Rainey's - Castle Enigan

Dawn,

This 1872 marriage is the only other Rainey marriage I could find in the Newry area where the father was named Isaac. His occupation is shown as labourer which matches that in the 1852 certificate:

https://civilrecords.irishgenealogy.ie/churchrecords/images/marriage_returns/marriages_1872/11305/8148122.pdf

I don’t see any children to that marriage and don’t know what happened to the couple.

I don’t see a graveyard in Castle Enigan. According to the Ulster Historical Foundation site, in the parish of Newry, there are graveyards named: Clonlea, Katesbridge Presbyterian, Lisserboy, Newry Presbyterian, Old Meeting House Green, Ouley, Ryans Presbyterian, Savalmore, Sheeptown RC & Shinn RC. I had a look at the large scale map of Castle Enigan on the Griffiths site but I don’t see any graveyard marked on it.  The nearest would be the RC graveyard in Shinn which is adjacent to Castel Enigan. (Custom in Ireland is to bury people in graveyards. It would not be practice to bury on private land as is the case in some countries). If the Rainey family was Presbyterian then the most likely graveyards are Presbyterian, Church of Ireland or mixed. Not all Presbyterian churches have graveyards and so it was common for them to be buried in the Church of Ireland instead.

The 1852 marriage certificate tells us that Thomas & his father were both labourers. In general, in the 1800s, labourers couldn’t afford a gravestone so the family plot(s) are probably unmarked.

I searched for a Thomas Rainey death c 1870 but did not find one. No-one named Thomas Rainey died in the Newry registration area from 1864 to 1921. We know that Isaac Rainey was dead by 1852, so there won’t be a death certificate for him. (They only start in 1864). Presbyterians generally didn’t keep burial records either.

The Smith family tree on Ancestry has this family. It records a son Isaac Rainey born 29.1.1854 who married Susan McClements in 1875. They moved to the US in 1883 and he died there in 1902.

Elwyn, 

Wow, that is a lot of information to process.  Is there a way to see a list of names that are burried in those graveyards you listed?  To see if there are Rainey's burried there.  Would that be helpful in any way in searching for other family connections?

The Isaac Rainey listed in the "Smith family tree on Ancestry" is related to my family.  I checked back to my aunt's notes and it shows that he was born 29Jan1854 in Loughorne, County Down. His death is listed as 23Oct1902 and burried in Prospect, ME with wife listed as Susan McClements. Marriage listed as 12 Aug1875.  He is the 1st son of the Thomas Rainey born 1826. My aunt's notes show that Isaac and Susan had 11 children.  4 which were born in Northern Ireland prior to their departure for the US.  Curious if the Smith Family has any additional information, would it be reasonable to ask them?

How does a person pin point a relative specifically... it feels like you chase theories until you can connect one or more pieces that line up.  I suppose the name of the game in genealogy is to untangle the ball of yarn so to speak, and be a good detective.  One question leads to information that leads to more questions. Your comments make me think in all sorts of directions. What are the next logical steps to look into searching?  Would it be more beneficial to be physically present in NI or can much be done via the internet?

Thank you for generously providing the above information to me!  You are very knowledgable and I appreciate your help.

Dawn   

Dawn,

Few graveyards in the 1800s kept burial records.  The Church of Ireland was the only denomination that routinely kept them though even then I have found many gaps, and they tended only to record their own denomination, not burials by other denominations. 

There are transcriptions of the legible gravestones for some graveyards in Co Down. The Ulster Historical Foundation has some Co Down graveyards on its site:

http://www.ancestryireland.com

I had a quick look. There are 12 Rainey gravestones listed in Co Down but none for the parish of Newry. So possibly the graveyards in that parish haven’t been transcribed.

I note that Savalmore graveyard in Savalmore townland is immediately adjacent to Castle Enigan.  It’s on the modern Coalpit Rd. Ouley graveyard is also close by near the modern Shinn Rd. They are probably the 2 most likely burial places for your Raineys.

I should certainly contact the Smith family to see if they have any additional information. There are actually 13 trees on Ancestry with the family. All seems to have much the same information, suggesting they come from a common source.

