Hello Leigh,
The 1863 marriage record for Francis Nelson and Ann Jane Sloan shows they were married in the Bangor Road Presbyterian Church, Holywood, County Down. If Ann is Margaret’s sister, there is the likelihood that Margaret and her family belonged to the Presbyterian Church.
There will not be an 1845 civil birth record for Margaret, or a civil marriage record for her parents, Civil registration began in Ireland in April of 1845, but at this time only Protestant and civil marriages were recorded by the government.
Civil registration of births, marriages, and deaths for all religious denominations were recorded by the government beginning in 1864.
This means for the Hugh Sloan and Agnes Scott marriage, and the baptism of their daughter Margaret, you would have to see if there are baptism and church marriage records in the Presbyterian Church they belonged to in, or near, Donaghadee.
According to the Public Records Office of Northern Ireland’s online, “A Guide To Church Records,” there were several Presbyterian churches that served parishioners in the Civil Parish of Donaghadee. But not all of these churches have records that go back to the 1840s or years prior to that.
Most of the Presbyterian Church records noted below are available at the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland, abbreviated as (PRONI). A few are available at the Presbyterian Historical Society:
THE BALLYCOPELAND PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH
The Guide To Church Records shows that the baptisms in the Ballycopeland Presbyterian Church, Civil Parish of Donaghadee, are available for the years 1906 to 1941, though there are some early baptism records for Ballycopeland for the years 1773 to 1818. The baptisms from 1773 to 1818 are available at the Presbyterian Historical Society.
Ballycopeland marriages are extent from 1903 to 1906.
THE BALLYFRENIS PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH
Also in the Donaghadee parish is the Ballyfrenis Presbyterian Church, with baptism records from 1862 to 1917, and marriage records from 1864 to 1901.
THE CARROWDORE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH
The Carrowdore Presbyterian Church baptism records begin in 1843 and are available to 1940. Carrowdore marriages are available for 1843 and 1844. There is a gap in the marriage registers when they pick up again in 1864 and continue to 1907.
The Presbyterian Historical Society holds Carrowdore marriages for the years 1845 to 1864.
THE 1ST DONAGHADEE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH
The 1st Donaghadee Presbyterian Church baptisms are available at PRONI from 1793 to 1950; marriages are available from 1805 to 1806, and from 1813 to 1836.
Index of baptisms for the 1st Donaghadee Presbyterian Church cover the years 1793 to 1921, and index of marriages from 18051936.
THE 2ND DONAGHDAHEE/SHORE STREET PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH
There is also the 2nd Donaghadee Presbyterian Church, which today is called the Shore Street Presbyterian Church, but baptisms in this church do not begin until 1849, which would have been too late to have recorded Margaret Sloan’s baptism.
Marriages for the Shore Street Presbyterian Church commence in 1850, which would have been too late to have recorded the marriage for Hugh Sloan and Agnes Scott.
MILLISLE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH
Millisle baptisms cover years 1773 to 1941, and marriages from 1845 to 1936.
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For a full list of both Catholic and Protestant Church parish registers available at PRONI for the 9 counties of the Province of Ulster, go to the “A Guide To Church Records” link at: https://tinyurl.com/6988f5b3
The majority of the Presbyterian Church records are not online. You either have to go to PRONI in Belfast and search the baptism and marriage records yourself, or you can engage PRONI’s fee paying service to look for records you are interested in. There is also an enquiry service which provides free advice and guidance service about the records held at PRONI.
For more information about PRONI’s fee paying and enquiry services go to: https://www.nidirect.gov.uk/articles/proni-enquiry-service
The Presbyterian Historical Society also has a fee-paying service for records not held anywhere else. The Presbyterian Historical Society however, will not undertake a comprehensive genealogical project. For more information about the fee-paying/enquiry service, go to:
https://www.presbyterianhistoryireland.com/our-services/enquiry-service/
Do you have a copy of Margaret Sloan’s 1845 baptism record to see which church she was baptized in? I’m not a certain that she was even baptized in a Presbyterian Church, as I was going by the possibility that Ann Jane Sloan may have been her sister, and that Ann Jane Sloan and Francis Nelson were married in the Bangor Road, Holywood, Presbyterian Church.
