Gilligan, Hillsborough, Co Down c 1843

[moominmama]

I'm trying to trace the family of my great grandmother, Emma Gilligan, born in Hillsborough, Co Down circa 1843.  I'm very new to this ancestry business, but have searched all the records available on A*******, and have found no record of her birth anywhere.  I seem to be struggling with the Irish Birth Records thing, can anyone point this beginner in roughly the right direction?  Any help very gratefully received!  Thank you.

[maryderry]

could this be her child.

Record Type Civil Birth
Date of Birth 13 Dec 1867
Gender M
Fathers Name Frederick SMYTH
Mothers Forenames Emma
Mothers Maiden Name GILLIGAN
Civil District  Lisburn
Sub District Hillsborough
County Down

                                                      regards mary.

[aghadowey]

Civil registration of births in Ireland started in 1864 so there will be no birth certificate for Emma Gilligan born c1843. Ancestry have very few Irish records which is why you've had no luck there.
For pre-registration dates you need to check church records (if they exist) but to do so you need to know the family's religion and where they lived.

[moominmama]

Thanks for your replies.  The lack of Irish records on Ancestry makes it a real difficulty!  Sadly I have no idea whatsoever on the religion of Emma's family, so that makes it very tricky indeed.

could this be her child.

Record Type Civil Birth
Date of Birth 13 Dec 1867
Gender M
Fathers Name Frederick SMYTH
Mothers Forenames Emma
Mothers Maiden Name GILLIGAN
Civil District  Lisburn
Sub District Hillsborough
County Down

                                                      regards mary.

Mary, that's definately them!  We have her husbands surname as Smith on records for later dates.  Does this mean that the child was born in Lisburn do you think??  We thought he was born in Newcastle upon Tyne.  I'm trying to track where the family lived at various times - they were very nomadic, moving all around the UK and at one point in India (Frederick was in the Hussars).

I'll keep chipping away at it, in the hope that more information will come to light.

[aghadowey]

could this be her child.

Record Type Civil Birth
Date of Birth 13 Dec 1867
Gender M
Fathers Name Frederick SMYTH
Mothers Forenames Emma
Mothers Maiden Name GILLIGAN
Civil District  Lisburn
Sub District Hillsborough
County Down

                                                      regards mary.

[TF13]

hi moominmama (great name and welcome to rootschat!

have you seen ros davies site? http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~rosdavies/
it has info on gilligan's from hillsborough parish,including the birth of emma's child. the gilligan's on the site seem to be church of ireland, so that should give you a start to finding if the church records are still around.you should be able to find if the church of ireland parish records for hillsborough exsist(for your timescale) on the PRONI website http://www.proni.gov.uk/

also,there were only 2 gilligans in Griffiths Valuation of Ireland for County Down,Issac and Thomas,both in the townland of Ballykeel-Artifinny,parish of hillsborough.In this case the date was 1863.This was a survey of property occupiers in Ireland made between 1848 and 1864 and it's importance lies in the fact that it lists almost every head of household for each county.you can search it here; http://griffiths.askaboutireland.ie/gv4/gv_start.php


tony

[aghadowey]

also,there were only 2 gilligans in Griffiths Valuation of Ireland for County Down,Issac and Thomas,both in the townland of Ballykeel-Artifinny,parish of hillsborough.In this case the date was 1863.This was a survey of property occupiers in Ireland made between 1848 and 1864 and it's importance lies in the fact that it lists almost every head of household for each county.you can search it here; http://griffiths.askaboutireland.ie/gv4/gv_start.php

PRONI Will Extracts list only 3 Gilligans one of which is Isaac Gilligan of Ballykeelartifinny died 12 Sept.1884. www.proni.gov.uk

[moominmama]

Thanks, some really useful information here, will explore those links when I have a bit more time. 

TF13, thanks for the welcome, I'm still very much finding my feet.  I am quietly excited about some of this info, as Emma called one of her sons Isaac, so perhaps there is a link there.

I am so impressed at all the shared knowledge on here, it's an amazing forum!

[TF13]

Emma called one of her sons Isaac, so perhaps there is a link there.

there is more on isaac gilligan apart from the will extract aghadowey mentioned. isaac's wife was mary gilligan,died 3-jan-1884 aged 72. another daughter called barbara who married a samuel gregg,this is her on the 1911 census;http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/pages/1911/Down/Ormeau/Jameson_Street/214514/  she died 18-feb-1918.

barbara married samuel gregg on 7-sept-1883 in hillsborough church of ireland.

i'm sure there is a link between your emma and isaac,could be father or uncle or whatever but def a link,so the info above could become useful in the future;let's hope so anyway

tony