Looking at the 1875 marriage certificate, I see that Isaac was living in Castle Enigan then. The certificate also tells us that his father was dead by that date. I notice that the couple married in a Register office, not a church.  There can be many reasons for doing that. One was a mixed denomination marriage (usually Protestant – Catholic), another might simply be that neither party was religious or sometimes it could be because they were Brethren. Brethren normally marry in a Register Office (because they don’t have anyone qualified to conduct a marriage service).

I looked at the Valuation Revision records (On the PRONI website) for 1875 to see if Isaac Rainey is listed in Castle Enigan. He’s not. The only Rainey there was a David Rowney who had a labourer’s cottage plot 3B© (on the modern Castle Enigan Rd). That cottage looks to be long gone today and there’s a modern house there now. David might be a relation. His name remained as tenant till the mid 1880s. I don’t see a death for him.

I noticed a death for a Sarah Rainey aged 15 in Castle Enigan in 1892. Mother was Eliza Rainey.

https://civilrecords.irishgenealogy.ie/churchrecords/images/marriage_returns/marriages_1875/11210/8108896.pdf

Here’s her birth in  Castle Enigan in 1878. She was illegitimate:

https://civilrecords.irishgenealogy.ie/churchrecords/images/birth_retur…

As I mentioned previously, we know Thomas Rainey was dead by 1875. I don’t see a death certificate for him 1864 to 1875, so my guess is that he died 1855 – 1863.

No Rainey/Rowney households in Castle Enigan by the 1901 census:

http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/pages/1901/Down/Ouley/Castle_Enigan/

You ask how you would locate living descendants today. I have to say that it can be quite difficult.  It’s a common name in the area, and the likelihood of anyone in Shinn or Castle Enigan today knowing directly of a family that moved away at least 130 years ago does not seem high.  However you know that your family  attended Donaghmore Presbyterian church. You could contact the current Minister and ask him if there are any Raineys in the congregation today. Or possibly the church has a facebook page and you could post a message there. The current Minister appears to be Rev Raymond McKibbin and his contact details are on this link:

https://www.glascar-donaghmore.com/aboutus

PRONI has the following records for Donaghmore church:

Donaghmore Baptisms, 1804-37 and 1845-1968; marriages, 1845-1936. If you haven’t already done so, it would be worth going through them looking for other children etc.

You mention that Isaac born 1854 was born in Loughorne. That’s immediately beside  Shinn & Castle Enigan. Griffiths has a Rosanna Rainey and an Alexander Rainey in Loughorne in 1864, so perhaps relations. Alexander had plot 25c which was a flax mill, yard & mill race. Rosanna lived nearby on plot 23 which was a labourer’s cottage and garden. She was probably a widow.  Rose Anne Rainey probably died in 1871 aged 80. That certificate is not available to view free yet. You have to pay to view it on the GRONI site (cost £2.50).

Alexander Rainey of Loughorne was born c 1818, son of Joseph Rainey, and he married Rebecca Clegg in 1848:

https://civilrecords.irishgenealogy.ie/churchrecords/images/marriage_returns/marriages_1848/09355/5387788.pdf

Though the 1851 Irish census was destroyed in the 1922 fire in Dublin, an 1851 census extract survives for this family (due to it being copied in 1921 as proof of age for a pension application) which tells us that in that year Alexander & Rebecca’s family consisted of Mary aged 2, Anne & Elizabeth (no ages) and Rebecca’s father David Clegg. There also appears to have been a son Joseph Rainey who was reportedly born 26th June 1850, and who was still alive in 1921 (when he applied for an old age pension).  He was living in Manchester at that time.  The family are on a tree on Ancestry (Fletcher family) and that shows Rebecca Rainey dying in Ashton under Lyne (just outside Manchester) in 1903. So the family had evidently moved to England for work.

http://censussearchforms.nationalarchives.ie/search/cs/home.jsp

Labourers in Ireland often took cottages on short tenancies or “at will” terms ie they could leave with no notice. This enabled them to move to follow available work. So it’s common to find them moving from one townland to another. They can be tricky to trace.

