Kane (possibly Antrim?)

What denomination were the Kane family? Plus what was Archibald's occupation (as per the Scottish death certificate)?

Hello Elwyn

Thank you so much for replying to me. 

Peter Kane's was listed as a Labourer.  He was in Campbeltown but died in Glasgow. 

His mother Janet died in 1855 her birthplace was listed Antrim and that she had been in the area for 12 years, she was a widow when she died  - I am unsure whether her husband died in Ireland/Scotland.  Her death certificate lists other children so perhaps they left Ireland as a family?

Her parents are listed as Michael and Mary Laverty (nee Sinclair).

I unsure of the family's demonination - Peter was was married in the Free Church of Scotland, but perhaps this was due to his wife's religion. 

I have found an Archy Kane in the 1931 Census records of Derry, but cannot find anything at all relating to a marriage of Archibald Kane marrying Janet in Antrim, or Sinclair etc.  Perhaps I am looking in the wrong spot!  

Any advice is greatly appreciated!

Warmest regards, Louise

Louise.

It was Archibald's occupation I was after, to look for possible deaths in Ireland. However if he died before 1855 then there won't be a statutory death certificate as they hadn't started in Ireland then.

Marriage registration started in Ireland in 1845 (1864 for RC marriages) and birth & death started in 1864. Prior to that we have to rely on church records, where they still exist. And many of those early records are not on-line, especially for Protestant denominations. Clearly Archibald and Janet married and had children long before the start of any of those statutory records. Where church records do exist, they are mostly held in PRONI (the public record office) in Belfast. Personal visit required to view them.

Kane is one of those surnames which can be various denominations. Plenty of RC but plenty of Presbyterians and Church of Ireland (Anglican) too.

Going by the 1901 census, Sinclair, in Co Antrim, is mainly Presbyterian and Church of Ireland but with some RC too. Laverty is similar but with perhaps a greater proportion of RC.

Did Peter and his wife have any daughters? If so, what denomination did they marry in? That may indicate his own denomination (and therefore the relevant denomination to search in Ireland). Not all churches have baptism and marriage records for the early 1800s and so there is a possibility that there are simply no records to find.

You have searched the 1831 census for Co Derry. It's more or less the only bit of the 1831 Irish census to have survived. It had been removed from the Public Record Office in Dublin, for some reason, when the building was burned in 1922 during the civil war, and the rest of that census largely lost. So there's no 1831 census of Antrim to search for this family.

Did the family ever claim under the Poor Law in Glasgow, do you know? If they did the Poor Law records are in the Mitchell Library and usually record the applicant's parish of origin in Ireland (with a view to possibly returning them there). The Mitchell will search those records for you, for a small fee.

You are lucky to have an 1855 Scottish death certificate. That year only, the records contained a lot more information than in later years.

If Archibald was a labourer, same as his son Peter, and died in Ireland then he is unlikely to have a gravestone. Few labourers could afford one. Only the Church of Ireland kept burial records. Most other denominations did not bother. So a death in Ireland pre 1855 may be hard to trace. And of course death registration only started in Scotland in 1855, and so tracing a pre 1855 death there may be challenging too. Scottish church burial records are very patchy, to say the least.

Moving to Campbeltown is a hint that the Kane family may originate in the north east corner of Co Antrim. It's right opposite the Kintyre peninsula. Just 11 miles at the closest point. Folk from the Glens of Antrim went across to Campbeltown and the Kintyre peninsula all the time for work and fairs, and many settled there. Going right back to the 1600s and earlier, many of the families in that part of Antrim originated in Kintyre, and moved to Ireland either for reasons of persecution eg the McAllisters who were pursued by the Campbells, or for economic reasons. So there was always a huge amount of going to and fro. There used to be a regular passenger ferry from Cushendun to Southend on Kintyre, and that's how they mostly got there.  (You can still do it today in the summer months, but from Ballycastle to Campbeltown now).

Hi Elwyn

Thank you for this information and taking the time to write.

I will keep searching and see what I find, I do feel lucky to have found the death record of 1855 so I at least have a few names to search.  I am unsure of whether they did claim under the poor law, but I will also have a look at that avenue. 

I remembered my late mum once mentioned linen and the Irish family had something to do with this, but she had Irish ancestory on both her maternal and paternal side, so I am unsure if it was the Kanes (hoping it wasn't the other side as that name was Smith!) 

I am very fascinated with the travel between Kintyre and Cushendun, thank you for sharing this!  I think the family left around 1842, do you think this could be famine related or is it a few years too early? 

Thanks again for your advice, you have given me a lot to go on.  I visited Northern Ireland before knowing I had ancestors from the area, and felt very at home there!

Warmest regards Louise

Louise,

Do I think they left because of the famine? There were partial famines all through the 1800s (and Scotland and England suffered them too). The big famine was after they left. They will have left for economic reasons ie to get work. All the famine did was speed up folks departure. They were going to leave anyway. Scotland offered many more employment opportunities. Campbeltown in the mid 1800s had umpteen whisky distilleries, coal mines and other industry that mostly wasn't available in Ireland (even though it was only 15 miles away). 

As far as linen was concerned, almost every labourer in the north of Ireland in the 1800s wove (not always linen. Cotton, wool, and calico were also woven). They made it at home on hand loom weaving machinery in the way that Harris Tweed is still made in the Outer Hebrides today. Portable machines that could be dismantled when not needed or when moving house. It provided a bit of extra income for weavers which meant that their standard of living was a bit better than the average labourer across the rest of Ireland (most Irish linen came from Ulster) so they were a bit more protected form the effects of the famine, since they weren’t only dependant on potatoes. It also gave them a little cash in a society that was otherwise mostly based on barter. The impact of the famine on Co Antrim was much less than elsewhere in Ireland due to a variety of factors one of which was income from weaving.

History here of transport to Campbeltown, from the Glens of Antrim website, written in 2005.

https://antrimhistory.net/ferry-me-across-the-water/

Happy to answer any other questions you may have.