Wanting information on GGGGrandfather & GGGGrandmother Adam JOHNSTON b. c1805 of Killesher & Alice/Alise GORDON b c1808 of Edenmore, and any additional family they may have had. m c1833. 2 known daughters
1. Alice b c1831 m 1. William JOHNSTON s/o Hugh 1851 one child/son?
2. Richard BROOKING/BOOKING 1855 in Australia
2. Mary b c1833 m William Atkinson MERRIMAN in Australia 1857.
The 2 sisters travelled to Australia in 1854 on the "Appoline"
According to Alice's Australian wedding cert she was born in "the Tate Land(Drummoan?). Alice stayed in Australia with husband in the Gisbourne area of Victoria, where descendants are still today.
Mary ,husband & at least 4 daughters came to New Zealand to Christchurch c 1866. Mary's eldest daughter , Elizabeth Jane Hunter nee Merriman was my Greatgrand mother, whom I remember meeting as a small child..
So far I have found various records of an "Adam JOHNSTON " in Tatenamona, Croaghan, New Tateland and Edenmore, which places seem to be fairly close together also Florence Court.
What I dn't know
Where & when Adam Johnston was born, where married, & when died...occupation maybe farmer/farmhand?
Where Mary Gordon was born, where married & where died, & I have no parental information for her at all.
I also do not know if there were more children born to them who may have stayed in Ireland..
Some of the sites I have accessed over the years are
Rootsweb.com
Ulster Ancesrtry.com
Griffiths. & Tithe Applotments
Webroots.org
Failteromhat.com
Proni.gov.uk
& Ancestry Ireland.com
I would appreciate any help at all to fill in the above gaps, as I have not found it easy accessing information from far away in New Zealand.
Trevor Collings
Thursday 25th Apr 2013, 03:43AM
Message Board Replies
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Hi Trevor,
Thank you for your message.
With regards to Adam, it will be difficult to find information without knowing where he was born as most record sources for the time period are based on specific parishes.
Is it Alice Gordan that you are interested in finding information on as opposed to Mary? If Alice was from Edenmore, Killesher that is where you will have to look for records. You may be able to find her birth record. Also, weddings usually took place in the bride?s church so you may also be able to find her marriage record in these records.
Unfortunately, Catholic records for Killesher paish do not begin until 1855. http://www.irishtimes.com/ancestor/fuses/rcparishmaps/index.cfm?fuseaction=showidrecords&CityCounty=Fermanagh&parish=Killesher&churchid=839
Church of Ireland records do generally tend to have an earlier start date so if they belonged to this church you may be able to find a marriage or birth record for Alice. Most surviving Church of Ireland records are still held by the local clergy, although some are in the National Archives of Ireland and others are in the Representative Church Body Library in Dublin. Here are their websites: http://www.nationalarchives.ie/ and http://ireland.anglican.org/about/42
Lists of these surviving registers can also be found at the National Library of Ireland.
There are a couple of places where you can sometimes find Church records online:
www.familysearch.org has a huge database of genealogical records including some church records for Ireland.
www.rootsireland.ie have a large collection of Irish Church records, however you have to pay to use this site.
Civil registration began in Ireland in 1864, so you may have more look with civil records. Any birth, deaths or marriages that occurred in family after this date would be recorded here. Civil records are available from the General Register?s Office in Dublin. Here is their website:
http://www.groireland.ie/research.htm
You can search the indexes to these records online at:
https://familysearch.org/search/collection/1408347
Other than this you really seem to have covered most of the basics. Unfortunately, we do not have a volunteer set up in Killesher parish just yet, hopefully once we get someone organised they may be able to assist or advise you further.
Kind regards,
Genealogy Support
Tuesday 4th Jun 2013, 10:44AM