McGee or Magee. Collins, Aghadowey

Aileen,

What denomination was Maggie before she married?  If you know that then you could check the baptism records for the various churches in the Aghadowey area. (They won’t be on-line).  There are 3 Presbyterian churches in Aghadowey parish with baptism records for the 1890s (Aghadowey, Killaig & Ringsend). Copies of their records are in PRONI in Belfast. For RC and Church of Ireland records you need to contact the churches as they hold the only copies. (The Church of Ireland may charge a fee for searching). The RC parish for Collins is Coleraine. But I would also check  Ballymoney RC given that Maggie was there in 1893.

I looked at the 1893 marriage to see where they married, as tradition was to marry in the bride’s church. However in this case they married in Ballymoney Register Office so no clues there. Possibly a mixed denomination marriage.

Hi Elwyn, 

Thank you very much, that's most helpful.  I believe it was a mixed-denomination marriage.  Do you know if most babies were baptised, particularly if the parents weren't married at the time, and the mother and father were from different religions?  I believe Maggie was RC, but I am not 100% sure. James was Church of Ireland.  He may or may not have been John's father.  We always believed he was, until my grandad John passed away and we saw his birth certificate.  He was born John McGee then changed quickly to be known as John McArthur, with no offical name change.  It meant that, paper trail wise John Magee disappeared.

Thanks again, your reply is very much appreciated. 

Hi, Aileen.  I don't have any specific answer as to the baptism, but perhaps some helpful info. 

First off, baptism was considered very important, so I'm certain that he would have been baptized in one church or the other.  In the Catholic parish registers, at least, there were many "illegitimate" baptisms recorded, so it was not something which people usually hid from the priests.  People were sometimes too poor to pay the £1 or so charged for a marriage, so they might wait until later to marry, or in quite a few cases were married on an interim basis by unsanctioned itinerant priests or ministers who performed the ceremony much more cheaply (interestingly, they often did not distinguish as to religion in those cases, with the itinerant clergymen marrying people of either confession).  Baptisms, by contrast, usually involved a fee of just a shilling or two, so were much more affordable.

I looked on Family Search and found your family there, and was all set to let you know, but then noticed that you're probably the same Aileen who created those records.  By the way, you have an error there as to Maggie's birth, listing it as 1891 (same as for her son).  You'll note that FS has spotted the discrepancy and made a note about it.

One other thing I found at FS was a record for a John Thomas Magee and a Mary Ann Thompson who had a son named Thomas Magee in 1872.  Potentially another sibling of Maggie, but that Thomas was born in Belfast.  Still, the Magee link you mentioned above says that their children were born in different locations as John and Mary Magee moved about.  It mentions only County Derry locations, but there's an interesting gap for 1870-1874, when Maggie and this Thomas were born, so perhaps the family had traveled over to Belfast for work.  The ID at FS for that John Magee is M5KL-719, in case you want to check it out.

There are also three other John Magee-Mary Thompson couples listed at FS as having children in the same period.  One of them is at M1TT-YTK, and in that record the other two are shown as potential duplicates, so you can click on the links there to see them as well.  Of course, there were a lot of Magees in Ulster, particularly over near Islandmagee (near Larne), where one of the clans with that surname originated, so these all may be unrelated (or perhaps only distantly related) couples.

Aileen,

I’d be inclined to contact the parochial offices in Coleraine & Ballymoney. Give them John’s birth details and ask them if he was baptised there.

http://www.ballymoneyparish.com/

https://dmaparish.com/

Elwyn

Elwyn, thank you. I have done that now. 

I really can't express how grateful I am for all the information, help, and support I have received here.  

Hi Kevin, 

Thank you for taking the time to give me so much interesting information, advice, and pointers.  I am finding learning so much about the past very interesting.  I can barely believe now I was never a big fan of history in school.  

Looking back is fairly new to me. I appreciate you pointing out the mistakes on Family Search, I am struggling to find my way around there too, and I am getting quite confused with so many similar names and mistakes in names and spelling.  I have no close family left, so it's quite a challenge to do myself.  I now feel I may have found the wrong family members and will take more time to revise all I have so far. 

I was led to Belfast a few nights ago, but I can't remember or find my notes on what took me there.  I more or less dismissed it feeling it seemed too far away.  But I will look back at that again, thanks to your possible match for a brother of Maggie.  

Being new to this and with financial restraints, I haven't wanted to take out subscriptions until I really knew what I am looking to find or clarify, also as there are so many genealogy sites I am still unsure sure which would be the best to join.  

Finding information on Maggie and my grandad is quite urgent just now.  I was trying to do my Irish Citizenship, but due to my Grandad being born John Magee, then being known as John McArthur throughout his life but having John McArthur on every census and certificate after his birth, I cannot prove he is the same person as John McArthur for my Foreign Birth Registration. I was devastated when FBR said they needed evidence that just doesn't seem to exist. As I knew my grandad is my grandad I naively didn't foresee this issue arising. 

Thanks again, on the plus side I now have a great interest in genealogy and I am learning more and more every day.