My great-grandparents - James Robb & Mary Ann(e) Taylor - Cumber, Fintona, Omagh

[gaffy]

... Maggie Evelyn - 11 - aka Eva - still alive in the 1960s and widow of W Robert Duncan and mother of 4 children - 3 boys and 1 girl

... Kathleen - 4 - still alive in 1968 and married to JD Gardner, living in Ballyclare, Co. Antrim and mother of 1 daughter (who my mother was still in contact with until the 1990s and was also my godmother)

Margaret Evelyn Robb married Robert Duncan on 2 December 1914 in Fintona Presbyterian Church, his father was John Duncan. GRONI online has the civil marriage record, it also has the marriage civil record for Kathleen Robb and John Gardner, it took place on 20 June 1923 and was registered in Omagh registration district.

[samanthator]

All I keep seeming to say is thankyou, thankyou, thankyou - but I am so very grateful for everyone's help - 

[gaffy]

You're welcome.  Just to check, are you aware of the family tree on the "Ancestry" website for your family, I assumed you were, it's clearly work in progress with a few gaps / errors, but a lot about Arthur Herbert Robb and others, I just assumed you had... (the caveat / health warning being to check / follow up on the information yourself).

Marriages for Sarah Amelia Robb and William John Taylor Robb are proving elusive, could they be outside Northern Ireland, what do you think?

[gaffy]

... it also has the marriage civil record for Kathleen Robb and John Gardner, it took place on 20 June 1923 and was registered in Omagh registration district.

Looks like the right marriage, to wit this notice in the Belfast Newsletter on the 27th June 1923:

Gardner-Robb June 20, 1923, at Fintona Presbyterian Church, by Rev. H. McMaster, B.A., Ballygilbert, Co. Down - John D. Gardner, son of the late John Gardner, Bruslee, Ballyclare, Co. Antrim, to Kathleen T. Robb, daughter of the late James Robb, Cumber, Fintona, Co. Tyrone 

This is John Dundee Gardner in 1901/1911, his parents were John Gardner (father William) and Jane Dundee (father John) who got married in Ballylinny Presbyterian Church near Ballyclare in 1879:

http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/pages/1901/Antrim/Ballylinney/Bruslee/918718/
http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/pages/1911/Antrim/Ballylinny/Bruslee/109960/

The PRONI website has the following Will Calendars index entry:

Gardner John Dundee of Bruslee Ballyclare county Antrim retired farmer died 8 November 1957 Probate Belfast 17 September to Rita Moore married woman and Kathleen Gardner the widow. Effects £6802 4s. 5d.

And the PRONI website has the actual will for his father John digitised online, which mentions wife Jane and all of the children:

The Will of John Gardner late of Bruslee County Antrim Farmer who died 12 January 1894 at same place was proved at Belfast by William Gardner and William Dundee both of Bruslee Farmers two of the Executors.

[samanthator]

wow - Gaffy - have you come up trumps  - yet again for me - thank you thank you thank you

Bruslee rings so many bells with me as in the late 1950s I visited 'Auntie' Kathleen and her family at Hillhead House and looking at Google maps I can see Hillhead Road leads from Ballyclare to Bruslee so that all makes perfect sense. 

It also means it had to be 1958 or 1959 that my mother and I made that trip over to NI as I thought I remembered being about 9 and 'Auntie' Kathleen was a widow.  I met Rita - who was my godmother - the one and only time I did - and her daughter - and I have been trying to pin that date down for a long time. 

the only problem now is that I am supposed to be going out in 10 minutes and I want to add all your information to my family tree asap    - now should I be late or be patient 

[gaffy]

Patience is a virtue. 

John Dundee Gardner's parents are buried in Ballylinny Old Graveyard, his mother Jane buried there in 1938: "In memory of John Gardner Bruslee who died 14th January 1894 aged 41 years and his son Robert died 16th November 1902 aged 18 years, also his wife Jane Dundee died 31st January 1938 aged 78 years". I couldn't see any grave for John Dundee Gardner or Kathleen Robb Gardner though.

I have to declare a co-incidence in that I live about 3 miles from Bruslee and drove past it about an hour ago. With the focus on Tyrone I hadn't really noticed the Ballyclare-Gardner (Bruslee) reference.

Small world.   

[gaffy]

John Dundee Gardner's father was John Gardner (who married Jane Dundee in 1879), John Gardner's father was William Gardner (a farmer), he shows up in Griffiths Valuation, here is the property in the OSI historical 6" mapping series, that house is still there today, it's a big old white farmhouse down a crooked lane just off the Hillhead Road (the cross marks the spot):

http://maps.osi.ie/publicviewer/#V2,730348,889243,10,7

[gaffy]

Have a look at the thread below about a Joseph McFarland who married an Elizabeth Young.

At reply #1 there is mention of one of their children being called Neville Guy McFarland.     

At reply #23 there is reference to Neville McFarland and wife Margaret being buried in old Dromore churchyard and a list of their possible children (including Joseph).

It is very suggestive of the Nevil(le) McFarland and Margaret Guy who were the parents of Margaret McFarland who married William Taylor. 

http://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php?topic=272018.0

And trading on the rarity of the name "Nevil(le) McFarland" and the McFarland / Newpark connection, a couple of interesting wills have been digitised and are viewable on the PRONI website:

The Will of Charles M'Farland late of Newpark County Tyrone Farmer deceased who died 20 July 1856 at same place was proved at Londonderry by the oath of Joseph M'Farland of Newpark (Dromore) aforesaid Farmer one of the Executors

The Will of Joseph M'Farlane late of Newpark County Tyrone Gentleman who died 21 February 1891 at Omagh was proved at Londonderry by Elizabeth M'Farlane of Newpark Widow one of the Executors.

[gaffy]

... Sarah Amelia - 16 - aka Amy and living in Portballintrae, Co. Antrim in 1965 having married Robert King ...

The marriage is too modern to find on any online database, if what follows is correct. Robert King of Bushmills (father Richard)  married Annie Browne of Eagry in Dunluce Presbyterian Church, Bushmills, on 6 April 1911. Here are the couple in 1911:

http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/pages/1911/Antrim/Portrush_Rural/Bushmills_Town/127945/
http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/pages/1911/Antrim/Bushmills/Eagry/127458/

Annie died on 7 March 1945, the PRONI website has the following Will Calendars index entry: King Annie of Eagry Bushmills county Antrim married woman died 7 March 1945 Probate Belfast 16 October to Robert King auctioneer. Effects £1449 2s. 7d.

The PRONI website has the following Will Calendars index entry for Robert: King Robert of The Eagry and of Main Street both in Bushmills county Antrim merchant and auctioneer died 24 March 1958 at former place Probate Belfast 3 September to Dermod Lyle Taggart solicitor Joseph Osborne (junior) and William Galbraith accountants and John Hanna medical practitioner. Effects £15811 10s. 5d.

Robert must have married Sarah Amelia Robb after wife Annie Browne's death in 1945, for when he died in 1958, his widow was one ... Sarah Amy King.  GRONI online has the death record.

And this is where there may be a potential linkage, for Robert King was born...  in Cumber, Fintona, on 12 May 1878 to parents Richard King and Matilda McCormick (who got married in Castlederg Second Presbyterian Church in 1868).