Descendants of HENRY DAVISON and CHARLOTTE DAVISON (nee OVEREND) and their children MAGGIE, JAMES and CHARLOTTE (Carrie) of Bellaghy, Derry.

Link here to previous post with additional information on the family:

https://irelandxo.com/ireland/antrim/rasharkin/message-board/davison-family-bellaghy-and-mullaghboy

I realise that I gave an incorrect census link in the previous reply. Here’s the family in 1911. They had 6 children but only 3 were alive in 1911:

http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/pages/1911/Londonderry/Bellaghy/Killyberry__Boyd_/607741/

Probably worth checking Charlotte’s possible death in 1933. If it’s the correct lady, then the informant may be one of her children and so that would give you a lead on their whereabouts then.

I looked to see if either Henry of Charlotte left a will but they don’t appear to have done so. Checked also for death notices in the newspapers but did not see any.

James Burnside and Charlotte Davidson appear to have had a daughter Eileen Burnside born 25.4.1922  & registered in Magherafelt. You can view that on the GRONI site for £2.50. There may have been more children after 1922 but they are not directly accessible on-line as they are within the past 100 years. GRONI is the only repository for birth, death and marriage records in what is now Northern Ireland, from 1.1.1922 onwards. (Ancestry and other websites don’t have them).

Births in Northern Ireland within the past 100 years, marriages within the past 75 and deaths within the past 50 aren’t searchable on-line. They are open to the public, just not on-line. If you know all the key details eg exact date and place of birth, parents names etc, you can order a copy of a certificate from GRONI for £15 (sterling). https://geni.nidirect.gov.uk

But if you don’t have all the information, you need to get in touch with them to get a search done.  They will do a 5 year search for £7 and if they find a matching certificate you can purchase it for £8, coming to a total of £15. It will be posted to you a few days later. You pay over the phone using a credit card. You type your number in on the phone keypad. They don’t know what it is.  They won’t deal with these searches and orders by e-mail or post because they need you to type the credit card number in yourself.

Phone: 0300 200 7890 (+44 300 200 7890 from outside the UK)

Thanks again Elwyn. I looked at both the 1901 and the 1911 census record... one had DAVISON and the other DAVIDSON, but the same first names and the same names for the three children, The odd thing was that HENRY had aged 20 years between the two census takings but the children's ages was just plus 10. Also, in the Davidson record an additional page has the family name as Davison so I guess it was recorded in error at the time.. I believe for us it is Davison.

Just hoping now that someone knows this family and will make contact with me across the years.

Peter

The idea of a single correct spelling of a surname is really a modern concept. At the time you are looking at no-one bothered and it varied all the time.

Likewise ages. Most were just guesses, though the old age pension (which came in in 1909) had a qualifying age of 70 so you see a lot of people adding years on in 1911 in case the authorities checked their ages against the censuses when they came to make a pension application.

Alexander Irvine was born in 1863 in Antrim town and became a Minister living in the US. This extract from his book “The Chimney Corner revisited” perhaps explains why people often had to guess their ages:

“My mother kept a mental record of the twelve births. None of us ever knew, or cared to know, when we were born. When I heard of anybody in the more fortunate class celebrating a birthday I considered it a foolish imitation of the Queen’s birthday, which rankled in our little minds with 25^th December or 12^th July. In manhood there were times when I had to prove I was born somewhere, somewhen, and then it was that I discovered that I also had a birthday. The clerk of the parish informed me.”