Martha Johnson/Johnstone - emigrated to AUS "alone and friendless"

Catherine,

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. In 1816 the main body of Irish Methodists (the Wesleyans) took the decision to allow baptisms in their preaching houses or chapels, but it was a practice which was only gradually introduced so that it wasn’t until the 1830s and 1840s that it became fairly standard. Because of continuing loyalty and other factors, many –including Primitive Wesleyans - continued to use the Church of Ireland for baptisms for years after this and it was 1871 before all Methodists routinely performed their own.

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).

It’s important to know that rootsireland does not have all the baptism and early marriage records that exist. Many Protestant records eg Church of Ireland, Methodist & Presbyterian records are not on their site.  Quite a lot of early Church of Ireland records were lost in the 1922 fire.  Of those that still exist, some are in the RCB library in Dublin and others still held by the parishes.   There are 57 parishes in Co. Wicklow.  Methodist records will mostly still be held by the individual church.  If you don’t know where in Wicklow the family lived, it could be a lengthy search.

Catherine,

My guide to Church of Ireland records states that the records for Newcastle parish (Wicklow) have survived and are in the RCB library.  They start in 1698. There is also a microfilm copy in the National Archives in Dublin.

RCB library:

https://www.ireland.anglican.org/about/rcb-library

No Johnstones in Timmore in the 1901 census:

http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/pages/1901/Wicklow/Newcastle_Lower/Timnore/

Mostly RC. No Methodists. Church of England & Episcopalian both mean Church of Ireland.

Edgehill Theological College in Belfast is the training centre for most Methodists in Ireland. Their historian should be able to tell you what Methodist records exist for Co Wicklow and where they are kept. (Last time I spoke to him he was trying to gather many of the records across Ireland in).

https://www.4ni.co.uk/c/72052/edgehill-college-belfast

I do know that there was/is a Wesleyan Methodist meeting house in Wicklow town, which is not too far from Newcastle. There's a copy of its baptisms for the years 1828 - 1844 in PRONI (the public record office) in Belfast. No marriage records, so I assume they weren't performing any at that time. But there may have been other meeting houses in the area. Edgehill should be able to tell you.

Personally I wouldn’t bother with the Vestry Books. And if you do you might be there for days. It’s mostly about finances, provision for work eg repairs to the church; appointment of new officials and so on. Very closely written, and often hard to read. They do sometimes contain information on individuals but if you are not even certain your family did attend that church, I wouldn’t waste time on them.

When searching for baptisms, bear in mind that firstly folk in Ireland didn't celebrate birthdays and often didn't really know how old they were, so ages given later in life can be wrong. Also that with Protestant denominations not everyone was baptised when they were born. You sometimes see batches of children in the same family being baptised together. So look a few years either side of the years you are expecting.