Looking for information on family of Isaac Stewart and Agnes Steele. They married in Portglenone Dec 1853.
Isaac age 23, a weaver from Lissrodden (?) was son of Samuel Stewart. Agnes, age 24 of Mayboye daughter of James Steele. They had one daughter I know of named Agnes born 1865 who immigrated to Canada. She died in 1921. Her obituary notice says she was survived by two brothers living in Ireland.
1901 census has an Isaac Stewart age 69 and wife Margaret age 53 in Lisnagarron, Mayboy with children William b 1872, Jane b 1877, Lizzie b 1880 and Mary b 1881. All born Antrim and were Presbyterian. The age for Isaac and location seem on point, but wife Margaret doesn't match.
The Bairds site has a listing Townhill, Portglenone with this inscription: Erected by John Stewart, Mayboy, in memory of his father Isaac Stewart who died 19 Sep 1907 age 75 years and his mother Margaret who died 13 July 1911 age 65 years. I can't find a death for Agnes Steele Stewart or other children of Isaac and Agnes. However, it seems possible that Agnes died young and Isaac married a second time and had several more children with Margaret.
Trying to find my great grandmother's brothers alive in 1921. I would appreciate any information or search suggestions. Thanks in advance, Ellen
tyrtrim
Saturday 25th Jun 2022, 05:01PMMessage Board Replies
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Ellen,
Isaac Stewart’s townland will be Lisrodden. Agnes will be Moboy. (Spelling varies though).
Here’s daughter Agnes birth on 13.3.1865, which shows the mother Agnes (Nancy) was still alive then. Nancy/Ann/Agnes are all interchangeable in Ireland (and Scotland) in case you didn’t know that.
They also had an un-named female born on 1.6.1868 when they were living at Killyless:
Statutory birth registration only started in Ireland in 1864 so for any children born between 1853 and 31.12.1863, you would need to rely on church baptism records which, given they were Presbyterian, may not be available on-line. Do you know which church they attended? The burial information you have found suggests Portglenone 2ndPresbyterian, but people weren’t always buried in the churchyard of the church they attended and so that may not be correct. (Portglenone 1st has no graveyard so its congregation must use other churchyards, for example).
Here’s Mary Stewart’s birth on 4.3.1881 at Moboy which reveals her mother’s maiden name was McLeister. In at least one of the births it is McCleister. Same difference, and presumably a variation of McAllister.
I see other children to that couple as follows:
Catherine 22.6.1869
William 16.2.1871
James 15.10.1872
Jane 7.2.1875
John 16.6.1877
Elizabeth 18.8.1878
Catherine’s birth here:
So Agnes Stewart must have died between June 1868 and June 1869, and likewise Isaac must have remarried within that period too. Indeed since there is only a 12 month gap between the last child by Agnes and the first by Margaret, he must have been fairly quick off the mark in finding, courting and marrying his new bride.
I have searched for Agnes/Nancy’s death and for Isaac’s remarriage but cannot find either in the statutory records. There were only 6 female Stewart/Stuart deaths in 1868/9 in the Ballymena area. Most were too young or old to be of child bearing age, and none were named Nancy or Agnes. So her death is a mystery. Likewise the remarriage. No sign of that anywhere in Ireland.
Found this probate abstract on the PRONI wills site. William died intestate. The probate file itself is in PRONI in paper format. (They’ll copy it for a fee, if you can’t get there in person). The original administrator failed or was unable to carry out their duties and so a new administrator was appointed in 1945. So that file may tell you who was still alive at that time.
Administration of the Estate of William Stewart late of Moboy, Co. Antrim, Farmer, who died 25 April 1920, granted at Belfast 6 October 1920 to John Stewart, Farmer, the Curator or Guardian of the children of the deceased. Effects: £585 8s 0d.
Stewart William of Moboy Portglenone county Antrim farmer died 25 April 1920 Administration (d.b.n.) Belfast 26 September to Charles Stewart farmer. Unadministered effects £119 15s. Former Grant Belfast 6 October 1920.
William’s death here, aged 49. His wife had pre-deceased him and the informant was his brother John:
Ballymena Observer 9.10.1936 has a warning notice from John Stewart of Lisnahuncheon and Maboy about trespassers with dogs and guns. So sounds as though he had 2 farms.
