Margaret Manley and William Porter

Manley is not a common name in the Belfast area. There are none in the 1831 or 1843 street directory:

http://www.lennonwylie.co.uk/alphanames1843L2Mc.htm

http://streetdirectories.proni.gov.uk/app/WebObjects/ProniShop.woa/wo/12.0.7.1.3.1?keywords=Manley&0.7.1.3.1.3=Submit&directory=2&matchType=0.7.1.3.1.19

There was a Captain Manly living in Belfast in 1824. See:

http://www.failteromhat.com/pigot/0083.pdf

 (He was probably army. Captain is a rank in the navy, but otherwise ships captains are referred to as Masters rather than as Captain).

The Catholic population of Belfast in 1816 wasn’t very big. I don’t have exact figures for that year but in 1782 there were just 365 Catholics. The town was established by Scots and in 1782 was still 98% Scottish in population (and Presbyterian in religion) and there were only a tiny number of native Irish living there. That started to change with the arrival of ship building and related industries around 1800 onwards, when people started to pour in from the countryside, but by 1816 there still wouldn’t have been a very large RC population.  St Mary’s was the first RC church in Belfast and was opened in 1784. See:

http://stmarysbelfast.org/history/

Only a very small number of Manley households in Belfast in the 1901 census (less than 6). How sure are you that Margaret was from Belfast? Might they just have embarked from that port?

If the family definitely did live in Belfast it might be worth checking out Captain Manly as he would appear to be the only person of that name and of comparative wealth and social standing in the city around that time. Fmp and Ancestry have British military records. They are a bit sparse for the early 1800s but records on officers tend to be a bit better.

Thank you so much for this valuable information.  It's the most I've had since I started my research! I will check them all out.
I have notes from one of her granddaughters (my great-grand aunt) that tells their story.

One thing I did find was a pedigree for Manley - of course since I don't know her father I can't make any link... yet! 

http://www.archive.org/stream/genealogicalhera00burkuoft#page/450/mode/2up

Thank you for the time you took to help me!

Dianne

Dianne,

The pedigree mentions Captain Henry Manley of the 63rd Light Infantry, who lived in Sidmouth, Devon, also Lakefield, Belmont, Co Down and Silverstream House, Co Antrim. So he’s obviously the same person I found in the Belfast street directory.  The family are evidently from the West country (ie Devon & Cornwall), and that probably accounts for the name’s comparative rarity in Ireland. But they would also fit your description of being well to do. I’d be surprised if they were RC though. The Christian names suggest they’d be Church of Ireland (ie Anglican).

Here’s a probate abstract, from the PRONI wills site, for what must be a later generation of that same family:

Probate of the Will of Annabella Manley late of White-house County Antrim Married Woman who died 15 August 1907 granted at Belfast to Henry Cunningham Manley M.D.

Here’s Henry in 1911:

http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/pages/1911/Antrim/Whitehouse/Whitehouse/191094/

(They were Church of Ireland, not RC, in 1911 anyway).

On the census she stated she was RC and my great grand aunt told us she was RC. 
There are quite a few Manleys at Proni wills!! 

Yes there are a few wills there. Several are obviously from this same Captain Manley family though.

I searched the on-line RC baptisms for Belfast (on Ancestry) and can only find a single Manley RC baptism from the start of the records in 1798 through to 1880. That was a Catherine Manley bapt 20.3.1871 in St Peters. Not every RC church in Belfast has records for 1816 (St Mary’s are lost), but the point is it’s clearly not a common Catholic name in the Belfast area. Not sure where we go from here to find your family.

Thank you.  I will keep on searching!  You hae ben a big help.

Hi, 

My grandfather's surname is Manley. James Manley born 1924. Originally from the Newcastle County Down area. His family spent some years in Belfast in the 40-70's. My family are also RC so I would say that there is a possibility that they would be related? It has always been said in our family that the surname Manley comes from Cork, Ireland or possibly originated in Wales. I can have a look through our family tree if you could assist me with some names?

Thanks  

I only know Margaret Manley.  But I can give you some children's names as usually they are passed down.

Margaret and William Porter had the following children:

John, Mary, Margaret (mother), Thomas, William (father), James, George Grear (I've never seen that name anywhere else!!), Edward, Eliza and Alexander.

Do yo have any of these names in your family?  Of course they were very common names at the time.

Thanks for your info, I will try to find out more.

Di