I am looking for information on my gr-gr-grandfather James Keenan, I believe he lived in the Derry/Londonderry area, as there have been a couple of birth’s in the area as well as marriage of daughter Nancy Keenan m. in Magherafelt.
Any help on this family would be much appreciated
Some of what I know,
Parents:
James Keenan b.abt1805/11, Ireland & Elizabeth, b.abt 1807/14, Ireland
Unknown Marriage or Elizabeth’s maiden name.
Children:
Jane Keenan, abt 1835, Ireland
James Keenan, b.abt 1837, Cumberland census 1891, 1901 has born Derry, Ireland
Hugh Keenan, b.abt 1839, Ireland
Elizabeth Keenan, b.abt 1843, m. William Brown, 19 Feb 1872, Christ Church, Cockermouth, Cumberland,
Nancy Keenan, b.abt 1844, County Derry, Ireland, 1891 census, married William Anderson, m. 19 Jan 1859, Magherafelt, County Londonderry, Ireland
William F Keenan, b.abt 1850, Ireland
Rachel Keenan, b.abt 1854, Derry, Ireland, m.William France, 9 Aug 1879, Christ Church, Cockermouth,
youngie
Monday 12th Mar 2018, 07:48AMMessage Board Replies
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William & Nancy’s marriage is on the GRONI website, reistered in Magherafelt. (William is indexed under "Wm"). That should give you her address at that time as well as her father’s occupation. That information may enable you to trace the family ion other records. If you post the information here, I’ll see if I can assist you. You can view the original certificate on-line on the GRONI website, using the “search registrations” option:
You will need to open an account and buy some credits. It costs £2.50 (sterling) to a view a certificate.
Tradition was to marry in the bride’s church which should be on the certificate (unless it was a Registry Office marriage). That church may be the place to look for her baptism and that of any siblings.
Elwyn, IrelandXO Volunteer ☘
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Hi! Elwyn,
Thank you for that, I will investigate further.
Regards Keith
youngie
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Attached FilesKEENAN_Nancy_ARMSTRONG_WilliamMarriage.jpg (435.76 KB)
Elwyn, Thanks for your suggestion as to how to get the certificate information, have never accessed Ireland before, plenty from GRO, England.
Attached information from Certificate, also certificate Image.
Registration details
Registration number: M/1859/N1/1874/2/3
Registration district: Magherafelt
Place of marriage: Magherafelt Registrar's Office
Date of marriage: 19th January 1859
Groom details:
Groom name(s): Wm Anderson
Age condition at marriage of groom: Full
Bride details:
Bride name(s): Nancy Keenan
Age at marriage of bride: 20
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1859. Marriage solemnized at Magherafelt, in the District of Magherafelt, in the County of Londonderry.
No. 3, 19th January 1859, Wm. Anderson, (age) Full Age, Bachelor, Labourer, (res) Lurganagoose Parish of Termoneeny, (father) John Anderson, Labourer.
(married)
Mary Keenan, (age) 20 years, Spinster, (no occupation), (res) Lurganagoose Parish of Termoneeny, (father) James Keenan, Weaver.
Married in the Registrar's Office, according to the presence of the ?.......? by Certificate by me James ?....?, Registrar.
This marriage was solomnized between us, William Anderson & Nancy (her X mark), in the Presence of us, John (?*..) & James Keenan. (*something like M Gee Rice)
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Have added info to my Ancestry Tree, YOUNG Simpson Brown, user ‘AlexisYoung77’
Thanks again for your help & interest.
Regards Keithyoungie
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Lurganagoose is very close to Knockloughrim on the A6 road from Magherafelt to Dungiven. It is 214 acres in size. In the 1901 census there were 10 houses with a total of 43 people living there (No Andersons or Keenans):
http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/pages/1901/Londonderry/Rocktown/Lurganagoose/
In the 1831 census there were 32 houses there. One was occupied by John Anderson. There was 1 male and 3 females, and the family were Church of Ireland.
A William Anderson also lived there with a total of 3 males and 7 females, all Presbyterian.
No Keenans in the townland in 1831.
I looked in Griffiths Valuation for 1859, and in the Valuation revision records up to 1863 to see if the Anderson or Keenan households were listed in Lurganagoose. Neither was. There can be several reasons for that. One might be that neither had lived in the townland long enough to be listed, another that they were lodging with someone else and the third that their houses were of too low a value to be worth listing in Griffiths (which was created primarily for tax purposes). Weavers and labourers often lived in fairly basic accommodation and moved around a bit to follow the available work. In this case it looks as though the Andersons had lived there since at least 1831 so I’d guess that the reason they are not in Griffiths is probably that their house was of too low a value to be listed. Can’t say about the Keenans as I don’t know how long they lived there, save that they weren’t there in 1831.
One reason for marrying in a Registry office was because it was a mixed marriage. (It overcame the difficulty of offending one family or the other). The Andersons appear to have been Church of Ireland and the Keenans were probably RC. (Most Keenans in the 1831 census were RC). You could search for William and Nancy’s baptisms. Termoneeny Church of Ireland has the following records:
Termoneeny (Derry diocese)
Baptisms, 1821-39 and 1846-82; marriages, 1821-38
and 1845-91; burials, 1833, 1846 and 1855-
Termoneeny RC has the following records:
Baptisms, 1837-9, 1852-65 and 1867-81; marriages,
1837-9, 1852-65, 1868-71 and 1873-80; funerals, 1837-
9.
[Termoneeny parish is partly in the Roman Catholic
parish of Maghera – see also under MAGHERA]
Maghera and Killylough (Derry diocese)
Baptisms, 1841-81; marriages, 1841-53 and 1857-82;
deaths, 1848-80 and 1887-8.
The RC records are on the nli site: https://www.nli.ie/en/family-history-introduction.aspx
For the Church of Ireland records you need to go to PRONI (the public record office) in Belfast.
Death registration started in Ireland in 1864. You could search the death records for John Anderson and James & Elizabeth Keenan, registered in Magherafelt, from 1864 onwards. Those from 1878 onwards are on-line free on the irishgenealogy site. https://churchrecords.irishgenealogy.ie/churchrecords/
Those for 1874 to 1877 are not free yet, and are on the GRONI website that you have just used to get the marriage certificate.
Elwyn, IrelandXO Volunteer ☘
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Elwyn,
Thank you very much for that information, I turned the computer on this afternoon and got the dreaded “Blue Screen”, have changed to an old laptop with limited data installed, so will have to wait until I get my computer back on line.
James Keenan & Elizabeth moved across to Cockermouth with most of the family before 1861 as they nearly all show up in the 1861 census there living in Derwent St, Cockermouth.
From memory William Armstrong would have died between 1882 & 1891 as William & Nancy had daughter Mary Ann Anderson b.1882 Brigham, Cumberland, & 91 census of Cockermouth, Nancy is widow.
Their other 2 children were born in Ireland, John Anderson, b.1860 James b.1863.
On other computer I have possible GRO Cockermouth record for James Keenan & Elizabeth, but yet to apply for them, as I have been searching to make sure first, & not sure if will tell me much more anyway.
Again, thank you very much for your help.
Regards Keith Youngyoungie
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It was William senior’s death that I thought you might find in the Irish death records. There will be no birth certificates for children John & James born 1860 & 1863 as birth registration only started in 1864 in Ireland. You might get their baptisms, but as I mentioned before, I suspect they were in the Church of Ireland, and so you would need to get someone to look them up in PRONI, in Belfast, as I don’t think they are on-line anywhere.
Elwyn, IrelandXO Volunteer ☘