PRONI has these 2 abstract, plus the wills themselves are on-line, on the PRONI site:
Probate of the Will of David Stewart late of Maboy County Antrim Farmer who died 16 September 1897 granted at Belfast to James Wilkinson Farmer and Robert S.Kilpatrick School Teacher both of Maboy.
Probate of the Will of Margaret Jane Stewart late of Maboy County Antrim Widow who died 18 March 1900 granted at Belfast to James Wilkinson Carpenter.
This ties in with this stone in Townhill:
Erected in loving memory of David Stewart, Maboy, who died 16th Sept 1897, aged 70 years and his daughter Mary, who died in infancy. Also his wife Margaret Jane, who died 18th March 1900, aged 60 years.
Townhill graveyard is the graveyard for Portglenone 2nd Presbyterian church. It closed around 1910 and the building itself is long demolished. However it’s records survive in PRONI. Baptisms from 1821 and marriages from 1822.
Possible marriages for some of Isaac’s children (I only looked up to 1915):
https://civilrecords.irishgenealogy.ie/churchrecords/images/marriage_re…
Elwyn, IrelandXO Volunteer ☘
Saturday 25th Jun 2022, 06:50PM -
Ellen/Elwyn:
This will confuse further but the Isaac Steele/Margaret McCleister marriage was in March 1867. See fourth record at the link.
Roger
Castlemore Roscommon, IrelandXO Volunteer ☘
Saturday 25th Jun 2022, 08:56PM -
Roger and Elwyn,
The plot thickens! I think there may have been two Isaacs, because on RI I found the following transcription of Isaac and Margaret McAllister's marriage...in 1867. Neither one had been married before.
Marriage: 30-Mar-1867
Parish BALLYMENA Co. Antrim
Isaac Stewart, farmer
Margaret Mcalister
lived in Maybouy Maybouy
First marriage for both
Both Presbyterian
Their fathers: James Stewart William McalisterWitnesses: James Mcalister John Nicholl
Church: AHOGHILL 1ST Presbyterian
Patricia
Saturday 25th Jun 2022, 09:21PM -
Patricia,
Yes I agree there must have been 2 Isaacs, both from that area. This might be the first Isaac’s death:
Possible death for Nancy in Gortfad in 1875:
https://civilrecords.irishgenealogy.ie/churchrecords/images/deaths_retu…
Elwyn, IrelandXO Volunteer ☘
Saturday 25th Jun 2022, 11:01PM -
Elwyn, Roger and Patricia: Thank all of you for your input on my quest. After mulling over the information sent on, here is what I believe is relevant to my line and a little comment. A copy of the marriage of Isaac Stewart to Agnes Steele on 29 Dec 1853 states Isaacs' father was Samuel. Both Isaac and Agnes list occupations as weavers. Until I locate information on the birth of their children, I am kind of stuck. The one child I know about is my great grandmother, Agnes/Nancy born 12 Mar 1865 (know here as Agnes). Her birth record lists father as Isaac Stewart of Lisnahunchin, mother Nancy Steele. I believe the death record for Nancy Stewart 3 Nov 1875 age 47, married, weaver, at Gortfad witnessed by Isaac Stewart, is probably accurate. It states she died of Phthisis which I think is a term for TB of 2+ years.
Agnes/Nancy b 1865, daughter of Isaac and Nancy/Agnes Steele, married Patrick Devlin in Register Offices in Ballymena May 1887. The Stewarts were Presbyterians and Devlins RC. Agnes stated her residence at the time was Lisnahunchin Craigs, Aside from church records held locally, are their other sources to search for residents of Lishnahunchin during this time period?
Patrick and Agnes immigrated to Canada in 1888-90 and had 10 children, 6 are sons with names seen in the Stewart families in Ireland but not Devlin. It seems lots of Stewart families named sons John, William, James and some Robert and Samuel.
I discounted the Isaac Stewart-Margaret McLeister family except as possible cousins. Their marriage record lists Isaac's father as James - not Samuel. I will post the memorial inscription of this family and one other from Gortaharin (Gortaheron) in case others would be interested or can make a connection to my line.
Again, many thanks. sorting out these Stewart families is a headscratcher.
