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I'm researching all WHITCRAFT / WHITCROFT families to Upper Canada (Ontario, Canada 1791-1842) and specifically familes that settled in Malahide Township, Elgin County, Ontario and Lambton County Ontario. These families may be descendants of Thomas WHITCRAFT and Margaret COWAN and may include possible children, John, James, Henry, George and Margaret WHITCRAFT. It is believed that Henry WHITCRAFT's had a son William WHITCRAFT, born 11 July 1800 who migrated to Lambton County, Ontario where he married Johanna SAUNDERS, at Warwick Township, Lambton Co., Ontario on 8 Nov 1835. William died at Lambton Co., 27 Mar 1885.

I'm particular interested in determining the parents of my Margaret WHITCRAFT who was born at Monaghan about 1786, married my Humphrey JOHNSON / JOHNSTON of Monaghan about 1806 (no marriage record found yet) and had a son, born in Monaghan, Joseph, born 24 May 1808 beffore migrating to New York where children Elizabeth and William born and then on to Canada finally settling in Malahide Township, Elgin Co., Ontario in 1817

Thankyou for any help in locating primary source records for these families in Monaghan records.

Bruce C. Johnson Jr.

Gibraltar, Michigan

Wednesday 5th Oct 2016, 01:05PM

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  • Dear Bruce

    Welcome to Ireland Reaching Out and apologies for the delay in getting back to you.

    As you probably know, there will be no Civil birth or marriage records for any of the family before 1864 (or 1845 for non Roman Catholic marriages). As a result, you will be dependent on parish records and these too start at different times in different parishes. 

    I couldn't locate a baptism record for Margaret but this is not entirely surprising given the early date of the search. Neither could I locate a marriage record for the couple. It might be a good idea to keep an eye on the Early Birth and Marriage Index as it is regularly updated. If your ancestor does not appear today, they may at some point in the future. You may also be interested in looking at the Clogher Journal, published by Clogher Heritage Society as it often makes reference to early and lesser known sources. 

    Best wishes

    Clare Doyle

    Genealogy Support 

    Clare Doyle

    Wednesday 19th Oct 2016, 11:41AM

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