Hello - Please can you help me with any information regarding the birth or family of James Porter. He was my G G Grandfather.
My information regarding his birth is from his Army discharge papers (in 1861)......Born approximately in 1820 in Tubermore, Kilcronghan Parish, Religion Protestant
Father Hugh Porter (Ag. Lab), Mother Mary Slane (or Slann). He may have had a sister Mary Jane Porter, born approximately 1824, who may have married in 1854 in Ballinascreen, Derry (but this is not well documented). Both his parents were deceased by 1856.
I have good documents of his history in the British Army, and of his marriage and death in Scotland. But nothing before his enlistment in 1839 in Belfast when his profession was Nailor. He was Soldier of Empire with 80th Regiment of Foot, and promoted to Sergeant. He died in Scotland in 1876, by which time he was a Chelsea Pensioner.
We have visited Tubermore, including the ruins of the old church, but cannot trace his family, There are Porters still around Tubermore.
Many thanks in dfvance for any help you can give me. I would love to know more of his early life and family.
Monday 12th Oct 2020, 05:15PM
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You mention that James Porter was Protestant. That encompasses a number of different denominations. If the family was Church of Ireland then Kilcronaghan’s records start in 1790 for baptisms, 1748 for marriages and 1828 for burials. So you might find James’s baptism and his parents burials in those records. If the family was Presbyterian then Tobermore’s baptism records only start in 1860. There are marriages for 1819-1822 then a gap to 1845. Presbyterians generally don’t keep burial records. There was also a Baptist church in the parish but you won’t get any baptism records for that. Presbyterians in Ireland don’t use the parish system and so the church you attend is a matter of personal preference and not necessarily the nearest. For example, the Tobermore family might have attended Draperstown. It has baptism and marriage records from 1837 onwards.
There are copies of all the above records in PRONI (the public record office) in Belfast.
Tradition was to marry in the bride’s church (after which she’d normally attend her husband’s). So I see that Mary Jane Porter who married in 1854 married in Draperstown Presbyterian church. So that points to her being Presbyterian. If she is James’ sister then sadly that suggests there are no baptism records to be found (she was 30 on the marriage cert so born around 1824). I note that she said her father was a farmer, in contrast to James who said he was an agricultural labourer. Sometimes small farmers were half way between the two, and sometimes professions got “promoted” a bit in marriage records. Hard to say if it’s the same family. Possibly not. There were 2 different Hugh Porters in the area in the 1831 census:
Hugh Porter in Calmore had a house consisting of 2 males and 5 females. They were all “other protestants” which could mean Baptist, given that there is/was a Baptist chapel there.
http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/pages/1831/Londonderry/Loughinshollen/Kilcronaghan/Calmore/19/
Nearby in Tubermore was another Hugh whose family consisted of 2 males, 3 females and a servant. All were Presbyterian. (So that points to them possibly being the family whose Mary Jane married in 1854).
Death registration didn’t start in Ireland till 1864 so you won’t find death certificates for Hugh or Mary Porter. Unless they Church of Ireland, there’s unlikely to be any record of their burial, save possibly for a gravestone. (Not everyone could afford a gravestone, especially labourers).
I spotted another marriage involving a Porter from Calmore, in 1845, whose father was Hugh, farmer:
https://civilrecords.irishgenealogy.ie/churchrecords/images/marriage_re…
Elwyn, IrelandXO Volunteer ☘
Monday 12th Oct 2020, 06:16PM -
Elwyn. Thnak you very much indeed for this comprehensive reply.
Some of what you say confirms my own partial research.
But you have given me some new database sources which I will research further.
Wednesday 14th Oct 2020, 11:52AM