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I am seeking any help anyone can give me in tracing the family of James McAlister who was married to Mary Kennedy and had a son named William Gordon McAlister, born approx. 1912, who was married to my great aunt Gwendoline Higginson and was killed in 1940 returning from a bombing raid in Germany.

What little info I have comes from Gordon's records on a couple of memorial sites. A newspaper article at the time of his death stated that his parents lived in Charnwood Avenue, Cavehill, Belfast, and that Gordon had married my great aunt in the autumn of 1939. Having then looked at the 1939 street directory I found McAllister, James, teacher, in Charnwood Avenue (he's listed there right through to 1951) but beyond that I can get nowhere tracing backwards to find out more about Gordon's family.

As always, any help gratefully received!

Back in January, I got some GREAT HELP with the Anderson side of my Wylie family tree (http://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php/topic,631572.0.html) and now I'm hoping someone will be able to give me some help with tracing living relatives in the Belfast area and beyond.

My father, Albert Alexander (Bertie) Wylie was a great deal older than my mother, born in the Castlereagh area of Belfast to James Wylie and Jane Anderson in 1900. He was one of five brothers, the others being Samuel James (S J) Wylie, Robert Waddell (Bobby) Wylie, William Charles (Billy) Wylie and Matthew Anderson (Andy) Wylie.

Samuel (S J) Wylie was a Presbyterian minister and died in Canada in 1992 but I believe he had four daughters with his wife, Sarah McClements, all of which were born in Northern Ireland.

Bobby Wylie married Grace Dobbin and I believe it's their son, my cousin Robin, who had the unpleasant task of informing us when someone in the family had died. I haven't seen him in more than twenty years (think the last time was at my Uncle Andy's funeral) and am unsure if he married or had children.

Billy married Margaret Eleanor (no idea of her surname) but I don't think they had any children. Andy never married.

I can take the family back several generations but am hoping to find someone who can help me fill in the more recent blanks and *fingers crossed* might have some photographs of my dad when he was young. Question is, how do I find them? In the good old days I'd simply have looked in a phone book and rang a few numbers but short of leaving messages on some of the ancestry boards, I'm stumpled.

Help?

Trish

I'm hoping someone might be able to help me find a new lead for my grandmother's side of the family tree. Jane Anderson married James Wylie in McQuiston Memorial Presbyterian Church, Belfast in 1894 when she was 19. She was living in the Castlereagh Road area at the time and her father is listed as William Anderson, a grocer.

On further investigation I know Jane's mother was also called Jane as she was living with her daughter and son-in-law on both the 1901 and 1911 census, listed as married in the former and widowed in the latter (presumably her husband died somewhere in the intervening years, though I have been unable to find him on the 1901 census). Jane is buried with her daughter and a granddaughter, Jane Anderson Wylie, who died in infancy, in the Wylie family plot in Belfast.

From there I was able to track back to a birth record of my grandmother being born on 5th March 1875 to William Anderson and Jane Anderson Anderson, so (again presumably) her mother was an Anderson before she married. There does appear to be a wedding record for a William John Anderson, a confectioner, who married a Jane Anderson in 1869 which is a very strong possibility but as of yet unconfirmed. My grandfather James Wylie was also listed as a grocer on his wedding cert and by 1901 is a bread server, so it may have been that their occupations changed with the times.

So, beyond being able to add that my father had a cousin called John Anderson in the States when he travelled across in the 1920's, that is the sum total of my knowledge and I really have no idea where to go from here. I was born when my father was in his sixties so never thought to ask any of these questions before he died but can tell you his brothers had Charles, Waddell and Robert as part of their names which don't seem to come from the Wylie side of the family. The same goes for my father, who was Albert Alexander, neither of which appear in the consistantly repetitive naming of children in that line going right back to the late eighteenth century. I know sometimes names help, sometimes they don't, but thought I would mention it just in case. If anyone can point me in the right direction or offer some advice about what to do next, I would be deeply grateful.

Many thanks,
Trish

Since I'm at the point where I'm ready to pull my hair out with these two I'm hoping someone can help me with my great-great grandparents (though to be honest I'm not entirely certain the enquiry belongs on this board.)

Anyhoo, here goes.

My gg-grandfather William John Sloan moved to Boyle in Co. Roscommon from Co. Down and opened a hardware store in Main Street in 1863. My gg-grandmother Mary Anne McLean states on both the 1901 and 1911 census that she was born in Co. Roscommon but she married William in Omagh Presbyterian Meeting House, Co. Tyrone in 1870. On the cert I have it states her father Samuel McLean was an architect so considering both his job and the period I'm assuming he may have moved from place to place and therefore have no idea from whence he came. The only other info I have is that their witnesses were Isaac McLean and Thomas K Sloan, presumably brothers of the bride and groom respectively and that William's father was John Sloan, a farmer. After that I've hit a brick wall. I can continue down the line with their children, grandchildren, etc. but can't go back any further, so any and all help is very gratefully received!

The info I have to date is:

Mary Anne Mclean (b. 1848, Co. Roscommon, father Samuel McLean)
married
William John Sloan (b. 1836, Co. Down, died 1919 Boyle, Co. Roscommon, father John Mclean)

Their children were all born in Boyle:

John Sloan (1871-1903) married Jeanette Boyle Hanna
Susan Huston Sloan (1873-1954)
William John Samuel Sloan (1874-?)
Mary Sloan (1878-1955)
Isabella Sloan (1879-?)
Margaret Knox Sloan (1881-1974) married Thomas Henry Mallagh
Bertha Sloan (1883-?) married Joseph Mallagh
Jessie Scott Sloan (1885-1905)


If perchance there is anyone on the board who is from or knows Boyle and can tell me where I might find the Presbyterian burial ground for the family plot that would also be very much appreciated.

Many thanks
Trish

Just about ready to tear my hair out with this one so if anyone can help with any of it or point me in the right direction, I will be eternally grateful!

Hammond Higginson was born in Ballinderry, Co. Antrim in 1809, lived for a while in Co. Tyrone and then shows up on the Griffith's Valuation as Hammon Higgison in Ballmoghan More on land owned/leased by The Worshipful Company of Salters. He is still on that land in the 1901 census with his wife Mary and son Robert Henry Higginson. Robert then takes on the land after his father's death and shows up in the 1911 census.

As of now I can find only three children; Robert Henry born in 1857, Isabella in 1851 and Mary Jane who I don't have a birth year for, but they all seem to have been born in Co. Tyrone before they moved to Co. Londonderry. I have no idea if there were children before or after those dates. I also have no idea what Hammond's wife Mary's maiden name is, but I do know she was born in Co. Londonderry, so I suppose there's a fair chance they married there...

The family is listed as Church Of Ireland in the 1901 census if that helps any.

Help?!

Trish