If your Sloan and Scott ancestors were Presbyterian it may be an undertaking to find out which church Hugh Sloan and Ann Scott were married in, and where their daughter Margaret was baptized, if you don’t already know.
As you can see from the list of Presbyterian Churches in or near Donaghadee, there are several. If you do not live near PRONI in Belfast, it could also be quite an expense to engage the fee service at PRONI to look for the marriage of Hugh Sloan and Agnes Scott and the baptism of their daughter Margaret.
THE CHURCH LOCATIONS
If your ancestors lived in Donaghadee Town, they may have attended one of two of the churches there, either the 1st Presbyterian Church, or the Shore Street Presbyterian Church.
The 1st Presbyterian Church is located at 19 High Street, though it is not labeled on the Google Map at: https://tinyurl.com/2cbb9h7w
For a Google Street View of the 1st Presbyterian Church, High Street, Donaghadee, go to: https://tinyurl.com/2nx6xyf7
A brief history of the 1st Presbyterian Church shows it was constructed in the year 1824, replacing the thatched meeting house where worship had taken place the previous125 years. See: https://www.firstdonaghadee.org.uk/who-we-are/
The other Presbyterian Church in Donaghadee is the Shore Street Presbyterian Church, actually located in Warren Street, which joins Shore Street. See the location of the church from the Google Map at:
https://tinyurl.com/4hkcbwc9
For a Google Street View of the Shore Street Presbyterian Church, go to: https://tinyurl.com/472x5bv8
For an Ordnance Survey Map of Donaghadee from the 1837 to 1842 time period, see the attachment. The map is from the GeoHive website.
In going over Google Maps looking for the other four Presbyterian Church Congregations listed in the PRONI parish church registers noted earlier, I found that the four appear to have been consolidated into two churches.
For example, a Google Map shows the location of the Millisle and Ballycopeland Presbyterian Church Hall, located 2.7 miles south of Donaghadee by the shortest route. See the map at: https://tinyurl.com/d8emftey
For a Google Street View of the Millisle and Ballycopeland Presbyterian Church Hall, see: https://tinyurl.com/4mmbhx9f
The Millisle and Ballycopeland Presbyterian Church homepage can be accessed at:
https://sites.google.com/site/millisleandbally/Home
For a history of the Millisle and Ballycopeland Presbyterian Church, go to:
https://sites.google.com/site/millisleandbally/church-history
Google Maps also shows that the Carrowdore and Ballyfrenis Presbyterian Church had been consolidated, and is located in Carrowdore, 5.5 miles south of Donaghadee by the shortest route passing through Millisle: https://tinyurl.com/6w2n7sey
A Google Street View of the Carrowdore and Ballyfrenis Presbyterian Church in the Church Road, Carrowdore, can be accessed at: https://tinyurl.com/47t7w6uw
GRIFFITHS VALUATION
I next wanted to see if Hugh Sloan or Agnes Sloan had been recorded in an Irish property tax record known as Griffiths Valuation. I wanted to see if Hugh or Agnes had been recorded in any townland within the Donaghadee Civil Parish, but especially in Donaghadee Town.
Griffiths Valuation was enumerated in the 32 counties of Ireland between 1847 and 1864. The valuation for the Civil Parish of Donaghadee was completed by the year 1863.
Unlike a census, Griffiths Valuation did not enumerate individual members of a family, such as husband, wife, and children in a household residence. Those named in the valuation were individuals who paid to lease property, such as land, houses, and outbuildings. Each person who paid to lease the property was called an “Occupier.” The other person listed in Griffiths Valuation was the person who owned the property, or who worked as the middleman collecting the rent on Gale Day for the owner. This middleman was called the “Immediate Lessor.”
