Maud Steele

Stella,

There was no formal adoption law in Ireland until the 1920s. Prior to that adoptions were an informal matter resolved by the families involved, sometimes with assistance from the church. But there’s unlikely to be any paperwork relating to Maud’s adoption. If she didn’t provide a father’s name when she married that rather suggests she didn’t know, which in turn suggests the family kept his identity from her. That may make tracing her birth or baptism rather difficult.

She could have been taken in as a foundling or as an orphan from a family living nearby where the mother or parents had died, or she might be the illegitimate daughter of someone in the Steele family. No easy way of finding out, I fear.

There’s no Maud Steele birth registered anywhere in Ireland in the period 1892 – 1896. A birth in Tannaghmore would be registered in Ballymena. I searched all the births registered in Ballymena around 1894 for a Maud + no surname. There were about 17. None was near Tannaghmore, and none was illegitimate (which perhaps Maud was). So I suspect that if Maud’s birth was registered, then it was in a different name to that she used in later life.

You could try searching for her baptism in case that records any additional information. Do you know which of the Presbyterian churches in the Randalstown area the family attended? (There’s 3 in the town plus Craigmore and Grange, all of which are quite close to the Steele farm).

Tradition was to marry in the bride’s church, so if any Steele daughters married in Randalstown that should give you a clue as to the family church.