52 ANCESTORS, 52 THEMES No.11: Luck of the Irish: DONAGHY & GILLESPIE

This year's challenge by Amy Crow is another weekly blog, but based on Themes. Last week, it was Stormy Weather, and this week it is "Luck of the Irish."  Here is shown the links of how my daughter's great-great-grandmother and my son-in-law's great-grandmother lived a stone's throw (or two) from each other in Ireland, and their descendants met and married in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada - half-way 'round the world.

My greatgrandmother, Catherine ARMSTRONG, bap. 3 May 1853 in Parish Clogher, Augher, County Tyrone, N.Ireland, married George GILLESPIE in 1875 in Augher. I have written a number of times about my GILLESPIE line, and this photo of  Catherine is taken in 1895-1898, from a family photograph. 

The Parish birthplace - Clogher, County Tyrone - was listed on their 1911 Census in Barrow-in-Furness, Lancashire, England. The family had moved from Ireland just before 1881. The village of Augher shows on the birth registration of their first son, my grandfather, Wm John "Jack" GILLESPIE, who was born there.  His birth was attended by the Informant, Margerie Armstrong - who could be Catherine's mother, grandmother, aunt, or sister... I have yet to find any record of Margerie.  As you can see on the extreme right box, it took several months to finally name Grandpa! I wonder why? 

Transcription: Births registered in the District of Clogher, in County of Tyrone:  #439.  Birthdate:Twentythree August 1876; blank box for name of baby, M[ale]. Father: George Gillespie; Dwelling place: Augher;  Mother: Catherine Gillespie formerly Armstrong; Father's Profession:  Labourer;  Informant: Margerie Armstrong "X" her mark, present at Birth, Augher; Date Registered: Twenty Eighth August 1876;  [Frar. Scraggs]; Bapt. Name if added after Registration of Birth:  Wm John, 23rd October 1876. 

Now recently, I was asked to research my son-in-law's family, their British & German roots, and ran across a great-grandmother of his born in Ireland. Another Irish connection. How interesting, I thought.  [Happy St.Patrick's Day!]

Martha Jane DONAGHY, b. abt 1877, in Emyvale, County Monaghan, N.Ireland, married 2 Aug 1898 in Glasgow, Scotland to James PERRY, b. 1875 in Hartshill, Warwickshire, England.  Her parents were Patrick DONAGHY and Martha McGUINESS, both of Ireland. The 1911 Census of England & Wales gave the birthplace for each person, which was my first finding of the village of Emyvale in Monaghan for Martha Jane DONAGHY's birthplace.  

On a map, I saw that the village of Emyvale was very close to the northern edge of County Monaghan... and just for a lark, I looked for where the village of Augher was in the south of County Tyrone.  CLOSE!  Very close: 10.8 miles (17.4 km), in fact.  With a steady walk, it's only a few hours away. Click on the link to see the region on Google Maps.

So I have found that my daughter and her husband, both have direct ancestors - great-grandmothers - who took different routes emigrating from their nearby villages in Northern Ireland. And their descendants ended up across the ocean, across Canada, in Victoria, British Columbia, where they met and married. Amazing. Half way round the world.

I'm sorry I don't have a photo of Martha Jane DONAGHY Perry.  Apparently a box or two of photographs is coming "soon".  I can't wait to see if there are photographs of her in the box. 

If you have further information on any of the people listed here, do contact me directly via calewis at telus dot com.  I would love to continue adding more details and photos to my son-in-law's family records.  

NOTE: My Blogger account is acting up and not allowing me to reply to comments just now. Assume that I am absolutely thrilled you took the time to come by, read the notes, and comment. You make my day!

GENEALOGY DO-OVER, Week 8 - How is it going?

Week 8 in the Genealogy Do-Over, and given the challenges I had with my eye surgery and post-surgery recovery time, I'm doing very well indeed!!

Week 8 focuses on two important research tools:
1.  Conducting Collateral Research, and
2.  Researching Offline Education Opportunities.

Tick!  Yes, I have researched collateral relatives family details as much as I have been able to find, for over 10 years.  Sometimes that has been the only way I found where a family originated from, or gained an understanding of the occupations of the family members.  Frequently looking through collateral relatives has helped me decide if a particular family group IS or IS NOT my ancestors - names, occupations, religions, neighbours - these details and more are so helpful. I keep details on my full family tree, and considered them "family" just as much as the direct ancestors.

In general I go up a few generations, and down several generations as well.  For my various Grover Buel(l) ancestors, I had to use collateral relatives' details in order to make sense of the line. And then I followed down the collateral relatives to see if any others kept up using the surname Grover as a forename.  The collateral relatives' research was  necessary also as I struggled to dig through the tangled lives of the several Archibald "Archer" Walters men, their parents and their children.   So this 'new' learning was actually old-hat for me, and all I'm doing is making certain that I have indeed done the research, and clarified the in-laws and out-laws!

