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England (Counties as in 1851-1901) => England => Lancashire => Topic started by: Revolution on Tuesday 16 May 17 00:18 BST (UK)
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Hi
My ancestor Joseph McGraw was born in Ireland. His wife Margaret Freel was also born in Ireland.
We think they got married in Liverpool but cannot find the marriage record. Both were illiterate which may account for some of the varied spellings of their surname. We have no idea about their origins other than Ireland but would like to find their marriage around 1838.
Their first son Edward McGraw was born on 12 Jan 1839 at 20 Johnson Street, Liverpool, Lancashire, England.
Joseph McGraw was born next in 1842
John McGraw in 1846
Margaret in 1849. She died somewhere between 1849 and 1852
James McGraw was born in 1850
Margaret McGraw was born in 1852
They are in the 1841 census as Magray. Also with them is a Patrick Magray who may be a younger brother or cousin.
1851 census listed as Negraw
1861 census listed as McGraw
1871 listed as McGrath
1881 census listed as Mc Grath
They were primarily in 1 Court, Forrest Street, Liverpool or similar "Courts'.
We have the birth certificates of Edward McGraw and James McGraw. We cant find the others using the GRO website.
We have their baptisms at St Peters
We have the burial place for Margaret McGrath in Anfield Cemetery, RC Ground, Toxeth Park Liverpool who died 7th April 1867 and was buried 9 April 1867, aged 47yrs, from 2 Court Forrest Street, Liverpool. Section 10; Grave No 622. Rvd Robert Bridges performed the Cememory
Registrar was Geo Turvey
We don't have her husbands burial but he died on 17 October 1884 at 1 Court, Forrest Street, Liverpool, Lancashire, England.
Any help with finding the marriage would be appreciated.
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I've tried searching on the wife's name as that might be easier but nothing is coming up in England or Ireland. They may have married in Ireland where a lot of parish records don't start until a later date.
There are transcripts for Anfield Cemetery on the Toxteth Park Cemetery website but Anfield is not in Toxteth Anfield is a district in a different part of the city. A lot of the original images for Anfield and other cemeteries are now available to download free see the links in my Liverpool Family Search thread in Resources:-
http://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php?topic=770691.0
Blue
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GRO index
Margaret McGrael AGED 1
Liverpool
s quarter 1851
I can not find her birth
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Hi Radcliff - thank you for finding that. Margaret was born on 24 Feb 1849 she would have been two in 1851. Could they have made a mistake when registering the death? All the children were baptised at St Peter's Priory, Lancashire, England and we have most of their records.
Blue70 - thank you for looking and the cemetery suggestions.
I wondered if they met on the boat from Ireland to Liverpool. Her surname is unusual but as she was illiterate it may have been another variant altogether.
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Have you looked at the surnames? On Irish Ancestors the most common spelling of Margaret's surname was Friel with the next common Freel. A lot of people with this surname came from the north west of Ireland mostly from County Donegal. McGrath is more widespread throughout Ireland. There were regular steamships travelling between various parts of Ireland and Liverpool at that time there was no immigration process as it was internal travel so no travel records for these passengers:-
https://www.johngrenham.com/
Blue
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Yes I looked at that site last week. It is an unusual surname and that they seemed to be Catholics may help find a marriage or baptism record. Where to start though. So many parishes!
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If you haven't looked already the Irish Catholic parish records are online free at the National Library of Ireland website but with no search:-
http://registers.nli.ie/
Ancestry and Find My Past both have searches for these records so you can search there:-
http://search.ancestry.co.uk/search/db.aspx?dbid=61039
http://search.findmypast.co.uk/search-world-Records/ireland-roman-catholic-parish-marriages
The problem is though that the records may not exist for what you are looking for because at that time period a lot of parishes don't have records available.
Blue
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Margaret was born on 24 Feb 1849 she would have been two in 1851.
If she died before 24 February 1851 she would not have attained the age of two.
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Joseph was buried at Anfield Cemetery, Liverpool on 20 Oct 1884:-
https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-C9Y7-G36T-9?mode=g&i=408&cat=397178
Blue
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Thank you Blue70 - much appreciated! Ill start going through the Catholic registers this weekend after searching via the two links you provided.
Shaun J - Ive just ordered that certificate.
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Thank you Blue70 - much appreciated! Ill start going through the Catholic registers this weekend after searching via the two links you provided.
Shaun J - Ive just ordered that certificate.
I couldn't find a marriage in the Irish records hence why I keep mentioning that the record may not exist. The reason why I looked at the surname Friel was in desperation as I don't think you will be able to determine where exactly in Ireland they came from by looking at the Irish records. You really need that marriage record but it doesn't appear to exist. It happens a lot with Irish research for the first half of the 19th century. A lot of people can't be found in the earlier parish records. The main reason for this is because for a lot of Irish parishes the registers don't start until after many people left Ireland.
Blue
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Thanks Blue for your time looking into this.