Rosegift, Bellaghy, County Derry

Deb:

I was unable to find a townland called Rosegift. Bellaghy is a town in Ballyscullion civil parish.

I looked for marriage records for James and Sarah. I found two possible James Scullion marriage records one in Greenlough RC church in 1850 and the other in Lavey RC church in 1857. I could not get a match with Sarah Kearney as the spouse. The Catholic parishes which correspond to Bellaghy and Ballyscullion would be Bellaghy/Ballyscullion and Magherafelt. All four parishes are in the southeast part of Co. Derry.

I was unable to find baptismal record for James and Sara. I searched from 1829-1839.

Later this summer the National Library of Ireland plans to put RC parish registers online for free searching.

Let me know if you have questions.

Roger McDonnell

Hello Roger!  Thank you so much for your searching and time!  It's a mystery... I'll see if I can dig up more info and add to the post.  Thank you for the info on the parishes, that's very helpful.

Deb

Deb,

I live quite near Bellaghy and I too don?t know of any townland that would fit ?Rosegift?. (There?s only about 26 townlands in the parish and none even begins with the letter R).  Can?t help with that I am afraid. Scullion is a very common name in the area and so it wouldn?t be at all surprising if he did come from Bellaghy. Kearney is found in the area too, with, in Griffiths Valuation 1859, households in Ballymacombs More, Ballydermot, Mullaghboy and Castledawson Main St.

If James Scullion was from Bellaghy and born c 1834, then the bad news is that that RC parish (Ballyscullion) only has baptism records from 1844 onwards, so you are unlikely to trace his birth that way. (Likewise Sarah?s if she is from the same parish). The baptism & marriage records are on-line, on the rootsireland site, but as Roger says, there?s no trace of this marriage.

RC marriages weren?t entered into the statutory marriage records until 1864, and so the only way of tracing the marriage is via church records. If it?s any consolation, RC marriage records from that era don?t normally contain much information anyway. Usually just the couples names, the date of the marriage and their 2 witnesses. (No parents names). You occasionally get a townland but not always. (I have seen the Ballyuscullion RC records in the past and my vague recollection is that there are townlands shown for the marriages.) It might be worth double checking them when the records come on-line later this year in case the marriage has been mistranscribed or omitted from the rootsireland site).

Elwyn

Hi Deb I'd like to suggest that your 'Rosegift' is 'Roes Gift' which is a placename in the townland of Ballydermot approx 1 mile south of town of Bellaghy. 

Brigid

Just an update. I found the marriage record of James Scullion and Sarah Kearney in the NLI Catholic Parish Records in the 1856 Ballyscullion register! 

The Rosegift [sic] mystery hasn't been solved.  The name is listed in James Scullion's obituary and on his headstone.

Deb