Oh Dear:  The second point about researching offline education opportunities - this is significantly more difficult for me.  Retired on no pension, living with my youngest son who is unable to work competitively, means I have such a squeaky budget that my so-called disposable income is tiny.  I have to figure out where to spend it, and sometimes I decide to spend it on a haircut, or on tickets to Bard on the Beach in the summertime in Vancouver.  These are choices, of course, and I could choose to pinch even tighter to see if I could pull enough dollars together for a conference out of province.  Don't hold your breath!  I love conferences, but this is unlikely.

I have my BC Genealogy Society I belong to, attending meetings as well as some of the special events we put on.  The LDS Tri-Stake one-day Conference held here in the Lower Mainland (Surrey, BC) in October is one I attend almost every year.

But I have my list of want-to-attend conferences, with these two at the top of the list:  RootsTech, Jamboree (SCGS).  And wouldn't it be a treat to go to England for their huge Who Do You Think You Are conference?  Then again, there's the pull of visiting Northern Ireland... I would love to travel to my great-grandparents' village of Augher in County Tyrone, to see if I could find "something" about the Armstrong and Gillespie families there.

One day...  In the meantime, doing my second year of #52Ancestors posts on my blog, Twigs and Trees, gives me a weekly opportunity to research one ancestor at a time and save documents, maps, books, photos, "properly" - labelled correctly in a standardized way, as well as use my new habit of adding to my Research Log(s), To Do lists, Document Sources to cite.  I can't believe how easy it is becoming to do this in a methodical organized fashion.  Every time.

Amazing.  Thanks to all the helpful genealogy people on the Genealogy Do-Over Facebook group for their great templates, suggestions, helpful hints and examples. You're a great community.

And a huge THANK YOU to Thomas MacEntee for proposing such a crazy idea of actually "doing over" our genealogy tree and research work. Definitely crazy - definitely worth doing, and not as difficult as I thought it would be!

THE NORTHERN IRELAND CONNECTION - Gillespie line

My father's surname was GILLESPIE, and I knew very little about his parents' ancestors when I started trying to research our family tree about 8 years ago.  All direct grandparents and parents were deceased by then, and I wasn't very close to my much-older first cousins on that side.

Dad was born in Cambusnethan, Lanarkshire, Scotland  on Sunday April 7, 1907, coming over to Canada with his Mom and 4 siblings in November 1914, following his father who had arrived in Canada in 1911.  Thank heavens for passenger lists with all their details!   remember both his parents having an accent of some sort - maybe it was Scottish, or English - I wasn't even sure! My Dad was nicknamed "Scottie" when he was younger because of his accent - which disappeared in his teens. My grandparents never talked about the old country that I remember.

I assumed we were Scottish, because of his birthplace, and the tossed-off comment that his older siblings remembered playing on Hadrian's Wall.  But I also knew they lived in Barrow in Furness, Lancashire, England, before coming to Canada.  Hmmmm.  Odd that we never questioned them - or maybe it isn't very odd at all.  Children are rather narcissistic by nature and development, so by the time I thought to ask questions, my grandparents and their older children were deceased.

Research now shows that my grandfather GILLESPIE - Jack (William John) - was born in Augher, County Tyrone, Ireland, 23 August 1876.  And I have the birth registration to prove it, showing his father, his mother and her maiden name (ARMSTRONG), the village, and the belated registration of his name in October 1876.  Yeah!! And the person "present at the birth" had the same surname as Grandpa's mother's maiden name: a Margerie Armstrong, living in the same village of Augher. Possibly her mother? A sister? Aunt? Clues galore! Grandpa's younger brother, Jim (James Robert), was born a few miles further north in Omagh, County Tyrone, Ireland.  Page-by-page-turns through a Family History film found me his birth registration, with same parents' names.  Excellent confirmation.  The entire family - Grandpa, his brother Jim, his parents, and his grandparents with aunt and uncles - all moved from Ireland to Barrow in Furness between 1879-1881, as they are all listed on the England Census 1881.

A few years ago, I finally reached out to a few of my elderly first cousins on my dad's side.  He was the 2nd youngest in the family, and his elder siblings were already married and with teenaged children when he finally got married in 1941. Our first cousins ranged from 15-25 or more years older than us, the youngest grandchildren. June had a lovely large photograph of my Grandpa's siblings and parents, in the mid-1890s (incorrectly labelled as 1890). Grandpa is the young man on the left. What a glorious find! I have also had wonderful conversations with another cousin, Catherine, who is now 87 years old, about our mutual grandparents and stories she remembers.

Now I'm searching diligently through Northern Ireland records, and maintaining a relationship with Catherine, enjoying reminiscing with her, teasing out more possible clues to follow, and enjoying her stories.  She has photographs my parents didn't - which I've scanned, and is also able to give me relatives' names in England, early history of our grandparents in Canada, explanations, and more!

If you have more information on our GILLESPIE-ARMSTRONG family, do please contact me at calewis at telus dot net and I'll be happy to correspond.  Or, leave a comment below.