County Fermanagh

I have McVitty in my family tree and various spellings were Mavity, McVeety, McVittie, McVeaty so you have to cover all of these and any other you can think of. Without parents names you really are on an uphill struggle. There were McVitties for certain in Drumkeen in Rossorry Parish and I know these C of I records do exist for this time period.

You could start by searching Griffiths for McVittie etc - the search engine is precise so you will need to do separate searches for each spelling. Look for familiar names. If Ann Jane followed the traditional naming pattern, then second son should be named after her father.

http://www.askaboutireland.ie/griffith-valuation/index.xml

Bob Graham (County Fermanagh XO)

Thank you for your reply Bob, really appreciated, I will do as you suggest re Griffiths Index.

As for naming pattern I can not be sure as her second son was named William as was her husband, so who was this child named after???

Names of her children in order of birth:

Theophilus, William, Alfred Ernest, Robert, Anna-Marie, Albert James, Arthur James ( known as James), George Charles Thompson McVity, and Euphemia.

Once again thank you,

Mallee

Traditional naming pattern.

First son after husband's father

Second after wife's father

Third after husband

Fourth after husband's eldest brother

After that seems to be husband's and wife's brothers.

HOWEVER, you do need to know all the children born - not just those that survived. Also a problem is the Irish practice of re-using children's name when one dies young. In my own family one couple had 3 sons named Robert. First died about 13 years, second 6 months and third made it to adulthood.

Also there is the problem with duplicate names. If husband and wife have fathers of same name, what happens to second child? If husband has same name as father what name does the third child get?

The naming pattern does work in some cases but not all.

Bob