James Neill labourer and daughter Isabella Neill born approx. 1833 Armagh

Angela,

I assume this is your family in the 1901 census:

http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/pages/1901/Antrim/Court_Ward/Malvern_Street/965571/

If so, it shows that the Craig family was Church of Ireland (ie Anglican).

Belfast in the 1800s went through a major economic boom with over 50 linen mills opening. It was nick-named Linenopolis as a result. The mills employed lots of women (being cheaper and nimbler than men) and as a result hundreds of thousands of women poured into the city, attracted there by the opportunity to get a wage (as opposed to a few coppers for working on a farm or about the house). It was something of a social revolution for women to be able to do this. The new factories were also much more efficient and produced better quality linen than home weaving did, so home weaving (which labourers did in their downtime) was in decline.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linenopolis

So that is the likely reason for Isabella’s move from Armagh to Belfast.

The usual reason for marrying in a Register Office was a mixed marriage (ie RC – Protestant). Two Protestants marrying wouldn’t normally go for a Register Office even if of different denominations. Normal practice was to marry in the bride's church after which she’d attend her husbands. There were other reasons for marrying in a Register Office. Folk of a denomination without someone with religious qualifications to perform the ceremony had to use a Register Office. An example would be Brethren (sometimes called Plymouth Brethren). And of course, just as is the case today, there were atheists and agnostics in the 1800s who did not wish to marry in a church.  Cost is unlikely to have been a factor. Neither the Church nor the Register Office charged very much. You say you don’t know much about banns. In general, if you are getting married, you have to give public notice (so that folk can object if they know of a valid obstacle). This can be done by reading out the intention to marry 3 times in the couples’ church(es). That’s reading the banns. Or in the case of a Register Office, they post the details on a public notice board outside the office for a specified period before the ceremony.  You can also get married by licence, and Presbyterians or folk in a hurry tend to prefer that route. A licence is usually slightly more expensive than banns. If Thomas and Isabella were both from Protestant backgrounds, then it’s possible that neither was a church goer. That might be the explanation for marrying in a Register Office.

To trace Isabella’s birth, ideally you would need to know her precise denomination at birth and which parish she lived in. Not all the records from c 1835 have survived and of those that do exist, not all are on-line. The most complete collection is in PRONI in Belfast but there would be quite a lot of records to go through, for Co Armagh if you don’t know where she lived. It could be done though. Researchers in the PRONI area: http://sgni.net

Photo and article about Ewart’s Mill here:

https://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/northern-ireland/fears-over-pro…

Thankyou for your help Elwyn,

I was thinking I would trace back to church goers, but it seems they may not have been that. My grandmother Craig was married also in a registry office after WW2 - I think the cost also includes the clothing expenses and possibly a suit worn at the registry may be more versatile later than a dress for a church wedding.

Isabella Neill my gggrandmother, did not have an occupation stated on her marriage certificate. Is it possible she could have still been working (ie., even at Ewart’s Mill for example) and that maybe the women’s occupation is not typically listed in 1855?

It was her husband Thomas Craig that lived at Ewart’s Mill and whose occupation was brass ..... (second word ineligible). Later in life, his occupation was listed as plumber and gas fitter. I am guessing that that the machiery in the mill was powered by some sort of steam engine and brass pipes were involved. I am assuming the brass... occupation was related to plumbing. I have not been able to find a list of male occupations for mill work. 

I am not a descendent of the family in the census record you mentioned, however my father and I are matching quite well with descendants of this family through DNA. Isabella Craig (née Neill) is buried in the same grave as my great grand father Robert Craig, who seems to be her son. Robert Craig’s second marriage was to a millie whose family lived at Walton Street (many females in that family were working in a mill) - my great grandmother was a shinner yarner and then cotton winder. She then lived with her husband in the stone mill house of the old Carrs Glen mill in the green space leading to cave hill off Ballysillan Road Belfast. My grandmother grew up there. That mill had been abandoned, just the mill house was occupied by the Craigs. So there are two generations of men living actually at mills - Thomas Craig and Robert Craig. Further, my great grand father Robert Craig enlisted with the Royal Irish Fusiliers. I am making many assumptions here however, I am thinking that Robert Craig and Isabella Neill were both from Armagh area, given the link of Royal Irish Fusiliers with Armagh and possibly the Neills or Craig family were working in the linen mills there. I feel there could be some sort of generational connection to the mills.

Regards, Angela

Angela,

It was rare to see a woman’s occupation on a marriage certificate in Ireland in the mid 1800s. Occasionally you see “Lady” but mostly it’s left blank. I am sure Isabella was working in Belfast. There probably wouldn’t really have been any other reason for going there. It just wasn’t common to note a woman’s occupation on marriage certificates or other official records.  She was probably a mill worker, as some 100,000 women in Belfast were. But in a male dominated society their jobs were apparently beneath officialdom’s radar. (As you evidently know, the term “millie” entered the language from that mill work).

Most of the mills in Belfast (and elsewhere in Ulster) were water powered. Belfast sits below some hills. It rains a lot and so there was plenty of water to provide free power. The same water could be used downstream by several different mills in succession, so it was quite efficient.

http://belfasthills.org/history-culture/time-periods/present-day/mills/

The men in the mills often tended to be there for maintenance jobs, repairing the machinery etc, rather than for linen or cotton production, which was women’s work. I can’t suggest what the “brass..,” job was but it's possibly to do with the mill’s water supply (ie the mill race) or the internal machinery. If you can cut and post the occupation to this board, I’ll try to work out what it might be.

Hi Elwyn,

I have posted the marriage certificate. I have one ordered through groni as well.

I have also posted a picture of my grandmother Margaret Craig (Isabella's granddaughter) in Belfast prior to immigrating. I think it's outside the tobacco factory where she worked and the women are drinking soda. My grandmother may be sitting in possibly the drivers seat of a vehicle that was driven by my grandfather or someone she knew. In Belfast my grandfather had been a mechanic who worked for the Army RAEME during WW2. In Australia she bought her first car through her own salary without anyone accompanying her - it was red but wasn't a good buy.

Regards,

Angela

Angela,

I would say the occupation is “Brass Founder”. That’s someone who manufactures items in brass, using molten metal poured into moulds (often made from sand). It’s not an occupation I have heard of before in connection with a mill. You would expect a mill just to buy in any brass pipes and fittings they needed rather than make them from scratch, but perhaps I am wrong.

The ladies in the picture look as though they are enjoying themselves.

Thankyou very much Elwyn, I can see Brass Founder too now you suggested it.

I think the women in the photo ( which I believe is outside the tobacco factory) look very happy, healthy and resilient. I’d be doing well to reproduce that sort of work photo today! Angela