Crozier family

Brian,

Statutory birth registration only started in Ireland in 1864, so you won’t find a birth certificate. Prior to that you need to rely on church baptism records, where they survive.  You don’t say what denomination Elizabeth was but from the fact she married in the Church of Ireland, I’d assume that she was COI.

There’s about 12 John Croziers listed as farmers in Griffiths Valuation of Fermanagh in 1862, living in about 8 different parishes. If you have no other leads, you could go through the relevant Church of Ireland parish records to see if you can find Elizabeth’s baptism.

 

http://www.askaboutireland.ie/griffith-valuation/index.xml?action=nameSearch

The churches usually hold the originals but there are also copies in PRONI, the public record office, in Belfast. Their copies are not on-line and so a personal visit is required to access them. If you are unable to go there yourself, you may need to employ a researcher.

http://www.proni.gov.uk/guide_to_church_records.pdf

Brian,

I can't help you with the PRONI look up. However Sarah Anne’s birth is after 1864 (when statutory birth registration started) so you can get a birth certificate for her. Her birth was registered in Irvinestown. I don’t see any other children born to this couple after 1864 so she may have been the last.

Likely marriage for the parents John Crozier to Eliza Gilmour, 6.2.1849 registered in Omagh.

You can view the original certificates on-line on the GRONI website, using the “search registrations” option:

https://geni.nidirect.gov.uk

You will need to open an account and buy some credits. It costs £2.50 (sterling) to a view a certificate.

Let me know the townland (address) that the family were living in (from the 1867 birth cert) and I'll see what more I can find.

 

The townland on the 1849 marriage cert that John gave looks to be Candy in the parish of Magheraculmoney. Unfortunately I can’t find a townland of that name in the parish. There is a Cady or it’s possibly an obsolete name. Eliza’s was Knockaraven in the parish of Dromore, Co Tyrone. Tradition was to marry in the bride’s parish. The church was a Presbyterian church so you would expect her to have been brought up a Presbyterian. (So Scottish origins, as you would expect with surname like Gilmour).

Dromore Presbyterian church only has baptism and marriage records from 1835 onwards so you may not be able to trace her baptism. However there are several Gilmour farms in the townland in Griffiths so you can probably trace her descendants forward if you wish.

There was a Christopher Crozier in Cady, in Griffiths so that may be John’s townland or origin. However, the townland that Sarah Crozier was born in is Gorteen. So we know John’s family had moved there. Griffiths for 1862 shows John Crozier there on plot 4 which was a farm of 20 acres & 3 roods. The revaluation records show him acquiring plots 7 & 8 – another 12 acres in 1876, then being replaced by James Beacom in 1887.  However it then goes back to John Crozier and then to William Crozier in 1897. So John may have died around that time. (Possible death you might want to look at was John Crozier 23.9.1893 aged 80, registered in Irvinestown).

https://www.nidirect.gov.uk/proni

The 1901 & 1911 censuses show William and family:

http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/pages/1901/Fermanagh/Kesh/Gorteen/1354427/

http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/pages/1911/Fermanagh/Kesh/Gorteen/520471/

Probate abstract:

Crozier William of Gorteen Kesh county Fermanagh farmer died 16 July 1943 Probate Belfast 14 December to Albert Anderson justice of the peace and William Crozier farmer. Effects £282 1s.

The full file should be held in PRONI.

That farm today is a couple of miles south of Kesh village, near Castle Archdale.

You'll likely need to get a researcher to look up the 1860 and 1861 baptisms. Try Dromore Presbyterian church records at PRONI. (Or you could pay PRONI to do it, but they are quite expensive).

Brian,

I suppose the question to ask is how many families in Fermanagh are likely to be headed by a John & Eliza Gilmour and who had a daughter named Elizabeth born around 1861. And where John was a farmer.

I looked at the 1901 census for Fermanagh and there were about 6 John Croziers who were either Farmers or Farmer’s sons. None had a wife named Elizabeth, so it’s not that common a combination. I’d be about 85% certain you have the right family. If your own information gave you some of the other children that you have found, then that makes it even more likely.

Regarding the discrepancies about ages on the death certificates, I wouldn’t worry too much about that. The age on a death certificate was simply the informant’s best guess, and was often out by up to 10 years or more. If the death certificate showed that the deceased resided in Gorteen and was a farmer or farmer’s wife, then you know you have the right family (or at least the parents of Sarah Anne born there in 1867). There were only 3 houses in Gorteen, 2 occupied by Beacom families and one by Crozier, so that narrows things down easily enough).

There probably aren’t’ any other readily available records in Ireland that might shed any more light on the family, save the church records, and perhaps gravestones.  Sometimes you see inscriptions on gravestones that show their daughter in Australia or wherever erected them. A farmer is fairly likely to have had a gravestone. If the family aren’t in the Presbyterian churchyard, I’d try the Church of Ireland. Presbyterians were often buried there. (It was open to all).