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I'm looking for any information on my great-great-great grandmother, Jane (Jean) Willis, especially anything about her marriage to William Trulan (Trolan), likely of Ballymoney, Co. Antrim.  My great-grandmother's notes state she was "Scotch", but US census reports say she was born in Ireland.

According to her stated age of 73 in the 1860 US census, she should have been born in 1786-7.  A search yielded a number of Willises in Clones, Co. Monaghan, including a Jane Willis born 23 Feb 1796, parents James and Sarah.  I don't know her denomination, but it appears the Trolans in Ballymoney were generally protestants - both Presbyterians and Church of Ireland.

Any help is greatly appreciated.

Margaret B Russell

Massachusetts, USA

tedrussell

Saturday 6th Jul 2013, 11:12PM

Message Board Replies

  • Hi

    Thank you for your message. 

    Church of Ireland parish registers for the period up to 1870-are public records. Registers are available for about one third of the parishes, however many were destroyed in the Public Records Office in Dublin in 1922. Most are still held by the local clergy, although some are in the National Archives of Ireland and others are in the Representative Church Body Library in Dublin. A list of all surviving registers is available in the National Archives. http://ireland.anglican.org/about/42 and http://www.nationalarchives.ie/.  The Anglican Record Project is has created an index to their records: http://ireland.anglican.org/cmsfiles/pdf/AboutUs/library/AngRecord/bunclodyunionindex.pdf

    Presbyterian registers are held in three main locations: in local custody, in the Public Records of Northern Ireland (PRONI) http://www.proni.gov.uk/index/family_history.htm and at the Presbyterian Historical Society http://www.presbyterianhistoryireland.com in Belfast. PRONI has microfilm copies of almost all registers in Northern Ireland and also lists of records held by the Presbyterian Historical Society. For the rest of Ireland, almost all records are in local custody. It can difficult to locate these as many congregations in the South have moved, amalgamated, or simply disappeared over the last sixty years.

    You may also try 

    The National Archives Scotland- family history: http://www.nas.gov.uk/familyHistory/

    Wishing you the best of luck in your research.

    Kind regards,

    Genealogy support

     

     

     

    Wednesday 10th Jul 2013, 02:11PM

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