French & McDermotts (Mayo, Down) Family Search

A Thomas McDermaid and Ellen Trench married in 1851 in England. Could these be your ancestors?

Also, if you look at census records, some of them indicate that some of the children were born in England, not Ireland.

Schyler,

How confident are you that one was from Down and the other from Mayo, and then married in Ireland? In the mid 19th century, it would be very uncommon for people from those two counties to meet and marry in Ireland given their distance apart. If they emigrated and married in another country, then two counties could make sense. So, the record Patricia suggested might work. Also, there are numerous Ancestry trees for this couple and their children, but Ellen is Trench, not French. 

Regards,

Just to add to the clues already posted - a search of the England/Wales BMD  Indexes on FMP and GRO found the following possible children to the couple already mentioned - all in the same registration district as the marriage,  i.e. Shrewsbury in Shropshire, and although in a different order, matching the list of children's names mentioned as possible Irish born :

Year / quarter   name  surnames[s]  mother's surname / Volume & Page

1851/3    Thomas    McDermont/McDermout/mms Trench    18/191
        

1853/4    Mary    McDarmont/McDarmont/mms Trench   6A/534
           

1857/1    Ellen    McDarmont/mms Trench  6A/615

1859/3    James    McDarmont/mms French  6A/601    

The couple should probably appear on the 1851 England census, and if the emigration date is accurate also the 1861, so far I've been unable to find good matches on either...

This is very speculative, but at the Family Search site there are records for a French/Trench family in Mayo, several mentioning the townland of Ballindine.  The surname is sometimes given as French and sometimes as Trench, which might be due to the peculiar way that the capital letter "F" was written back then, possibly being confused with a capital "T".  There are two Ellen's shown as being born there in 1835-1836, but not with the parents names you have.  The surname Trench does exist in Ireland, being a Huguenot name brought in after the Reformation, but it's apparently very rare.  However, it appears to be more common in Galway than elsewhere, and Ballindine is very close to the border with Galway.  The French surname is more numerous, and is found in both Galway and Mayo.  It's a Norman-Irish name, first found in Wexford but later on principally in Connacht, and the French's became one of the more prominent of the "Tribes of Galway".

As it happens, the name McDermott originated in what is now Mayo, so there's a chance that Thomas and Ellen knew one another in Mayo, if your info about him being from Down is not correct.

There are actually four adjoining townlands in Mayo with Ballindine in their name:  Ballindine North, South, East, and West, all in the Catholic parish of Kilcolman (Claremorris).  If you want to check the parish register, the baptismal records for the Catholic parish of Kilcolman go back to just about the right time (1835), and they're available online at this link:

https://registers.nli.ie/parishes/1056

Unfortunately, the older pages in the register are very faint, so it takes patience to read them (I know, because I have a great-grandmother born in that parish about that time, and have struggled through them myself).  Keep in mind that people in rural Ireland back then often had only a vague idea as to exactly when they were born (often not even being sure of the year), so the dates you have should be used with caution.

You can see more info about the townland at this link, which is for Ballindine North (you'll see links there to move on to the other three townlands):

https://www.townlands.ie/mayo/clanmorris/crossboyne/ballindine/ballindi…

Thank you so much to everyone who has commented and left details and information. This is so kind and helpful. 

I agree that the idea of someone moving from County Mayo to Down in that time period would have been unlikely. These letters are the only information our family has but it entirely possible that they're not entirely accurate. My great-great aunt wrote them based on family stories told to her so room for err, for sure. 

I'm going to look into the possible English connection as well as some alternative spellings as suggested. 

Thank you again!