Mary Ann Cuming of Baltimore MD

There aren’t many records in Ireland for the 1700s.  Mary Ann was born long before the start of birth registration in Ireland (1864) and so you would need to rely on church records to trace her. You haven’t said what denomination she was but in view of the era (ie 1700s) and the Scottish surname, I’d guess she was either Presbyterian or Church of Ireland. (Not many native Irish were emigrating in the 1700s, it was mostly of Scottish, Welsh & English descendants of Plantation settlers then). There are 3 Presbyterian churches in the Keady area but unfortunately none has any records for the 1700s. However the Church of Ireland does have baptism records from 1780 onwards. So if that was her church, you might just scrape in. I don’t know if the records are on-line. Probably not, but there is a copy on microfilm in PRONI (the public record office) in Belfast. If you can get someone to go there they can search them easily enough.

I checked the tithe applotment records for Keady in 1825. There were no Cuming families listed. That doesn’t mean there were none living there, just none farming in the area. (Only folk with land paid tithes). But the name wasn’t that common so that may help narrow the search.

http://www.irishgenealogyhub.com/armagh/tithe-applotments/keady-parish.php#.WWqCpRR9eg0

I looked at the 1901 census for Co. Armagh. There were 139 people named Cumming/Cummings/Cummin in the county. 55 Presbyterian, 61 Church of Ireland and the remainder a mix of other denominations. Just 10 RC, so not a native Irish surname. Mary Ann’s family probably came from Scotland in the 1600s.

I found these references in the PRONI e-catalogue, indicating there were Cuming families in the area in the 1700s. The documents are not on-line and so you either need to pay PRONI to copy them or get a researcher to go in and do the same:

D889/1/365 dated 1860, Conveyance, by Benjamin Woods, of New York, U.S.A., and of Ballinasloe, Co. Galway, to Robert Riddal and William Barker, both of Armagh, (trustees on behalf of Ed. Rogers and his wife Charlotte), of tenement in Keady, 21 acres, one rood and 37 perches, of Drumberg, at Crossmore, Co. Armagh. Consideration £320.

Recites lease of 4/2/1793, between Earl of Farnham and Geo. Cuming. Will of Geo. Cuming, dated 14/7/1830. Lease between Barry and Chas. Fox and Lucinda Cuming, dated 25/4/1857.

D889/2/57 dated 1860:

Copy Will and Probate of Miss Lucinda Cuming, Keady, Co. Armagh relating to lands and tenement in Keady?

D889/1/256 dated 1838:

Renewal Lease for 19 yrs, by Barry and Charles Fox of Roscoe, King's Co., and Dublin, to James Cuming, of Armagh, of tenement in Keady, Co. Armagh. 10 acres and 12 perches Crossdened 6 acres, three roods and 13 perches Drumderge 4 acres, two roods and 12 perches Crossmore 1 acre, two roods and 30 perches, worn out bog in Crossmore.

Covenants: At all seasonable times to have full liberty to cut, spread, and carry away turf from Crossdened Bog, sufficient for firing two houses. No turf to be cut until land was drained and levelled.

Recites lease of 1/4/1813, between Earl of Farnham and James Cuming.

£1.14.1 added, as part of £292, added by the College of Provosts.

D313/28 dated 1804:

Assignment of lease of 34a. 8p. Consideration £240. George Cuming Keady, Co. Armagh, and Thomas McKinstry, Keady, Co. Armagh. Cammagh, Co. Armagh.

D266/441 dated 1854

Draft renewal of lease for 19 years from 1 Nov. 1836, of 13 acre, 1 perch. [?] (Former lease, Samuel Cuming, Keady, to Patrick Hughes), Rent: - between Lee McKinstry, Armagh, and Edward Hughs, Camagh, Co. Armagh, for land at Camagh, Co. Armagh. (See D266/242).

D2567/1 dated 1790:

George Cuming, Keady, Co. Armagh. Map and reference table to part of the Townland of Commagh (SIC) Co. Armagh, part of Lord Farnhams Estate belonging to the said party. Scale 20 Perches to an Inch. Surveyed by James O'Callaghan. (Section of map missing). Commagh (SIC) in the parish of Derrynoose, Co. Armagh Plant. meas. 36A. 2R. 10P.

Hi Elwyn, thank you for the research that you have done. I would imagine Mary Ann was Protestant. I see the recurring name of George, of which I will look into further, and see what I can find. I also see the recurring name of Drumberg and Crossmore, so more possible opportunities.  In the details that the New England Historical and Genealogical Society were able to provide to me, they found a marriage entry in the records of the First Methodist Episcopalian Church in 1809. To me, be it Methodist, Episcopalian, Protestant, Church of Ireland, they are not Roman Catholic. So that answers that issue. 

I will have a look at the records of PRONI and see what I can find. 

I have been researching the Edes family for some 40 years, but to find details of Mary Ann's origins was something extra special.

Living in Sydney, Australia presents its own problems of the 'tyranny of distance' considering that I am researching my family and their past in the United States and their origins in England and Ireland. My wife's family have their origins in Co. Down, also Protestant, their origins from Ayrshire in Scotland, and also in Moffat, Dumfries, more recently to travel to New Zealand.

Once again, many thanks for your research info

Ben