My original posting was:
Looking for family connections of John Grier, son of William & Elizabeth, b ab 1862, m 1888 to Eliza Ann Luddington (ex New York) at Ramelton and emigrated to New Zealand 1889/90
I can now update this as follows:
John Grier's parents were William and Eliza Jane as per the Death Register here in New Zealand, and from here I have two options to investigate.
Firstly from the LDS records, a William GRIER married Eliza Jane McBEY in the Conwall Parish 1850.
Secondly From the Death Register records, New Zealand, a William GREER, from Donegal, died January 1900 aged 85, survived by daughters aged 41 & 38, and a son aged 36. While the son is unnamed, William GRIER is buried in the town here in New Zealand where they lived at that time, so it appears as fairly convincing.
While these can be one and the same person, I still have questions about the dates and ages of the surviving children.
Additional Information:
According to the 1857 Griffith's Valuation - Parish of Conwal, Co Donegal, there is a William GRIER listed as living in Woodtown, which is where John is listed as living on the Marriage Register entry, Ramelton Second Presbyterian Church.
Another entry in the 1857 Griffith's Valuation is for John McConnell of Barrack, which is where Eliza Ann LUDDINGTON is listed as living on the Marriage Register entry. Eliza's mother was Annie McCONNELL, and John & Eliza McConnell were recorded as witness to the marriage.
Although Eliza LUDDINGTON may have been born in New York (she is recorded as being there during the 1880 census at the age of 7) there is no record as to the whereabouts of her parents Thomas LUDDINGTON & Annie McCONNELL.
Now the questions:
It is a common belief held by the descendants here in New Zealand / Australia that John GRIER and Eliza LUDDINGTON are second cousins - there is nothing to substantiate this, so the need to trace the GREIR and McCONNELL pedigrees.
Can anyone help with this.
I would also like to trace the 2 daughters of the William GRIER. I 'suspect' that they also migrated to New Zealand, possibly at the same time, as I don't believe that a man of 75 years, as William would have been in 1890, would have made such an arduous journey, if there was no one left at home to look after him. (I am assuming that his unnamed wife died in Ireland earlier)
I presume the daughters would also have been from the Woodtown area, and were most probably married.
Can anyone help with this.