You can access Griffiths Valuation transcriptions and original copies for free at the Ask About Ireland website link at:
http://www.askaboutireland.ie/griffith-valuation/index.xml
I didn’t find a Hugh or Agnes Sloan recorded in Griffiths Valuation anywhere in the Civil Parish of Donaghadee. Griffiths Valuation however, shows two people recorded in the town of Donaghadee with the last name of Sloan. These were Anne J. Sloan of Shore Street, and John Sloan of New Street.
Anne leased her property from a Mrs. Reid. John Sloan leased his property from Daniel Delacherios.
The Griffiths Valuation indexes for Ann and John Sloan in Donaghadee Town are below:
Griffith's Valuation Record Information
Tenant
Family Name 1 SLOAN
Forename 1 ANNE J.
Landlord
Family Name 2 REID
Forename 2
Prefix MRS
Location
County DOWN
Barony ARDS, LOWER
Union NEWTOWN ARDS
Parish DONAGHADEE
Townland DONAGHADEE, TOWNPARKS OF
Place Name SHORE STREET
Place Type OTHER
Publication Details
Position on Page 31
Printing Date 1863
Act 15&16
Sheet Number
Map Reference 99 10
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Griffith's Valuation Record Information
Tenant
Family Name 1 SLOAN
Forename 1 JOHN
Landlord
Family Name 2 DELACHEROIS
Forename 2 DANIEL
Location
County DOWN
Barony ARDS, LOWER
Union NEWTOWN ARDS
Parish DONAGHADEE
Townland DONAGHADEE, TOWNPARKS OF
Place Name NEW STREET
Place Type OTHER
Publication Details
Position on Page 51
Printing Date 1863
Act 15&16
Sheet Number
Map Reference 99 9
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When looking for Hugh and Agnes Sloan in Griffiths Valuation, I found that a Hugh Sloan leased property in the townland of Holywood, where Anne Jane Sloan and Francis Nelson were married in 1863.
Hugh Sloan leased his property from a landlord named Thomas Killips in Killips’ Court, Holywood. Holywood was in the Civil Parish of Holywood. Griffiths Valuation for the Holywood Civil Parish was completed by 1861.
See the Griffiths Valuation index for Hugh Sloan below:
Griffith's Valuation Record Information
Tenant
Family Name 1 SLOAN
Forename 1 HUGH
Landlord
Family Name 2 KILLIPS
Forename 2 THOMAS
Location
County DOWN
Barony CASTLEREAGH, LOWER
Union BELFAST
Parish HOLYWOOD
Townland HOLYWOOD
Place Name KILLIPS' COURT
Town HOLYWOOD
Place Type OTHER
Publication Details
Position on Page 42
Printing Date 1861
Act 15&16
Sheet Number
Map Reference 11;-
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Hugh Sloan being recorded in Griffiths Valuation in Holywood, brought me back again to the marriage record for Anne Jane Sloan and Francis Nelson. I’ve attached a copy of the original 1863 marriage record to this reply for quick access. The marriage record is from the free irishgenealogy.ie website.
Anne and Francis were married in Holywood, but at the time of marriage, their residence is recorded as Donaghadee. The question is why? A Google Map shows that Holywood and Donaghadee are 14 miles apart, clear across the northern portion of County Down by the shortest modern-day route. See: https://tinyurl.com/kpn4jah9
According to the FamilySearch website, it was “common practice” for Presbyterian marriages to take place in the bri
de’s home. See: https://www.familysearch.org/wiki/en/Ireland_Presbyterian_Church_Records
Could Holywood originally have been Anne’s hometown?
But the other question, one which you have is, were Anne Sloan and Margaret Sloan sisters? If not, it is a coincidence that they had a father named Hugh Sloan.
Kind Regards,
Dave Boylan
SOURCES
Public Records Office of Northern Ireland: “A Guide To Church Records."
Presbyterian Historical Society
Google Maps
Google Street Views
https://www.firstdonaghadee.org.uk/who-we-are/
GeoHive: Ordnance Survey Map of Donaghadee
Ask About Ireland: Griffiths Valuation
irishgenealogy.ie
FamilySearch
