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Gibson

DerryMagherafelt (Derry)

According to the information I have found, my ancestor Robert Gibson was born on November 20, 1829 in Ireland, probably in Derry. He was married to Jane Kane, who was born on March 4, 1840, in Ireland, probably in Derry. Jane's father was Francis Kane. Robert Gibson and Jane Kane had a daughter born in Ireland, May 9, 1866, in Maghera, Derry. A second daughter, Martha, was born either in Ireland or in Canada in 1868. A Census of Canada says that the family emigrated to Canada in 1865, but this does not match the birth information for the children, so the date of emigration is between 1866 and 1870, as my director ancestor, their third child, Robert Gibson, was born in 1870 in Morven, Ontario, Canada. I also have insufficiently documented information that the father of Robert Gibson, born 1829, was Robert Gibson, born circa 1803 in Ireland.

The family was Methodist.

Any further information on this family would be very welcome. For example, is there a marriage record for Robert and Jane? Is there a birth record for either Margaret or Martha? Is there information on Robert's and Jane's parents? Occupations?

gibsonv

5 replies

In my query above, I forgot to mention that the information I have is that Jane's father was Francis Kane.

gibsonv

Hello Gibsonv,

Greetings from Maghera Historical Society.

Just spotted your post from April 2013 regarding Robert Gibson & Jane Kane. We are  currently looking into the Kane family, one of whom was your Jane Kane-Gibson. You may have already found the answer to your quest, but just in case:

Robert and Jane were both from Maghera, Co. Derry, (now) Northern Ireland. He was from the townland of Crew, she was from Tamneymullan. They were married in civil ceremony in the nearby town, Magherafelt, on 25 Mar 1867. Her family, as far as I can see were Church of Ireland. You mention that the (Canadian?) family were Methodist. Perhaps Robert followed that religious tradition and thus they opted for a civil ceremony.

Jane had at a brother, Robert, born approx 1833 who emigrated to Australia. One of his descendants lives in Victoria, Australia, and visited us in Maghera just last week. We are researching the family on his behalf. We obtained more names from the will of Jane's uncle, Hugh, who died in Tamneymullan, Maghera 9 Jan 1991 aged 92. 
The will is rather ambiguous but Jane also had as sister, Elizabeth Ann, and either brothers or else male first cousins; Robert and Hugh as well as James (America) and another Robert (America).

Hope this helps. I will be in touch if we uncover more.
Regards

John Marquess 

highestpub@bti…

I was very pleased to find your reply above. For some reason, I did not receive a notification of the reply at the time. I do have the civil record of the marriage of Robert Gibson and Jane Kane. Although the family became Methodist in Canada, the baptisms of Robert's siblings are in the Church of Ireland, so I expect that both Robert and Jane were Church of Ireland at the time of their marriage. I believe you meant to put 1891 for the year of death of Uncle Hugh Kane. 

I would be extremely pleased to receive any further information you may have found on the Kanes, Gibson and their kin since then. 

We have ascertained through Church of Ireland baptismal records and through DNA matches that Robert Gibson had siblings  Jackson (b between 1819 and 1822 in Ireland, died July 26, 1895, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA; Thomas, baptized January 21, 1821, Church of Ireland, Maghera; Rachael, baptized June 19, 1826, Church of Ireland, Maghera; and Matilda, born circa 1827, Crew, died after 1901, Crew. Their parents were Robert Gibson and Martha Riddle. Martha Riddle was from Drummock townland, Maghera. Martha's father was John Riddle and she had a sister Letitia. 

My husband, Peter Frayne, and I met you in person in Maghera at the Maghera Historical Society office on a very rainy day in 2017. I don't know if you remember that. You gave me a card with your email address, but I unfortunately lost it. My email is valeriejgibson@rogers.com.

Thank you again. 

 

Valerie Gibson

gibsonv

 

Valerie,

Some general information about Methodism in Ireland which may help explain why Methodist families were sometimes in Church of Ireland records.

Methodism took a lot longer to become established in Ireland as a separate denomination than in England. In Ireland there was considerable resistance to separating from the Church of Ireland. It was 1815 before Methodists started to conduct their own baptisms. However because of continuing loyalty and other factors, many continued to use the Church of Ireland for baptisms for years after this and it was 1871 before all Methodists routinely performed their own baptisms.

For Methodist marriages, the earliest that I am aware of, date from 1835 (Belfast Donegall Square, the first Methodist church in Ireland). However in the mid 1800s there were only a few Methodist Ministers (Methodism relied heavily on lay preachers). So that shortage led to the continuing practice of marrying in the Church of Ireland. In addition, in the early years, many Methodist Meeting Houses were not licensed for marriages so that too contributed to couples marrying in the Church of Ireland.

So to summarise, you are unlikely to find many Methodist baptisms before 1820. Few marriages before the 1840s and only a handful for many years after that. If there are no Methodist records in the location you are researching, I would search Church of Ireland records instead, as that’s the most likely place to find the relevant event.

Not many Methodist Meeting Houses have graveyards and so they may be buried in public or Church of Ireland graveyards (which are open to all denominations).

 

Elwyn, IrelandXO Volunteer ☘IrelandXO Volunteer

Thank you for the information, Elwyn.

 

gibsonv

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