Rutledge/Gibney - Co Tyrone - Termonmaguirk???
My "brick wall" has been finding the family/origin of my gg-grandparents, William Rutledge and Eliza Gibney. I have focused on Termonmaguirk because of "clues" surrounding my research of them and related families. In the 1850's William and his family emigrated to East Gwillimbury Ontario Canada. William was born in Co Tyrone, as were most of his children. William was born 1807 a "native of Co Tyrone." Eliza was born 1812 in Ireland (died 1896 at the age of "87"). Their oldest son, my g-grandfather, was Marvin who was born Nov. 1841 in Co Tyrone, so I am estimating the marriage of William and Eliza at about l1840 +/-. The Rutledge family was Wesleyan Methodist in Canada. The family story has it that William came with his brother-in-law to get land and build a cabin. There are three Gibney families that settled adjacent to William, although two of them came earlier than he did. I found a ships passenger's list for 1854 listing a William from "Omagh" and a child, Eliza, age 8. The ages given for both William and Eliza match with the birth dates for my William and his daughter, Eliza. Family history also says she "came with her father."
I have not been able to find any other passenger lists for the rest of the family.
William and Eliza had children Marvin, Alexander, Jane, William, Eliza, Margaret, Mary, Lettie, Anne. Given the practice of naming children after the father's father and the mother's father, it would follow that William's father's name was "Marvin." However, I had no luck finding anyone named Marvin in any of the Irish records I have been able to search online. I have found an Alexander Gibney in the area of Fintona in 1858. And I did find a death record for an Alexander Gibney who died in Austrailia and would have been born within a couple of years of Eliza. Attached to this record was one that gave his parents as Alexander Gibney and Jane Campbell. I do not know if this is the same as the one located in 1858 in Griffith's Valuation. Family history does have it that Eliza's "mother or grandmother" was a Campbell.
I have focused on Termonmaguirk because 1) the reference to Omagh 2) the only parish that I found both Gibneys and Rutledges in Griffith's Valuation was Termonmaguirk 3) the Gibneys that settled adjacent to the Rutledges in Ontario were from the area of Sixmilecross and Brackey. While I have not been able to connect Eliza to these Gibney families, there is just too much coincidence to rule them out as her family. There was a James Gibney married to Isabella Harvey, Robert Gibney (not married), and Hugh Gibney married to Catherine Campbell. In both James' family and Hugh's family the name of Alexander was prominent.
The Gibney families were mostly Church of Ireland. Marvin was a farmer, albeit a poor one, one of James Gibney's sons, Johnston, was an "iron founder." Hugh Gibney and Catherine Campbell were married in Gortin in 1851.
Story is that my g-grandfather Marvin was 19 at the time of his emigration...this would put it at about 1859/60.
Since William and Eliza's family were all relatively young at the time of emigration, none of them married in Ireland. The family of James and Isabella Gibney did have children who married before leaving Ireland...they married into the McFarland, Clements, Mains families. And these all point to Termonmaguirk.
The name of "William" is unfortunately, extremely common among the Rutledge families. However, Gibney is not a common name. But I still have not been able to find anything that connects 1) William and Eliza to a specific parish or townland and 2) Eliza to these other Gibney families.
Any help from the Ireland end would be most appreciated!
Thank you!
