Keys family of Mullanboy and Fintona

Glennys,

This looks to be Foster Keys in the 1901 census:

http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/pages/1901/Tyrone/Killyfaddy/Dromore__Middle/1726422/

Here’s daughter Edith Sarah’s birth in 1896 from which we know the mother was Margaret Foster.

https://civilrecords.irishgenealogy.ie/churchrecords/images/birth_returns/births_1896/02159/1818547.pdf

Here’s their marriage in 1878 (Foster was a widower):

https://civilrecords.irishgenealogy.ie/churchrecords/images/birth_returns/births_1896/02159/1818547.pdf

Foster’s father was David Keys, a farmer. Foster Keys 1^st marriage in 1860:

https://civilrecords.irishgenealogy.ie/churchrecords/images/marriage_returns/marriages_1860/09590/5477721.pdf

Tradition was to marry in the bride’s church (after which she’d usually attend her husband’s) so these churches tell you the brides likely place of baptism but not the husband’s.

Valuation revision record for Dromore Middle shows the 2 plots there going from John Donaldson to Foster Keys to Jane Donaldson and then finally to Foster Keys again in 1879.

Relationships on death certificates aren’t always recorded. I looked for a will for Donaldson & Dromore Middle but the only 1 I could find was for one in 1957, so evidently the family were still there then:

Donaldson, John of Dromore Middle Clogher county Tyrone farmer died 27 December 1957 Administration Londonderry 20 February to James Donaldson farmer. Effects £191.

Can’t really say for certain why Jane Donaldson married as Foster not Keys. Some Presbyterian women did hang on to their maiden names. You see that quite often on Presbyterian gravestones eg “The burial place of Jane Smith wife of Robert Brown”.

The problem with David Keys is that he was probably born before local church records begin and he probably died long before 1864 when death registration began. Presbyterians rarely kept burial records and so unless he had a gravestone, there may be no record of his existence (or of his parents) to find.

We know he was a farmer. Most farmers in Ireland would have been listed in the tithe applotment records (compiled in order to tax land). The only David Keys in that area in the tithes lived in Drumgaw, parish of Lisnadill, Co Armagh. Could that be the correct person? I note that Foster Keys was born in Tyrone c 1845, so clearly David must have moved there by that year.

http://www.irishgenealogyhub.com/armagh/tithe-applotments/lisnadill-par…

Elwyn thank you so much for your response and for going to so much trouble to check for me. It is as I thought, the timing for this family's records is all wrong plus the fact that they were Presbyterians doesn't help. I especially appreciate the Dromore Valuation Revision document, it certainly proves the link between Foster Keys, Jane (Foster) and her second husband John Donaldson. 

It is assumed that David Keys died between 1838 when the youngest child was baptised and 1842 when Jane (nee Foster) remarried - I am very lucky that someone was able to find transcripts of those two events so I at least have a clue as to what happened. 

Perhaps it was a tradition for some Presbyterian women to revert to their maiden surnames when they were widowed, their headstone tradition of adding maiden surnames is an absolute boon to researchers.

The record states that Foster Keys was 23 when he first married in 1860 and he was said to be 68 when he died in 1901, I figure he might have provided his correct age at the time of his marriage which means he was likely born around 1837.  Birth years for his siblings who came to NSW start in 1819 but they vary depending on which document you look at! 

Thanks again - most helpful.

Glennys

Elwyn thanks to your tip about the Valuation Revision Books I've been able to find a number of entries relevant to family - a wonderful resource I wasn't aware of.

www.nidirect.gov.uk

Glennys