Searching for O'Neill Family

[kat0624]

Good morning!  I am starting to come back to one of my difficult lines and I am hoping to maybe have another person see something I have missed.  My 3rd g-grandmother, Ann O'Neill, was born in County Meath about 1838.  She married James McKenna, a butcher in Belfast in 1864 and remained in Belfast until her death sometime between 1901 and 1911.  I have been able to locate information on her from her marriage record, birth of her children and her residence in Belfast, but nothing prior.  The information about her birth in County Meath was from the 1901 census.  I haven't been able to pinpoint where in the County either.  I believe her to be catholic as they married in St. Malachy's Roman Church in Belfast.  I don't know how she ended up there.  If anyone is researching this family, I would greatly appreciate any help you have.

Thanks again!

[shanew147]

Do you have a civil record of the marriage ?

It should show her father's name and occupation, which might help narrow down possible locations in Co. Meath this family lived. You need to try to work out which parish your O'Neills lived to check if baptism records are available for the dates you need.





S.

[kat0624]

Shane,

I was able to locate a person in Belfast who did the lookup for me at GRONI.  Unfortunately, they advised that they were unable to locate it.  He believed that since it was only some months into 1864, that the church did not follow through with submitting the information.  Since there is no civil record and the church record has no parental information, I am at a dead end.  Can you think of any other place to go further with this line or should I leave it as it is?  I located Annie's obit in 1919 and no personal information was listed.  James did not have an obit, although I did locate his death in 1910.  It's so frustrating, but I suppose most researching can be!

[shanew147]

unfortunately with no parish and no family details, there's nothing much to go on - you could find quite a few Ann O'Neill baptisms, but no way to prove or disprove a connection to any of these without some new evidence..

Were there any O'Neills as witnesses to the marriage, or a godparents for the children baptisms ?


S.

[kat0624]

I took your advice and rummaged through siblings certs.  Well, another mystery.  I located one of their son's marriage records and on the bottom is stated, "husband's parents from Moira, County Down".  I'm sure that Anne is from Meath since it showed it on both the 1901 & 1911 census, but maybe the father is not from Belfast as noted in the 1901 census.  I believe Moira is about 15 miles away.  Close enough.  This is never easy, is it?

I believe this is them.....any thoughts? After looking at Anne and James' marriage record, I got to thinking.  If they married in Belfast, who is to say that Anne wasn't already living there when she met them?  I looked at the 1861 directory and there is a James O'Neill nailer, living at 44 Bank Street.  Then in the 1868 direcory, James O'Neill is still living at 44 Bank and now is a fowl dealer.  Hand in hand with James McKenna, the butcher.
She ended up living the rest of her life with her husband, James McKenna at 35 Bank Street. 
I might be missing it, but I cannot locate my James McKenna on the 1861/1868 Belfast directory.  Maybe he was living with them?  I can't think of anything else.  He pops up at 35 Bank in the 1877.

Phew.  Would you mind taking a swing at locating James' death info?  I've looked on AncestryIreland, Rootsireland and emeralds' ancestors with no luck.  Since he was alive in 1868, there should be some death info somewhere.  I'm hoping to see an informant and some additional info. 

Thx in advance for any help!

[shanew147]

...
Phew.  Would you mind taking a swing at locating James' death info?  I've looked on AncestryIreland, Rootsireland and emeralds' ancestors with no luck.  Since he was alive in 1868, there should be some death info somewhere.  I'm hoping to see an informant and some additional info. 
.....

no simple way to locate a death for a common name - other than searching through the possible deaths on the BMD Index - e.g. on FamilySearch. Dont know the specific details of the sources available on two of the websites you mentioned, but many of the RootsIreland transcripts are from parish records .. and RC registers often dont include death/burials so might not be a good place to search.

dont know if you have an estimate of birth for this James O'Neill, but if he died in Belfast after 1868, and was born sometime before 1818 (i.e. 20 years before Ann's est. birth), then there are quite a few possible matches on the BMD Index - James O'Neill deaths Belfast

I dont think narrowing this list down would be very practical - with such a common name there are probably similar number back in Co. Meath also...

A couple of points to be careful of with directories, is that they only show head of household, and often concentrate on people with certain trades, running their own business etc - but not necessarily people employed by others etc


Shane

[kat0624]

Thank you so much for getting back with me.  It seems that each line I have has it's own difficult wall to pass.  I appreciate your advise, though.  I did locate some information on the McKenna side I would not have known about and it gave me some insight into the O'Neill's.  This whole time I thought that Annie came to Belfast at marriage.  Now it looks as if she was pretty much raised there.  I am going to reach out and see if I can whittle down my options on her father, James O'Neill and see where he is buried.  Hopefully, with a date, I can see where he is buried and with whom.  Little by little, the picture is coming together.  Just at a snail's pace.

Thank you again!