John Marnell, Born 1832-1836; Died in Lisburn, 1906 and his wife Mary Anne Marnell, Born 1847, Died in Lisburn, #4 Ava Road, 1918

Hi Alice!

Welcome back to Ireland Reaching Out!

Our Co. Antrim expert is away on Holidays. You may want to contact St. Patrick's church in Lisburn and ask about cemeteries where people were buried in the early part of the 20th century. 

http://parishoflisburn.org/about/

Roger McDonnell

Some countries record where a person is buried, usually on the death certificate. Unfortunately Ireland isn’t one of them and there’s no central record of where someone is buried. Indeed in many cases there’s no formal record at all.  However burial is traditionally 3 days after the date of death so as far as searching for death notices is concerned you should check the papers for the 2 or 3 days after the person died. You could try findmypast or the British Newspaper Archive. Those are subscription sites and I don't have  sub to either. However I can see a couple of references to John Marnell in the Lisburn Herald and Antrim & Down Advertiser of 26.11.1892, on the British Newspaper Archive site, on the sample information they give you. Also a mention in the Coleraine Chronicle for 18.2.1871 though the latter one seems to have been a case he was involved in. If you can’t find the relevant papers or years on-line, Belfast Central Library has back copies of most of the papers published in Ireland. A personal visit is required to view them though.

In Ireland obituaries are not as common as in countries like the US & Canada. It’s down to the newspaper editor and generally they only publish them if the person was famous or there was something notable about them. A death notice is often the only mention in the newspapers.

Most RC parishes don’t keep burial records but, as Roger has suggested, you could contact the parish office to ask what graveyards were in use in the Lisburn area in 1906 and 1918.

Try Lisburn & Castlereagh council to see what burial & gravestone records they hold. Here’s a list of the cemeteries they look after:

Lisburn New Cemetery, Blaris Road, Lisburn

Blaris Old Graveyard, Blaris Road, Lisburn

Aghalee Graveyard, Aghalee

Templecormac Graveyard

Maghaberry (Friends) Graveyard

Lisburn New Cemetery Extension, Blaris Road, Lisburn

Lisburn Cemetery, Hillsborough Road, Lisburn

Portmore Graveyard

Trummery Graveyard, Trummery, Moira

Contact details on this site:

https://www.lisburncastlereagh.gov.uk/resident/registration-of-births-deaths-marriages-and-civil-partnerships/cemeteries-administration

As a retired police officer John seems likely to have been in a financial position to afford a gravestone and so that increases the chances of locating the burial place.

Elwyn:  Thank you so much for the information.  I will check out the link that you provided.  Thanks again and have a good day.

Hi Alice,

Do you know where John MARNELL was born? The name MARNELL is not that common in Ireland and is concentrated around the borders of Kilkenny and Tipperary. I am interested in the MARNELLs. I am researching Catherine MARNELL abt 1818-1875 (and family) who married Philip FOGARTY in 1846 in Kilmanagh, Kilkenny. I believe that some related MARNELLs went to America.

Dale