Alexander Blair Brick Wall Ireland Before 1837

[aghadowey]

I don't think anyone has suggested that you go personally to New York State to do any research (I certainly didn't) although your location in your profile is "Watertown, Jefferson, New York."
What I would suggest is ORDERING at least one of those certificates (preferably both) so that you can see EXACTLY what is recorded.

I do not doubt that Alexander Blair (1837-1903) was born in Ireland, was impoverished (he was illiterate), and likely came to US via Canada because he was living in poverty.  Even in Ireland at the time, children went to school if they had resources to do so.
Please do not blame his illiteracy on Ireland or his family's supposed poverty there. If he did leave Ireland as a very young child (as indicated in later records) then it's possible he did not have opportunities for much education in the U.S. or Canada. We don't know if the parents came with him or how long they survived so there's no way at the moment to know what is early life was like.

The news about possible link to a local historian is very promising and will hopefully add a bit more detail to Alexander Blair's life.

Added- ordering N.Y State certificates- suggest you ask local historian if they have those certificates before ordering-
https://www.health.ny.gov/vital_records/genealogy.htm

[oldkid1943]

"    *******
    Posts: 43,741
        View Profile Personal Message (Offline)

Re: Alexander Blair Brick Wall Ireland Before 1837
« Reply #27 on: Yesterday at 08:03 »

    Quote

I don't think anyone has suggested that you go personally to New York State to do any research (I certainly didn't) although your location in your profile is "Watertown, Jefferson, New York."

Sorry, my mistake... I assumed the location following my birth date on a genealogy forum was referring to the location where I was born.  I was born in Watertown, NY, and now live in San Antonio, TX.  I will leave it as it is even though it may confuse the issues at hand. 
Searching for a marriage license/certificate in New York is like a needle in a haystack, and you're right, best suggestions come from authoritative sources if they are reachable and cooperative.  Seventeen years of research on a shoestring has taught me it's a mixed bag, and bureaucrats don't have the same enthusiasm for meeting your needs as you have.  You can talk all day long to some and get no relevant answers, or you can get lucky one time and find a nugget.  You take what you can get, beat your head against a wall nine times and maybe get one good contact.  I persevere...
BTW... If you have tried to find transcriptions or microfilm of Marriages in St. Lawrence County you will find NONE in the years Alexander Blair was married, and responsibility for recording them was switched and passed back and forth between town clerks, county clerks, and state bureaucracies.  There is no central repository that I can find.  Not even NYEASY... Did you find any reference to anyone holding a Marriage licence or certifificate or registry for Any Alexander Blair in 1859 or any marriage to Catherine Kennedy at any time between 1888 and 1900?  Have you ever found anything on the 1890 census for 1890 that might be useful.  St. Lawrence County is not on the remnants of the 1990 Census, (Fragments of the US census population schedule exist only for the states of Alabama, District of Columbia, Georgia, Illinois, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, South Dakota, and Texas.), or at least, Familysearch.org has not filmed those fragments, and Alexander never lived anywhere beyond ten miles from Depeyster (Mail address East Road, Depeyster and/or Heuvelton, St. Lawrence, New York, during his adult life.  I lived and worked as a teen in that depressed dairy farming area until 1962 when I left just as I BELIEVE Alexander left Ireland, to find a better life.  I still have brothers and a sister who have never been outside the boundaries of St. Lawrence County, and still live in the same conditions they knew when they were born in the 1940s, the only difference being now they have welfare programs (say social services) to prop them up.  I know the people.  Where did you grow up... perspective is everything.  Thanx for being interested.

[aghadowey]

Since there seems to be an extracted record for the marriage and death it leads me to believe that those records do exist. However, it is entirely up to you to decide if you have the funds/ wish to purchase those certificates. I have been able to do much of my own personal research without spending large amounts of money but there are sometimes a choice has to be made- either spend money or get stuck on that particular enquiry.

I still can't see any reason for assuming that Alexander Blair's family were very badly off in Ireland without more to back that up. My great-great-grandfather's siblings left Ulster in the 1840s for Canada, eventually moving to Michigan before spreading out across the U.S. At least one 'signed' documents with his mark but they were not poor or uneducated. The family in Ireland were tenants of several farms (few farmers actually owned their land) and prosperous. My great-grandfather made a business trip to Boston shortly before he married in the 1840s. His children did well (minister, teachers, missionary, policeman, farmer) and travelled to America, Australia & New Zealand, Syria & India, etc.

You are also, I think, assuming that I know nothing about researching in New York state or perhaps even America. I grew up not all that far from St. Lawrence County, my uncle had a farm in a very remote and impoverished area of northern N.Y. State (some people in their 'town' have never left the town let alone the county) which we visited frequently and I researched extensively in New England, N.Y. and Pennsylvania records so I do have an idea of what records might be available and worth checking.

I don't think there's any point now in trying to help you further but best of luck in your research.