Gilchrist/Hogg family

Lesley,

You mention not being able to find the family in the censuses, by which I assume you mean Scottish censuses. There are some trees on Ancestry which have Stewart & his family in New Monkland in 1861 and West Calder in 1871. You are unlikely to find them in any Irish censuses because, save for a few fragments, all the pre 1901 censuses were destroyed.

The Hoey family tree has Stewart’s father John born 1800 and dying 1864 in Lanarkshire.  There is 1 death that appears to match that on Scotlandspeople. Registered in Hamilton, Lanarkshire.  If it’s the right one you should get John’s parents names and occupations, plus his wife’s name.

Finding the family in Ireland will be challenging.  Birth registration didn’t start till 1864 and marriage registration in 1845. Prior to that you need to rely on church records, where they exist. You didn’t mention their denomination but the 1854 marriage was Church of Scotland so that points to Presbyterianism. Both surnames are Scottish so that combined with Presbyterianism and births in Antrim all point to the families having originated in Scotland. They probably moved to Ireland in the 1600s. Without some idea of where in Antrim they lived, searching for them will be the proverbial needle in a haystack. Not all Presbyterian churches in Ireland have records for the 1830s and of those that do, not all are on-line. The most complete set are in PRONI in Belfast but a personal visit is required to view them, and without a parish, it would be a huge search.

Possibly DNA testing may be a way of matching with others who have additional information about where the family originate. Family Tree DNA reportedly has more people with Ulster roots than any other company. That obviously increases the chances of finding a match. You might want to try them or, if you have already tested, you can transfer your results to them for no fee.

The North of Ireland Family History Society is running an Ulster DNA project in conjunction with FTDNA and can offer testing kits at a reduced price.  http://www.nifhs.org (Go to DNA project on the website).

To add to Elwyn's Post, there is a record of a "John Gilchrist" of Portglenone having been a member of the Antrim Militia.

Copy attached.

Credit: www.findmypast.ie

Thank you all. I did have that he was a soldier. I will look on findmy past and see if its the right one. Well it looks like I am going to be looking for a needle in a haystack.

Thanks

Lesley