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 and marriages 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 the shortage contributed 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).
The other thing to remember about marriages is that tradition was to marry in the bride’s church, after which she’d usually attend her husband’s, so even if your John Bowes was Methodist, his first wife may not have been, and their marriage could be in a different church. Church of Ireland being the most likely in this case, though Presbyterian is another possibility.
The bad news is that Enniskillen Church of Ireland lost most of its early records in the 1922 fire in Dublin. Only some fragments survive. They have been copied and can be viewed in PRONI in Belfast:
Extracts of baptisms, 1667-1789, marriages, 1668-1794, and burials, 1667-1781; burials, 1879-1907 and 1941-50;vestry minutes, 1731-1920; copy deeds, 1796-9; select vestry minutes, 1871-80; register of church members, 1871 and 1946-50; preachers’ book, 1895-1928.
Extracts from baptism, marriage and burial registers, 1666-1826.
Copies of records for Enniskillen Wesleyan meeting house are also in PRONI, as follows:
Enniskillen [Wesleyan Methodists]
Baptisms, 1823-1953; marriages, 1864-1906; circuit schedule book, 1866-80; quarterly meeting minutes,1877-93. Baptisms, 1823-43.
So, as explained above, Enniskillen Methodists were baptizing from 1823 onwards but they evidently still married in the Church of Ireland until 1864. Methodists don’t keep burial records, so if John’s first wife died a Methodist there’s no church burial record to look for. I searched the statutory death records (which start in 1864) up to 1921 but did not find a Rebecca Bowes who died anywhere in Ireland. There were 39 John Bowes deaths including 1 in Enniskillen, in 1869 aged 3.
Knockmanoul is in the parish of Magheracross and is about 5 miles north of Enniskillen. There used to be 2 Methodist meeting houses there, one Wesleyan and the other a Primitive Wesleyan.
Records in PRONI (all free to view):
Ballinamallard [Wesleyan Methodists]
Baptisms, 1829-1919; marriages, 1882-1937; circuit schedule books, 1881-91 and 1895-1908; membership rolls,1881-92 and 1898-1900; circuit stewards’ book, 1879-94.
Knockmanoul [Wesleyan Methodists]
Baptisms, 1879-1919 [there may be earlier baptisms in MIC1E/15]; circuit schedule books, 1866-1908; membership rolls, 1881-1900; circuit stewards’ book, 1879-94.
If you think the family lived near Knockmanoul, rather than in Enniskillen itself then you might want to check Magheracross Church of Ireland records, for marriages anyway (copies in PRONI):
Magheracross (Clogher diocese)
Baptisms, 1800-40 and 1846-91; marriages, 1800- 1919; burials, 1800-1979; vestry minutes, 1847-1966; preachers’ books, 1843-65 and 1930-61; register of vestrymen, 1870-1919.
It is possible that there was more than one John Bowes in Enniskillen around 1840. Here’s a link to an 1861 marriage for Elizabeth Bowes of Enniskillen whose father was John Bowes, an agricultural steward:
https://civilrecords.irishgenealogy.ie/churchrecords/images/marriage_returns/marriages_1861/09610/5485344.pdf
In the 1901 Irish census of Co. Fermanagh there were 29 people named Bowes, a mix of Church of Ireland and Methodist. 4 were named John. Statistically it seems likely there would have been a similar number in 1840. There were 131 people named Wallace, most were Church of Ireland but with some Methodists, Presbyterians and 2 Catholic households. There were 4 named Rebecca. Not the Rebecca who married John Bowes obviously but I mention it simply because many families kept the same names going generation after generation and sometimes a much later generation can hint at an earlier one.
Your underlying problem with this piece of research – as I am sure you are well aware – is that there are very few comprehensive records for Enniskillen for the period you need. There’s no easy way around that.
If visiting next month, be aware that Covid restrictions mean that at present only people with existing PRONI reader’s tickets can access the records (and you have to book 3 weeks in advance, specifying the documents you want to search - max 10 per visit). Some churches are open eg many Church of Ireland but with various restrictions, and some are not eg the Methodist church’s general advice at present is not to open. Libraries remain shut and there are restrictions on other museums too. Accessing local records may prove difficult.
There are some quarantine restrictions in Northern Ireland depending on where you are coming from and it’s not permissible to enter a private house at present (unless you live there). The Covid rules keep changing across Ireland at the moment so it’s best to keep an eye on government websites to keep track of the latest situation.
Good luck anyway.
