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If this is the same parish. I am looking for details about James Hall/Ann Reily. According to the Scottish records - Ann was born in 1821 and died in Scotland in 1891. She came from Kill in Cavan - her father was Philip Reilly, a crofter.

According to details of the family history written by her granddaughter in the 1950s - she and her husband James Hall came to Scotland in a small boat around the early 1840s. They settled in the Linlithgow area and she was a farm labourer. Her granddaughter described James Hall as an "English soldier". We have come across a record for Clements Estate 1820 - for Kilsherdeny - which has both Philip Reilly and James Hall listed as tenants. Hall in Barragh/Reilly in Kilicreenay - relatively close together. The owner of the land is a Colonel John Henry Clement - so it is possible if Hall was a soldier he had some connection to him. However, we are trying to find out if James Hall was a real English soldier or considered English because he was of the Anglican religion. The Halls appear to be a mixed family religiously. They did adopt the East coast of Scotland practice of having the daughters follow their mother's religion and the sons the father's - James Hall's son seems to have been brought up protestant and his sister catholic. We haven't been able to find any records of their marriage or their children's baptisms in either the catholic or church of Scotland records in Scotland - and their children sometimes appear in the records as being born in Scotland and sometimes in Ireland. It was common practice for irish agricultural labourers working in that part of Scotland before the famine to go back and forward - so it is possible they did that before settling in Scotland. I would be interested in finding out anything about the Halls in Kill, Col Clement, Ann and her parents - and whether there is a marriage record for them in Ireland.

CMelvin

Thursday 18th Dec 2014, 10:04AM

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  • There is a townland in Cavan called simply Kill. It?s in the parish of Crosserlough. There are several Reilly families listed there in Griffiths Valuation in 1857. And in the tithe applotment records for the townland in 1828 there?s a Phillip Rielly listed, farming 8 acres along with a widow of Peter(?). Looks to be mother and son. So suspect this might be where Ann came from.

    http://titheapplotmentbooks.nationalarchives.ie/search/tab/home.jsp

    The 1821 census for Kill has survived. Here?s that family listed:

    http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/pages/1821/Cavan/Crosserlough/Kill_Church/2/

    To be listed in the tithes in 1828, I assume that the Phillip listed in the 1821 census must have taken over the farm. Normally the farm went to the eldest son who was Peter, but he may have died or left. Phillip presumably must have married soon after 1821 and be the father of Ann born c 1821. That would then just about fit with her marrying in the mid 1840s and moving to Scotland soon after.

    Regarding the description of James Hall as an English soldier, that could mean he was from England and settled there on leaving the army. That happened regularly enough. Or it could mean he was local and just joined the English (ie British) army. No easy way of determining. There?s 12 people named James Hall in the 1821 census of Cavan. Statistically he?s probably more likely to be local than an incomer. (Hall seems a pretty common surname in Cavan with 169 of them in the 1901 census. Probably originally English settlers in the plantation period of the 1600s).

    Tradition was to marry in the bride?s parish. Though the Reilly family were evidently RC, a mixed marriage may have led to them marrying in the Church of Ireland. Crosserlough Church of Ireland marriages and baptisms start in 1801. The RC records for the same parish start in 1843. The RC records are on-line on the rootsireland site (subscription). The Church of Ireland records are not on-line. However there is a copy on microfilm in PRONI (the public record office) in Belfast. A personal visit is normally required to access them.

     

    Elwyn

    Ahoghill Antrim

    Thursday 18th Dec 2014, 04:05PM

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