John STEVENSON and Martha ANDERSON

Hi,

Thank you very much for your message.

Civil registration became mandatory in Ireland in 1864,so you may be able to find records relating to births, marriages and deaths in the family in these records. 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

Also, have you tried checking the 1901 and 1911 census records to see if there were any family still in the area at the time? You can do this here: http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/search/

Some other websites that may be helpful are:

The National Archives of Ireland http://www.nationalarchives.ie/genealogy1/genealogy-records/introduction/

The National Library of Ireland http://www.nli.ie/en/family-history-introduction.aspx

The National Archives UK ? genealogy search: http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/records/looking-for-person/

The Public Records Office of Northern Ireland http://www.proni.gov.uk/index/family_history.htm

Genealogy links: http://www.genealogylinks.net/uk/ireland/tyrone/index.html

You may also want to contact the Irish World Heritage Centre in Tyrone for possible assistance, however a fee may apply. Here is their email: info@irish-world.com

I would also recommend that you place this message on the specific civil parish message boards in the hope that volunteers in the area will see it and be able to offer you assistance. A useful website when it comes Irish place names is http://www.logainm.ie/

Kind regards,

Genealogy Support

My Great, great Grandmother is a bit of a mystery woman. Her name was either Matilda Stevenson or Steinson and she is believed to be the daughter of a wealthy farmer (possibly on a pig farm).  The Canadian census says she was born around 1828 but don't know where.  Canadian census in 1881 and 1891 list her birthplace as Ireland.

She eloped with a farm hand named Patrick Connolly and was chased by her father and brothers but escaped by hiding in a pig stye and floating down a river under an upturned boat. They eventually settled on Prince Edward Island Canada and lived on Lot 39 in the village of Morell Rear and had a large family.  She died between 1891 and 1901 - Patrick lived until after 1901.

Very hard to research.  Patrick probably came from County Monaghan - but no goods records of him there.

Matilda Stevenson who lived on Lot 39 in the village of Morell Rear was also my Great, great Grandmother, Michael.  Would love to share notes and info with you!