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Ireland (Historical Counties) => Ireland => Armagh => Topic started by: Lumsdon on Sunday 26 March 17 19:24 BST (UK)
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Can anyone help me to identify where in Ireland my ancestors came from? They were called Ferry or Ferrie. I believe that the came to England from Armagh but their names are typical of Donegal. They arrived in England-Newcastle upon Tyne between the mid 1850"s and the late 1860's.
My great-great grandparents were called James and Margaret Ferry. Margaret was born around 1797.James was dead before 1871.
I believe that they had the following children
Hugh
Daniel b1836
Ellenor ELLA b1834
James B 1842.
They had links to Oban and were probably of Scottish origin.
They may have had French Huguenot ancestors.
I would greatly appreciate any help anyone can give me.
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Have you found them in any census in England and what religion were they?
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Two Ferry surnames appeared in Armagh at time of the Griffiths Valuation c1864.
FERRY James, was in LEVALLEGLISH townland, LOUGHGALL parish
FERRY John, was in BALLYTRUE townland, KILMORE parish
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There was one Ferry household in Levalleglish at 1901:
http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/pages/1901/Armagh/Loughgall/Levalleglish/1016034/
and at 1911:
http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/pages/1911/Armagh/Loughgall/Levalleglish/327693/
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A James and Mary Ferry appear as sponsors to a baptism in the Loughgall RC records in 1847:
http://www.connorsgenealogy.com/Armagh/ChurchRecords.htm
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The Patrick of the 1901 and 1911 census died 31st March, 1913.
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Have you found them in any census in England and what religion were they?
as eileenwilson has indicated, some more details and sources of info would be helpful.
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The 1861 Census in Heworth, Co. Durham shows a Daniel Ferry, aged 25, unmarried, born Ireland, working as a chemical labourer. A Daniel Ferry shows up in the Newcastle-upon-Tyne electoral lists by 1872. In the 1881 census, there is a James Ferry, born about 1843 in Ireland, also working as a chemical labourer living in Heworth, Co. Durham. He has a small son, also named Daniel.
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Thank you all so much. I have much information about the immediate family once they are in England but it is their Irish origins I am chasing. I have also traced Ella in USA but unfortunately her family do not know her place of origin in Ireland. The family were Roman Catholic. I will pursue the links outlined below. I have a distant cousin whose DNA matches mine who is from Donegal
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Online family tree at Ancestry maintained by a John Vester suggests that Ella was married to a John Boyle about 1855 in Ireland, and were in Felling, Co. Durham by the time of the 1861 Census. Some of her children were born in Heworth. In the 1861 census, she is living next door to Daniel, and I hadn't noticed that Hugh was also in the household with Daniel.
Daniel and Hugh in the 1861 census are aged 25 and 33 respectively, so born 1836 and 1828. Interestingly, Margaret is not noted in the 1861 census living with any of the children, so she may still be back in Ireland.
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Thank you Eileen. Yes I have been using this info. Margaret does not appear until 1871 where she is living in Heworth with her son James (my great grandfather). She is described as a widow. Jamess says that his father is deceased on his wedding certificate. I fear that she died in gateshead Union workhouse where she is to be found in the1881 census aged 82. I have looked up the references to Loughall, Levalleglish and they may be useful. James named his eldest son Patrick and his two daughters Ellen and Mary. He married Sarah Duffy from Annaghmore in 1873 in England. Annaghmore is reasonably close to Loughall. I will keep looking and thanks again
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An 88yr old James Ferry died in Armagh area in 1877, but unfortunately the record is not yet free to view online. Too late to be your James, if Margaret was widowed by 1871, but perhaps if nothing else, it could rule out the Levalleglish family if he was from there.
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Elleanor and John Boyle were married likely in Ireland given that the first two children were also born there, but I don't find a matching couple in the civil marriages where they should appear given they were likely married about 1855.
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Thank you scots mum for the note on James. i have found a James Ferrie in the 1828 Tithe Appointment book for Loughall. Interestingly the surname is spelt as Ferrie ( the more Scottish version) As far as I can tell James b1842 could not sign his name but when his grandchildren learned to read and write the spelling changed from Ferry, as recorded by the English census takers, to Ferrie-I presume that this is because they had Scottish origins. My father believed that they had immediate links to Oban.The family history is intriguing because they seem to have been descended from quite affluent if not wealthy family. My hypothesis is that they were descended from a once wealthy Huguenot who settled in Perth and married into Scottish families.At some point one of his descendants crossed over to N Ireland. Initially they would have been Presbyterians but converted to RC at some point.
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Yes Eileen I've had the same problem. I have found John Boyle from shank hill in Armagh who may be Ella 's husband. Without family knowledge these things are very difficult to corroborate.
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Online family tree at Ancestry managed by MargaretFerrie36 shows a death for James Ferry in 1871, aged about 50, in Dumfanaghy. Her facts seem a bit mixed up, so take that with a grain of salt.
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Hi Eileen-I am Margaret Ferrie- I'm afraid my tree for James has become distorted because I cannot delete some incorrect info
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Sorry about that ...
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No problem-I think most of the other stuff is accurate!
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Elleanor and John Boyle were married likely in Ireland given that the first two children were also born there, but I don't find a matching couple in the civil marriages where they should appear given they were likely married about 1855.
If they were Roman Catholic, unfortunately they would not be in the Civil records for marriages, as they did not start for RCs until 1864. They should, however, be in parish registers, if they have survived. You can have a look via http://registers.nli.ie/ .