Annie McCormick

mirsail:

Welcome to Ireland Reaching Out!

Here is Anne's civil birth record  https://civilrecords.irishgenealogy.ie/churchrecords/images/birth_returns/births_1883/02728/2003554.pdf  The family lived in Cardy townland in Greyabbey civil parish in the northeast "hook" of Co. Down. Anne had three siblings. I see two siblings: Robert and John in the two census records below. I located Susannah's death record in 1911 right after the census but did not find Robert's death record which was after Susannah.

Roger McDonnell

http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/pages/1901/Down/Greyabby/Cardy/1256754/

http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/pages/1911/Down/Grey_Abbey/Cardy/265899/

https://civilrecords.irishgenealogy.ie/churchrecords/images/deaths_returns/deaths_1911/05399/4507883.pdf

Mirsail,

Robert McCormick and Susan were married on 13 July 1874 at Newtownards 1st Presbyterian church. His address at the time was Dalry (Ayrshire) and hers was Cardy.

https://civilrecords.irishgenealogy.ie/churchrecords/civil-search.jsp

Tradition was to marry in the bride’s church, so Susan was probably Presbyterian. So if researching her background I’d focus on those records. The family are Church of Ireland in the 2 censuses so that suggests Robert was of that denomination.

I don’t see Robert and 2 sons Robert & James in the 1901 census. At a guess they might well be away working in Scotland.  (That was very common. There were more jobs there and it was cheap and easy to get to).

Robert senior died in 1922. You can view the original death certificate on-line on the GRONI website, using the “search registrations” option:

https://geni.nidirect.gov.uk

You will need to open an account and buy some credits. It costs £2.50 (sterling) to a view a certificate.

Here’s his probate abstract from the PRONI wills site:

Probate of the Will of Robert McCormick late of Cardy County Down Farmer who died 12 March 1922 granted at Belfast to John McCormick and Robert McCormick Farmers Effects £20

The will itself should be in PRONI in paper format.

One of the two Roberts signed the Ulster Covenant in 1912. So that tells you a little about his political views on Irish Home Rule. You can see his signature on this site:

https://apps.proni.gov.uk/ulstercovenant/image.aspx?image=M0023860004

The Valuation Revision records show John McCormick acquiring plot 14c in Cardy in 1871. At that time it was just a house. In 1888, 2 acres of land was added. It remained in his name till 1905 when it changed to Robert McCormick. Also that year Robert acquired 3 acres on plot 14e. 14c & 14e remained in his name till 1916 when he disposed of 14e. In 1923 14c changes to “reps of Robert McCormick” (indicating he had died). Then in 1924 it changes to John and in 1926 to William McCormick.  It remains in William’s name till 1929 when that series of records stops.

The property today is up a dead end lane off Cardy Road East, just north of Greyabbey (and very close to Carrowdore). I can’t say whether the McCormick cottage is still standing.

The 1874 marriage certificate tells us that Robert McCormick’s father was John, a weaver. John died at Cardy on 16.2.1898 aged 84. He was married, and there was an inquest. Cause of death was “accidental burns.” I have not been able to identify his wife.

John McCormick married Martha Cooper in Ballycopeland on 8.6.1904. Here is that family in the 1911 census:

http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/pages/1911/Down/Ballywalter/Ballywalter_Town/265731/

I do not know who the William McCormick was who took over the Cardy property in 1926.

Robert and Elwyn--Thank you both so much!  This is great information.  Hopefully some day I can visit Grey Abbey again and look up this address.  (mirsail)

Is there any way to know where either Robert or Susanna are buried?

mirsail,

Irish death certificates don't record where someone was buried and there’s no requirement to register that information anywhere. I would start with Greyabbey Church of Ireland, since that was Robert & Susan’s denomination, and they lived in that parish. However families weren’t always buried in the churchyard of the church they attended. They often had family plots in odd places (perhaps where their ancestors had lived), and there are numerous multi-denominational churchyards around too.

The Ulster Historical Foundation site has a list of graveyards in the Greyabbey area:

https://www.ancestryireland.com

It lists 2 in that parish: Greyabbey Graveyard and Greyabbey grounds (ie the grounds of the Abbey).

This explanation is also taken from their website:

The value of gravestone inscriptions for ancestral research has long been recognised. The discovery of a single gravestone may provide more information on the history of a family than could otherwise be gleaned from hours of searching through documentary sources. A visit to the graveyard in which your ancestors are buried is, therefore, an essential part of compiling your family tree. Discovering the graveyard in which your ancestors are buried is not necessarily straightforward. They may be buried in the graveyard adjoining the church to which your family belongs. Alternatively they may be buried in a graveyard no longer in use or adjoining another church. Burial registers kept by a church are one way of finding the place of burial, but as is explained below, these have limitations and do not survive for every graveyard. In nearly every parish in Northern Ireland there is at least one graveyard pre-dating the Reformation of the sixteenth century. In these graveyards it is not unusual to find all denominations buried.

The Ulster Historical Foundation has a searchable database of over 50,000 inscriptions for a large number of graveyards in Northern Ireland. These are available as a pay-per-view resource on our website www.ancestryireland.com/family-records/gravestone-inscriptions (free for Guild members). Another major resource on our gravestone website www.historyfromheadstones.com is a series of maps showing the location of graveyards. These are interactive so that it is possible to plot graveyards by denomination or view the location of all graveyards in a county at one time. Precise grid references are provided making it possible, using the Ordnance Survey Discoverer series of maps (1:50,000 scale), to pinpoint exactly the site of a graveyard. Case studies look in detail at individual graveyards and there is also a guide to how to study a graveyard.

Many inscriptions appeared in the Journal of the Association for the Preservation of the Memorials of the Dead in Ireland, published in twelve volumes between 1888 and 1931. These recordings are particularly useful if the gravestone can no longer be traced. There are sets of the Memorials of the Dead in the Linen Hall Library and Public Record Office of Northern Ireland.