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My second great grandparents Thomas Gray and Ann Clarked  both died in Hamilton, Lanarkshire, Scotland but their son William's birth certificate 1855 shows them as having married in Kilmainham, county Cavan in 1841. I have not been able to find this marriage in any database I have searched.

The family were catholic and had ten children, three born in Ireland and 7 in Scotland (see below)

Thomas ( senior) was born about 1822 (I presume in Cavan, but Scots records simply say Ireland)

 he died 22nd Jan 1890 and his parents are listed as Dennis Gray and Rose Lamb.

Before I discovered the information about Thomas' marriage I suspected they might be from Cavan because Griffiths has only a handful of Dennis Grays and 3 were in Cavan. The most likely parish for a Dennis Gray seems to be Annagalliff.

The Tithe applotments 1826 has six entries for Dennises all in Anageliff, 5 in Lismullig. (This is a long way from Kilmainham)

the 1821 census has a Dennis born 1779 in Annagallif but his wife was Catherine not Rose.

Anne Clark(e) Gray was born about 1824 (again, I presume Cavan but Scots records merely say Ireland). she died in Hamilton in 1898 and her parents are listed as James Clark and Bridget Murray.

If I could find marriage details for either individual's parents that would help. There is a chance that some of them may have been servants, in which case finding a townland seems more complicated as they may have moved away from their original townlands when they married.

It is William Gray's birth certificate that provided information about a deceased girl child. If I could find a birth for her or for either of the boys born in Ireland, that migh help narrow things down.

Any help on what additional resources I might search or if anyone has a family with all these names, I would be grateful to know.

The family moved from ireland to Scotland between the birth of Thomas in Ireland and Patrick in Scotland, so probably around 1845-6. They were in Fife by the 1851 census.

The children

born Ireland 

Unknown girl poss  b1841, 1843 or 1845, deceased before 1851

Charles b 1842 d.Hamilton or Motherwell, Lanarkshire, Scotland 1911 married Mary Lamb born Ireland They died in Scotland but their children mostly went to Canada

Thomas b 1844 death unknown. Married to a Maggie Gray born Fifeshire, Scotland between 1845 and 1848

born Scotland

Patrick b 1847 Aravl or Abernethy, Perthshire, Scotland d. 1867 Auchterderran/lochgelly Fifeshire, Scotland

Annie (my great grandmother) b. 1849 Torryburn, Fife, Scotland d.1923 Hamilton, Lanarkshire married name Lynch (husband from Roscommon)

Mary b. 1851 d 1855 both Dunfermline, Scotland

James b. 1853 Carnock, Fife, Scotland d.

William b. 1855 Carnock, Fife, Scotland d.

Mary b. 1857 Carnock, fife, Scotland d. 1931 Hamilton, Lanarkshire Scotland married name Hart (husband from Donegal)

Rosina born and died 1859 Saline, Fife, Scotland

 

Beeps

Wednesday 23rd Mar 2022, 02:57PM

Message Board Replies

  • Hello and Welcome to Ireland Reaching Out

    Do you mind me asking have you done your DNA to try to narrow down the area in Ireland your great grandparents might have come from

    It is difficult to make out the writing on the attached form, but I will try to enhance it to view it better and will come back to you later

    Thanks

    Geraldine

     

    Geraldine Buckley-Smith, Ireland XO Volunteer

    Thursday 24th Mar 2022, 01:02PM
  • Geraldine, here's a trick I used and it worked. If you have a death date and a place of death (town city) you can look into the newspaper archives if available, and search for the death notice. At least in the USA the deceased person's Irish townland was often noted. I confirmed our Irish homeland as Mountpallas townland, Cavan via a 1865 death notice in NYC paper.Bill

    Bill

    Wednesday 3rd Aug 2022, 09:39PM

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