Magheraculmoney

Sharon,

Elizabeth Graham & Thomas Gibson?s marriage was registered in Lowtherstown in 1858.  Her name is recorded as Bessy Graham, and the date of the marriage was 25^th March 1858. The name Lowtherstown was changed in the late 1800s and today it?s called Irvinestown. (The Irvine family bought the local estate from the Lowthers and changed the town?s name. As you do). You can view the marriage cert on-line on the GRONI website:

https://geni.nidirect.gov.uk

That marriage certificate should give you Bessy?s address at that time (it?ll be a townland name) and her father?s occupation. If you obtain that information and get back to me, I?ll see if I can find the family home for you in Griffiths Valuation.

You don?t say what denomination the Graham family were. Graham is a pretty common name in the area and most would be either Church of Ireland or Methodist.

There?s 2 Church of Ireland churches in the parish. Lack or Colaghty has records starting in 1835,and Magheraculmoney or St Mary?s (Kesh) start in 1767. I don?t think either set of records is on-line anywhere. Copies are held in PRONI (the public record office) in Belfast but, again they are not on-line, and a personal visit is required to access them.

Graham is an extremely common surname in Fermanagh so finding the townland is important to ensure you track the right family. The Grahams (and many other people in Fermanagh) would be descendants of settlers from the Scottish borders who arrived in the 1600s. Known as Border Reivers (ie robbers), there?s a website:

http://www.borderreivers.co.uk/Border%20Families/BORDER%20SURNAMES%20%202.htm

Elwyn

Hi Elwyn,

Thank you for answering my query.  As suggested I have ordered a copy of the marriage certificate for Thomas Gibson and Bessy Graham and has only just arrived this morning.  However, it is not a very good copy as I can hardly make out some of the details.  Bessy's father was a farmer and the father's name is not given except that it looks as if he is deceased.  I believe the it should be George but that is going by Bessy's sister Ann's details that I have.  As for the place of residence it is not clear either. The first few letters look like Aghaleague. You stated in your previous email that the marriage was registered in Lowtherstown but the certificate states it was the Parish Church in the Parish of Magherculmoney according to the Rites and Ceremonies of the United Church of England and Ireland. It really didn't give me enough to work with I feel but then I don't know enough about Ireland.

As for Ann Graham, Bessy's sister, who married in Australia it was in a Chuch of England church. I don't really have any other information to go with but if you can guide me, I would be very appreciative.

Kind regards

Sharon

Hi Elwyn,

Thank you for answering my query.  As suggested I have ordered a copy of the marriage certificate for Thomas Gibson and Bessy Graham and has only just arrived this morning.  However, it is not a very good copy as I can hardly make out some of the details.  Bessy's father was a farmer and the father's name is not given except that it looks as if he is deceased.  I believe the it should be George but that is going by Bessy's sister Ann's details that I have.  As for the place of residence it is not clear either. The first few letters look like Aghaleague. You stated in your previous email that the marriage was registered in Lowtherstown but the certificate states it was the Parish Church in the Parish of Magherculmoney according to the Rites and Ceremonies of the United Church of England and Ireland. It really didn't give me enough to work with I feel but then I don't know enough about Ireland.

As for Ann Graham, Bessy's sister, who married in Australia it was in a Chuch of England church. I don't really have any other information to go with but if you can guide me, I would be very appreciative.

Kind regards

Sharon

Sharon,

You mention that you ordered the certificate. Just for information, if you want, you can view the originals on-line. That only costs ?2 and so is cheaper and quicker than ordering a copy.

Irvinestown/Lowtherstown is where the civil registrar for that area is located. So all marriages, births & deaths in that administrative area get registered there and appear under that town on the Irish civil indexes on sites like familysearch. So when I said that the marriage was registered there, what I meant was that the marriage is listed under that town in official records, as will be any births and deaths. Something you may find handy if looking for other members of the family.

The marriage certificate shows Thomas Gibson, 20, bachelor, labourer, of Aghaleague, s/o Abraham Gibson, farmer; he married Bessy Graham, full age (ie 21 or over), spinster, also of Aghaleague (there?s a ditto). Now her father?s name is also shown as a ditto, which is obviously nonsense. So that must be a mistake. Her father?s occupation was farmer. The witnesses were Robert Simpson & Andrew Knox. (Several Simpsons lived in Aghaleague).

