Margaret McGowan b 1860 Bangor

Where someone was married more than once, Scottish death certificates usually list all their spouses (assuming the informant can provide the information). Have you checked Peter’s 1877 death certificate for his first wife’s name?

If Margaret’s mother died in Ireland in 1861-1863 then the bad news is you won’t get a death certificate for her. They weren’t introduced in Ireland until 1864. And if RC, that denomination generally didn’t keep burial records.

The RC parish that includes Bangor is Newtownards and unfortunately they have no records at all prior to 1864. So if that’s where Peter/Patrick married his first wife, and it was an RC ceremony, there are no records to find.

You wondered if his first wife might have been of another denomination.  Non RC marriages were recorded in the statutory registers in Ireland from 1845 onwards. I searched them but did not find a Peter/Patrick marriage in that area at all.  So that points towards it being an RC marriage, or they married outside Ireland.

The delayed baptisms are odd. I have seen children baptised into the RC faith when the parents changed denomination but I haven’t seen that described as delayed. It suggests that for some reason the children just weren’t baptised at birth (which is very unusual in the RC faith but must happen occasionally).

The townland where you believe you have found the McGowan family in 1851 (Killinchy in the woods) is in the RC parish of Kilmore. They have baptisms from 1837 onwards but no marriages before 1864. So if Pat/Peter was born there c 1828, and was RC, you won’t find a record of it. Likewise if he married there.

I looked to see if I could find Bernard McGowan and family after 1851. They are not listed in Killinchy in the woods in Griffiths Valuation (1863), and I couldn’t see a death certificate for Bernard. Not sure where they went.

Summing up, I think your best hope of identifying his first wife is via the 1877 Scottish death certificate.

Hello Elwyn,  It seems like a lot of my family lines lived under the radar and they have been so hard to track. 

I didn't get the actual death certificate, I got his death info many years ago when I went thru all the birth, marriage and death records on microfilm.  I will see about getting the certificate today! Thank you for letting me know about them recording all the marriages.  I don't recall seeing that.

thanks for your help!

Joan

The death looks to be registered in Dalry, GROS Ref 587/74. Peter McGown, aged 54. You can view that certificate on the Scotlandspeople site for about £1.60. You will need to buy some credits.

Don’t know if you noticed but Peter’s 2nd wife Mary Hamilton May was also born in Ireland (going by the 1881 census).

Hi Elwyn

I do have the Scotlandspeople now on Peters Death  and it only has Mary Hamilton listed as (Married to Mary Hamilton), no other wife.

Yes Mary is my another challenge, born somewhere in Ireland.  Her father was James Hamilton and there are a million of them and mother was Ellen (Helen) Harrison b abt 1811.  Have no idea what county they came from in Ireland but have been looking for them for years.  She was on the 1871 Dalry Scotland census with son Patrick(Peter), Mary and family.  James was dead by 1863 when Mary married Peter McGowan.  Not sure if she was living in Scotland or just visiting. She didn't appear on the 1881 census and the family immigrated 1887.

thanks for your help

Joan FitzGibbon

My McNeilly ancestors from Killinchy intermarried with the McGowans.  

The earliest McGowan ancestor I found was Hugh McGown who leased land in Ballybunden, Co Down in 1779.  His daughter, Anna McGowan, was b abt 1800 in Ballybundon, and married my ancestor, Hamilton McNally/McNeilly 3 Aug 1816 in Killinchy.  Hamilton lived in Ballybunden 1818-1820, before moving by 1848 to NewtownArds in the Parish of Bangor, County Down, where he appears in Griffith's Valuation. My great-grandfather, Charles McNeilly was baptised in Killinchy Presbyterian Church 4 Nov 1820.  On a research trip to Belfast in 2012, I arranged a tour from Belfast to Newtownards to see where my grandmother was born, then south along the Irish Sea to Strangford, and then on to Killinchy.  I made an appointment to visit the church in Killinchy, and had the honor of seeing the inside of the church.  I have pictures!!!

Maybe we're distant cousins!!!!  :)

Jill_R

Hi Jill_R

maybe we are cousins!  I know McGowan is a fairly common name.  I will keep this info in mind while I continue to research.  I am going back thru all my records right now to see if I missed a clue since I have records going back 40 years!  

Joan

I also may be a distant cousin. George JAMISON b. ca. 1796 m. Rebecca MCGOWAN 1817 Presbyterian Church Dromara, Down. I believe that George had a first wife, Elizabeth KINNEAR who likely died after May 1813 to 1816/1817. George and Elizabeth had a daughter, Elizabeth Jamison b. ca. April/May 1810 and a son, George b. ca. April/May 1813 (both dates based on early May christening records from Dromore Cathedral). Elizabeth Jamison, the daughter, married Joseph MARTIN about 1830. She died near Dromore or Dromara, Down between 15 April 1834 (birth of last child) and 1 August 1836 when Joseph married Mary ADAIR in the 1st Presbyterian Church Dromara.

Since Rebecca was not a biological ancestor of mine, I've not done any research into her ancestry, but perhaps the other surnames will help.

I have a family member William Dinsmore (son of John Dinsmore and Mary Ellen Walters) married a Rose McGowan. They lived in Rostrevor, Co. Down.