English/McWilliams in Templecorran and Magherafelt 1800's

ChrisS,

Tradition was to marry in the bride’s church. William & Margaret married in Ballycarry Presbyterian church. Their records start in 1832. Margaret said she was full age when she married (ie 21 or over) so you might just get her baptism or that of any younger siblings in those records. There’s a copy in PRONI (the public record office) in Belfast.

This may be Margaret with her widowed mother in the 1851 census of Larne:

http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/pages/1851/Antrim/Upper_Glenarm/L…

This could be Margaret’s sister Jane marrying Hugh Beggs in November 1851:

https://civilrecords.irishgenealogy.ie/churchrecords/images/marriage_re…

Curiously that marriage was in Larne 1st Presbyterian, not the same church as her sister. So it’s possible it’s not the same family. You might need to check the church records to find out. Larne 1st Presbyterian has record for the following years (copy held in PRONI):

Baptisms, 1813 and 1824-1902; marriages, 1846-1902;

There’s a death for Jane McWilliam aged 75 in Larne in 1873. That might be the mother. You can view the original certificate on-line on the GRONI website, using the “search registrations” option:

https://geni.nidirect.gov.uk

You will need to open an account and buy some credits. It costs £2.50 (sterling) to a view a certificate.

If this is the correct McWilliam(s) family then Margaret’s father Hugh evidently died before 1851. Death registration only started in 1864 so there may be no record of his death. (Presbyterians in Ireland generally don’t keep burial records). I searched for a mention of him on the British Newspapers site but did not find a match.

This looks to be William English in the 1851 census. The layout is rather confusing but it’s a house of multiple occupation. Head appears to be Margaret aged 60, a widow with William 21, a tailor, John 18 & Samuel 22, both seamen.

http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/pages/1851/Antrim/Upper_Glenarm/L…

Possible death for Margaret English registered in Larne 1877 aged 88. The certificate can be viewed on the GRONI site (link given above).

Possible marriage for John English to Eliza Carson in 1859:

https://civilrecords.irishgenealogy.ie/churchrecords/images/marriage_re…

William & Margaret’s Scottish death certificates should contain both their parents names which should establish whether the 2 families in the 1851 census are the correct ones. William may have died in Johnstone in 1914 & Margaret there in 1887 but you probably already know that.

Your post mentions Magherafelt. I don’t see any immediate connection. Both families appear to have lived in Larne which is about 40 miles from Magherafelt.

Thank you so much for looking this up for me! I was kind of lost! I will look into it further and if I need help I will post again! 

With the LDS site closed that I go to in London Ontario Canada during Covid-19 I have been lost trying to do it all on my computer!

Thank you so much you have made me very happy today!!

Happy to help. Your first step is probably to check the 2 Scottish death certificates. You can do that on-line on the Scotlandspeople site. It’s about £1.60 (sterling) a time to view birth, death & marriage certificates there.

https://www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk

If the mothers names don’t match the information I provided, let me know and I'll search again. There appear to have been 2 people named Samuel English in Larne and Islandmagee (which is the other side of the harbour) at the same time. Care is needed not to get the families mixed up.

If you have any other questions let me know.

That is the problem that I have been having!!  Everyone in the family is Samuel, William, Margaret!! Someone has changed or merged my record of Margaret with someone else (her daughter I think) on the LDS website so I'm trying to correct it and make sure that it's the right one!! 

I know that my great grandfather Samuel English and his wife Jessie Waugh Smith were in Johnstone Paisley area when my grandmother was born but how they got there I'm not sure. She never talked about her family back in Scotland. I have connected with the Smith family line but I would really like to know more about the English line.

Thank you again and if I have any questions I will not hesitate to contact you!

Huge numbers of people from Ulster went to Scotland for work in the 1800s. There were many more job opportunities there than in Ireland plus it was easy and cheap to get to. So it’s very common to find families moving like that. (In a straight line, Larne to Johnstone is probably about 40 miles).