Finley Porter, Anne Doherty Porter, James Porter & Sally (Isabell) Irvine Porter

The dates you have given for Sally Irvine don’t quite fit with her children. If she was born in 1805, she’s unlikely to have been the mother of William born 1817 (when she was 12) so some of the dates probably need to be approached with some caution.

Non RC marriages were registered in Ireland from 1845 onwards. I searched for Finley and Mary’s marriage but did not find it. I also searched for an RC marriage in case Mary Ann was RC (as seems possible) but did not find that either. However not all RC parishes in Donegal have marriage records for 1859 or thereabouts. So that could be an explanation.

You say that Mary Ann may have come from Ardmalin. That’s in Clonca RC parish. They have no baptisms earlier than 1856 and no marriages before 1870.  So that may explain why you can’t find the marriage. There may be no records to find.

Tradition was to marry in the bride’s church after which she’d attend her husband’s.  Malin Presbyterian church has marriage records from 1845 but the couple are not in those. They have baptisms from 1866.

Some information on Clonca here:

http://donegalgenealogy.com/cloncaproj.htm

Sally is a diminutive for Sarah, so if you find Sarah Irvine in any records in Ireland, she’ll likely be Sarah rather than Sally. (Unless she’s Isabell of course).

Nancy:

Welcome to Ireland Reaching Out!

Unfortunately, I have not located any information that would be helpful to you. I searched on Roots Ireland and there were no Finley Porter baptismal or marriage records for a Finley Porter for all of Ireland. If the couple married in 1859 and were non-RC then there marriage should have been civilly registered but no records located. I would assume they were married in America.

I also went on Find My Past which is a subscription site which has many records beyond birth, marriage and death e.g. court records, wills, etc and there were no records at all for a Finley Porter.

I also went on Roots and searched for a baptismal record for a Mary Doherty with father Thomas from 1830-1840 and did not find a record.

I also looked for James Porter on the Tithe listings from the late 1820s/early 1830s and there were eight records. See attached. Possibly your James is one of the eight.

http://titheapplotmentbooks.nationalarchives.ie/search/tab/results.jsp?…

Let me know if you have any questions.

Roger McDonnell

Thank you both!

My goodness, Elwyn, you are so right.  I looked back at my sources and found that one lists her birthdate "between 1779 and 1805."  The sibling (her children) dates are correct or nearly so, since they come from US census records and death records.

I will keep checking these sites and see if anything else comes up.  I have wondered if the marriage between Finley and Mary Anne might have been a mixed Catholic/protestant marriage that would not have been acceptable to society in that day.  If they eloped, I guess there would be no record.

I looked at the surname Doherty in Co Donegal in the 1901 census. There were 8059 of them. All but 205 were RC, which is why I reckon Mary Ann Doherty was probably RC. So it was probably a mixed marriage.  There were plenty of mixed marriages in those days. They often took place in the Church of Ireland which raises no difficulties to mixed marriages. Or, from 1845 onwards, they had the option of a Registry Office ceremony too. However in either circumstance the marriage should be in the statutory records. But it isn’t. So perhaps they married outside Ireland. (I did look to see if they married in Scotland - which is where a lot of Donegal folk headed - but there was no sign of the marriage there).

I looked for a death for Sally/Isabel Porter in 1894. No-one of either name died anywhere in Ireland in 1894. Nearest I can find in the Malin area was Sally Porter 1879 aged 85 and Sarah 1875 aged 93.  (Both deaths registered in Inishowen). No Isabel Porter deaths 1864 – 1901, anywhere in Ireland.

I did find a James Porter death in Inishowen in 1889 aged 80. Inishowen Vol 2, page 83. The death cert is not on-line so you would need to order a copy of it to see if it’s your family. You can order a photocopy of the civil certificate from GRO Roscommon for €4 (euros).  http://www.welfare.ie/en/Pages/Apply-for-Certificates.aspx

You have to download and print off the form. Then either post or fax it. You can’t e-mail your order to them. However if you want them to e-mail the cert to back to you, they will do that, so tick the relevant box.

This looks so promising, but when I click onthe link it showa 20E price, so I wonder if I am doing it tight.

20 euros is the price for a full certified copy (on posh paper). 4 euros is the price for a photocopy, or research copy. Print off the form and just send them 4 euros.