Aghaleague is 392 acres in size, and in the 1901 census there were 74 residents in 14 houses. It?s a rural farming area  about a quarter of a mile south of Ederney village up a minor (unnamed and unnumbered) back road. Griffiths Valuation for the townland in 1862 shows 4 Graham households (all of whom are probably related to each other). John Graham was farming on plot 1, a farm, outbuildings and 10 acres, Alexander Graham with a farm, outbuildings and 15 acres on plots 18 & 19, William Graham with a farm, outbuildings and 19 acres on plots 20 & 21 and George Graham with a house on 31b. (These would all be easy enough to find today, provided you had a townland map). There were no Gibson households listed in Aghaleague in 1862.

http://www.askaboutireland.ie/griffith-valuation/index.xml

The revaluation records show George Graham?s name deleted for 31b in 1886 (replaced by John Livingstone). That would suggest he died around then. Griffiths clerks were often out by a few years. There are just 2 George Graham deaths registered in Irvinestown in the period 1880 ? 1901. Both died in 1881. One had an estimated year of birth of 1791, the other 1805. You might want to look them up to see if either was your George from Aghaleague.

http://www.proni.gov.uk/index/search_the_archives/val12b.htm

There was one Graham family still in Aghaleague in the 1901 census:

http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/pages/1901/Fermanagh/Magheraculmoney/Aghaleague/1354663/

and in 1911:

http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/pages/1911/Fermanagh/Magheraclumoney/Aghaleague/520704/

The revaluation records indicate this family acquired plot 7 in 1889. Mary replaced Robert around 1910 in Griffiths, and her name was still against the property in 1929. Looking at plot 20/21, I notice that William Graham, was replaced by Robert Graham in 1885, and then he gave that farm up in 1889. (Presumably to move to plot 7). So William is probably Robert?s father.

So there was a George Graham living in Aghaleague in the 1860s, which fits with your existing information. Your next step is probably to search the Magherculmoney COI baptism and marriage registers for Bessy?s baptism in the 1830s, and that of any siblings. That should hopefully establish her parents names. Magheraculmoney baptisms start in 1767, as do the marriages. There is however a gap in the marriages 1818-1825. The records are not on-line anywhere, so far as I know, but there is a copy on microfilm in PRONI, in Belfast. (A personal visit is normally required to view them).

NB Church of Ireland is the same as Church of England. So they were Anglicans/Episcopalians.

Elwyn

Hi Elwyn,

Wow, what a wealth of information you have found.  Thank you so very much for taking the time to do that for me.  It is greatly appreciated.  I will have a look at both the deaths for the George Graham in 1881 and see how lucky I can be.  In the meantime because I live in Australia,it is going to be difficult to go in person to look at the film you mentioned for baptisms of the parish so do you know if there are researchers or else who could look at the film for me at a reasonable cost for fees. I'd dearly love to find out other sibliings for Bessy and Ann if there are any.

regards

Sharon

~~http://www.proni.gov.uk/index/search_the_archives/val12b.htm

Hi Elwyn,

Sorry just wanted to know how to navigate to the death indexes on the above website to look at the two George Grahams.  I have don't seem to be able to find the right link.  Can you tell me what you did to find them please.

Sharon

Sharon,

You have been looking at the wrong site. You need the GRONI site (which contains the statutory records of births, deaths and marriages for Northern Ireland). PRONI is the Public Record Office (which is where you get church records, plus a range of other documents.

The GRONI site is:  https://geni.nidirect.gov.uk

Now you can pay for a full copy of a record at ?15 a cert, but I suspect you don?t want or need that. You can simply view the original documents at ?2 each. (And if your PC has the technology, you can take a screen shot of the image).

You need to register and buy some credits to get going. Use the section entitled ?Search Registrations?. It?ll give you 3 options. 1. Enhanced, 2. Full. 3. Order cert.

Enhanced just gives a bit more information than the indexes tell you. Not much use. Order cert means just that and will cost ?15. Go for option 2 ?full? which will bring the whole cert up on the screen, together with typed details. Costs ?2 per cert.

If you search for George Graham died 1881 it?ll give you 7 deaths that year. Remember I told you that births, deaths and marriages in that part of Fermanagh were registered in Irvinestown (or Lowtherstown, up to the mid 1870s). So you know which two to focus on.  I can see from the indexes that the dates of death were 20.1.1881 & 21.5.1881. I?d probably start with the older of the two, given that the parents seem to have been married by 1822.

I?ll send you a private message with suggestions on how to get someone to search the parish records in PRONI.

Elwyn

Hi Elwyn,

I tried sending you a quick reply to your e-mail that you sent me privately but for some reason i bounced and said it could not be delivered.  Could you confirm your e-mail again for me please.

Sharon