Given their location in Co Down and their denomination (Presbyterian) your family are probably descendants of Scots who settled in the area in the 1600s.

Elwyn, 

Thank you again for providing such great insight!  This is my first time really digging in to my genealogy, although I have always had an interest.  I do find myself getting disoriented with many of the names being similar and then trying to keep track of who goes with each parent/generation.  So having it laid out simply surely helps... although reading through one of the relatives in my aunts notes having 11 children made my head spin for a second thinking about how to trace out each of those lines.  

I will need to follow up with the 13 trees on Ancestry, especially Smith Family to learn more.  I am assuming I will need to get an ancestry account in order to access that information so that I can reach out to the correct people?  Contacting the minister at the Donaghmore Presbryterian Church would also be a good idea and searching to see if other Rainey children are listed there.

I appreciate the additional information for Alexander and Rose Anne, exciting that this piece survived via the cenus extract in 1921.  May need to track down the Fletcher family on Acestry if I can decipher what Alexander/Rose Anne's connection might have been to our Rainey's.  

I have some homework to do now.  I thank you again for all the additional insights with "laborers" and moving around as well as all the links and resources.  Wonderful information!  I'm sure I will be in touch!

Grateful,

Dawn

Dawn,

Yes you would need an account with Ancestry to view the various trees and to contact the tree owners. Many local libraries have subscriptions to Ancestry and you might be able to view them free that way. Not sure whether you would be able to e-mail the owners though off a shared subscription account.

If you contact the Fletcher family you could ask about comparing  DNA as that might confirm whether or not you are related.

The Donaghmore baptism records are probably a way of piecing the various families together (assuming they all attended the same church which is not guaranteed). If you are unable to go to PRONI yourself, you could employ a researcher. Researchers in the PRONI area: http://sgni.net

For a good description of life in the area in the 1830s, you could read the Ordnance Survey memoirs. These were compiled on the instructions of the Duke of Wellington (then Prime Minister) primarily for taxation purposes. So a bit like the Domesday Book. They were compiled parish by parish, and describe the inhabitants, their occupations, pastimes, habits, they analyse the various different denominations by number, and report on health, schooling, seasonal migration patterns as well as permanent migration. And so on. A typical parish contains about 20 to 30 pages of information and some drawings. They are well worth reading if you want to get a feel for life there at that time. (It’s probably the most detailed contemporaneous summary that exists from that period).

There are copies on the bookshelves in PRONI’s main research room in Belfast. You can order a copy from the Ulster Historical Foundation. If you e-mail them with details of the parish(es) you are interested in, they’ll send you the relevant volume(s). Generally there are 3 or 4 adjacent parishes in each volume. I think they are between £5 and £10 per volume depending whether it’s old stock or newer reprints. Shinn & Castle Enigan are in Newry parish.

https://www.booksireland.org.uk

Elwyn

Dawn
I have been reading thru this and Alexander and Rebecca are my Great grandfather and Great grandmother. My grandfather George was born in England at Wooley Bridge he came to the US in 1911. He is one child of 10. If you have anymore information I really would like to know.

Earl08, 

I am sorry that I missed your response until now.  I have not done any additional digging yet.  I am reviewing the information that Elwyn so generously shared and hope to start tackling some more very soon.  It would be really neat if I could confirm the connection from our Rainey's to Alexander Rainey.  It would make sense that there is some relation being that they resided in such close proximity.  It spurs so many questions... I am guessing that you do not have much or any information about your Great grandfather Alexander and great grand mother Rebecca.  If you do I suppose I would be interested to know if Alexander had siblings and if we knew who his parents were (I believe Elwyn said his father was Joseph).  Can we trace out if Joseph had any siblings and if that would help complete the link to my family tree.  Where in the US did your grandfather move to?  Do you know any other information about your grandfather, stories about his time in England and the reason for the move to the US?  I have lots more information I can share with you from our branch if we can find the link and it becomes relevant.  

Excited to see what we can find!

Dawn