Ellen
P.S. During the period Isaac and his daughter lived, were there weaving mills or were people still weaving at home? Was this seasonal work depending on flax harvest and wool shearing? Would they have provided their own materials for spinning or was is sold/given to them?
tyrtrim
Sunday 26th Jun 2022, 11:00PM -
If the family were always weavers/labourers, then they are probably buried in unmarked graves. Few weavers could afford a gravestone.
The only other records that could list children in the 1850s and 1860s would be school attendance records. The nearest school may have been Lisrodden. Unfortunately its records don’t appear to have survived.
Maboy, Lisnahunchin, & Killyless are all beside each other. Gortfad is just to the north of Portglenone town. They evidently moved about – as weavers and labourers often did – but not very far. 2 Isaacs Stewarts living beside each other is too much of a coincidence to be overlooked. Families liked to repeat names generation after generation, so the 2 Isaacs are probably related somehow.
Register office marriages for mixed denomination weddings was pretty common.
If you are unable to go to PRONI yourself to search the baptism records, you could employ a researcher. Researchers in the PRONI area: http://sgni.net
You ask about information on who lived in Lisnahunshin in the 1880s. Obviously the censuses for that time are destroyed. The Valuation Revision records on the PRONI website do list heads of household. That townland is in this set of records: VAL/12/B/3/20B (1881 - 1894). I had a look at them and there is no Devlin household listed. So either they didn’t stay there long enough to get recorded (the records were only updated every 2 or 3 years), or they lodged with someone else or their house was of too low a value to be in Griffiths.
In rural areas most weaving was done at home using hand loom weaving machines, such as are still used in the Outer Hebrides in Scotland to make Harris Tweed. These machines were collapsible, so as to be stored out of the way when not needed and for ease of transport should the weaver move home, as they often did, to follow the available work.
Most weavers in Ulster were labourers who earned a bit of extra money by weaving in the winter months when there wasn’t much labouring work required on farms. This meant that labourers in Ulster had a slightly better standard of living than elsewhere in Ireland. It also gave them some ready cash (in a society that mostly operated by barter) for the things that could not be bought by barter, eg a ticket to America or Canada. Home weavers provided and owned their weaving equipment. Local farmers would have grown the flax for them to weave. They often “bought” it from the farmer by working on the farm. Sometimes if the weaver had any spare land of their own (they usually had a few perches) they might grow a little flax of their own.
At one time weavers wove a lot of cotton but the interruption of supplies from the southern US states during the American War of Independence in the 1770s meant they focused on other materials, notably flax (which linen is made from) and which grows well in Ireland in contrast to cotton which won’t grow at all. They did weave other products eg calico and wool as required, but by the 1800s it was mainly linen. Linen made at home was taken to the local linen market and sold there. I’d guess that would have been Ballymena in this case.
As the 19th century progressed, water powered linen mills were introduced all over Ulster. These were faster than home weavers and often made better quality material and so gradually made the home weaver redundant. In addition, the factories also mostly employed women and children (being nimbler and cheaper) so this impacted on male employment too. At a time when farms were starting mechanise and so needed fewer labourers, the average labourer/weaver therefore faced a bleak future and so these combined changes were a major factor in many a labourer’s decision to leave Ireland during the 1800s.
A little more information on this link: https://www.irish-genealogy-toolkit.com/flax-plant.html
Another possibility for Isaac Stewart’s death is this in the workhouse. The admission records (in PRONI and not on-line) may tell you a bit more about his background. Age, occupation & marital status look about right.
https://civilrecords.irishgenealogy.ie/churchrecords/images/deaths_retu…
Elwyn, IrelandXO Volunteer ☘
Monday 27th Jun 2022, 11:21AM -
Attached FilesSamuel Stewart death 1866.JPG (2.36 MB)
Ellen,
There is a death in Ballymena workhouse for a Samuel Stewart on 6th May 1866, aged 62. He was married and a weaver. No townland given. Informant was the workhouse master. Age and occupation are right for Isaac’s father. However Samuel Stewart is a common name and so no immediate way of saying for certain whether it’s the right one. Workhouse admission records might tell more.
Elwyn, IrelandXO Volunteer ☘
Monday 27th Jun 2022, 04:04PM
