov.uk/proni
Certain of their records eg the indexes to wills, and the name search function are on line but for many other records eg early church baptisms you need to go in person. Those are in either paper formant or microfilm.
You wonder about the spelling of the name and why it varied. That was very common at that time. The idea of a single or correct spelling for a surname or a place name in Ireland is very much a recent phenomenon designed to meet the needs of modern officialdom. Before that there was no consistency. Names were spelled phonetically and each variation was down to the whim of the particular person recording the information. You will often see the spelling change as the records go back. This rarely indicates a deliberate decision to alter the name, nor even a mistake. Not everyone was literate, but even when they were, exact and consistent spelling simply wasn’t something they bothered about.
In 1899, the Rev Smith reviewed the early records of Antrim 1st Presbyterian church (covering the years 1674 to c 1736). He noted: “Even the same word is not always spelled alike by the same hand. Indeed spelling with most of the recording officials (and they must have been fairly numerous) was a matter of the most sublime indifference. The name William, for instance, is spelled 3 different ways in as many lines; while Donegore, a neighbouring parish, is spelled 10 different ways; but these extend over a good number of years. Many families names are spelled phonetically, while others are given in the most round-about fashion”.
In his Special Report on Surnames in Ireland, published in 1909, Mathieson includes numerous examples of variation in the spelling of surnames which depended on the whim of the holder. “Some years ago the marriages of a brother and sister in the same family were solemnized in a Registrar’s office. The son gave his surname as “Faulkner” and his father’s name as “Faulkner.” The daughter gave her surname as Falconer, and her father’s surname as Falconer. Both marriages were subsequently re-solemnised in a place of worship, and the same orthographical differences were found to exist in the records kept by the officiating Minister.”
Other examples of interchangeable surnames, are Robertson & Robinson, Kilpatrick and Kirkpatrick, Nogher & Connor, McConnell & McDonnell, Kerr & Carr, Stewart & Stuart. So expect spelling to vary. That was the norm.
If it’s of any assistance here are some probate abstracts for the Patterson/Pattison family of Grange found on the PRONI wills site.
The Will of William Patterson late of Grange County Londonderry Farmer who died 20 August 1869 at same place was proved at Londonderry by William Roney Patterson of Grange Farmer the surviving Executor.
The above will is on-line.
Letters of Administration of the personal estate of Margaret Patterson formerly of Grange County Londonderry and late of Derrygortanea County Tyrone Spinster who died 29 March 1890 at Derrygortanea were granted at Armagh to William Roney Patterson of Grange Farmer the Father.
Probate of the Will of William Roney Patterson late of Grange Magherafelt County Londonderry Gentleman who died 21 January 1908 granted at Londonderry to Hugh Ferguson Patterson Farmer and William Patterson L.R.C.P. and S.I.
Pattison Thomas of Grange Magherafelt county Londonderry farmer died 3 May 1934 Probate Belfast 19 June to Alexander Pattison farmer. Effects £27.
Pattison Alexander of Grange Magherafelt county Londonderry farmer died 8 July 1957 at Mid-Ulster Hospital Magherafelt county Londonderry Administration (limited) Londonderry 24 December to William Streahorn farmer. Effects £1881 8s. 11d. Limited Grant.
The 1869 will is on-line. For the other files you would need to go to PRONI and view them or pay someone to copy them for you. (When it re-opens post Covid).
