Second Marriage Inquiry

Hello again Jane!

I searched Roots Ireland for Thomas Campbell marriages in Co. Longford. Besides the July 4, 1824 first marriage for Thomas, there was an 1829 marriage for a Thomas Campbell to an Elizabeth Lennon but it was an RC marriage in Longford town which is not germane for your research. The next marriage on Roots was in 1846 too late for your purposes.

Roots Ireland only has records for eight C of I parishes in Longford including Killoe. They have records for a Methodist church in Longford town but the baptismal records do not start until 1849 and no marriage records are on Roots Ireland.

In almost all cases, the occupation of the witnesses is not shown and there is no info on relationship to the bride and groom.

Let us know if we can assist you further.

Roger McDonnell

Methodism took a lot longer to become established in Ireland as a separate denomination than in England. In Ireland there was considerable resistance to separating from the Church of Ireland. It was 1816 before Methodists agreed to conduct their own baptisms. However because of continuing loyalty and other factors, many continued to use the Church of Ireland for sacraments for many years after this date and it was 1871 before all Methodists routinely performed their own baptisms.

For marriages, the earliest ceremonies conducted by a Methodist Minister in Ireland that I am aware of, date from 1835 (Belfast Donegall Square). However in the mid 1800s there were only a few Methodist Ministers in Ireland (Methodism relied heavily on lay preachers). So the shortage of Ministers contributed to the continuing practice of marrying in the Church of Ireland.

So to summarise, you are unlikely to find any Methodist baptisms much before 1830. Few marriages before the 1840s and only a few for many years after that. If there are no Methodist records in the location you are interested in, I would search the Church of Ireland instead, as that’s the most likely place to find the relevant event.

Few Methodist Meeting Houses have graveyards and so most are buried in public or Church of Ireland graveyards (which are open to all denominations).

Edgehill Theological College in Belfast has a historian who should be able to advise you of any Methodist records in the Longford area, and where they are held.

http://www.edgehillcollege.org

To one and all including Roger and Elwyn,

Many thanks for all your time and efforts in searching for more info re: Thomas Campbell. I have some notes here indicating that the 'Catholic Qualification and Convert Rolls, 1701-1845' might tell us if he chose to convert to the Church of Ireland, also might the surviving Will Registers help us (PRONI holds the books covering counties of Northern Ireland), and would the Diocesan and Prerogative Marriage Licence Bonds Indexes, 1623-1866 provide info re: Thomas' second marriage.  I'm wondering if he may have been living in another county than Longford. Do we have any info re: the death of Thomas' first wife Elizabeth "Eliza" Jones Campbell, this might help us. Forgive me for asking more questions but it's the nature of the beast.

Again my thanks,

Jane Campbell

Jane:

Finding death data prior to 1864 is problematic because most churches did not retain the info.

Roger