RootsChat.Com

My ancestor from Armagh had a conditional baptism as a child, one parent seems to have been COI and the other RC. He went on to grow up and marry his RC wife in the RC church and all kids were raised RC so for my family the conitional baptism was important because his father may have attempted to raise his son COI but his mother ensured he was raised Catholic.

Not sure if anyone is still following this but I am the great-great grandson of Mary Ann McInrue and James McGovern who married in 1884, Coatbridge.

I have a copy of Mary Ann's baptism which took place in the parish of Kilquade in County Wicklow, Ireland. Her name on this was recorded as 'Maria Anna McInroe' baptised on 29th of May 1864, parents given as 'John McInroe and Elizabeth Teevan', address given as the townland of 'Knockadreet'.

I also have a civil record which seems to line up with date and place, however the name on it is recorded as 'Margaret McIlrue' and parents are recorded as 'Patrick McIlrue' and 'Eliza Tieven', address given as 'Roundwood'. So whether the civil record is for the same family, I'm not entirely sure...

Mary Ann's baptismal record in Co. Wicklow lines up with the information Mary Ann provided on the 1921 Census of Scotland, on this her birth place is also recorded as Co Wicklow.

- Sam

Wondering if anyone has any old photos of Killeshandra's Main Street and/or Castle Street?

I'm particularly interested for the area around where the two streets meet. It is my understanding that my family (Gilronan) once worked in a Blacksmith forge located on Castle Street and also had a boarding house nearby on the Main Street.

My ancestor was Margaret Gilronan (1877-1961) wife of Patrick McManus. She grew up in Killeshandra with her parents James Gilronan (1852-1918, husband of Mary Anne Duignan) who worked as a Blacksmith there. She had a large family, sisters who became the proprietresses of a boarding house and brothers who followed in their father's footsteps and became Blacksmiths.

For anyone interested in David Shanks and his wife Mary Scott I have found some more information on David and his parents.

It seems most likely that David Shanks was the son of William Main and Agnes Shanks.

His death record which was registered in 1892 by his son records him as 'David Main, known as David Shanks, son of William Main and Agnes Shanks'. This lines up with the name he gave his first born son of William Main Shanks in 1864.

His parents William Main & Agnes Shanks seem to have married in 1828 in New Monkland. There is also a 'Decreet of Declarator' record for William Main and Agnes Shanks from 1833, I have only come across the index for this on the Scottish Indexes website, I haven't been able to view the original record so I'm not sure what information it may contain.

David becomes the farmer at Blackrigg or Blackridge Farm (Clarkston, New Monkland) which was somewhere near Wester Moffat, sometime following the death of his unmarried aunt Jean Shanks in 1860. Prior to this he was at Drumshangie Farm with his uncle Thomas Shanks & family.
Thomas Shanks and Jean Shanks were both the children of David Shanks and Jean Thomson, so David's mother Agnes Shanks must also have been the child of David Shanks and Jean Thomson.

His aunt Jean Shanks worked as a servant at Wester Moffat and appears there in the 1841 and 1851 Censuses. Interestingly, in 1841 with Jean there is an Agnes Shanks also recorded at Wester Moffat. I presume this may have been David's mother (perhaps her husband William Main had died by this date?) but I haven't been able to trace her after 1841.

So it looks as though David was unsure of his true parentage when he married in 1862, hence why he states his parents names as 'David Shanks & Agnes Shanks' rather than William Main and Agnes Shanks. Perhaps he only found out his true parentage after marriage? This seems to be most likely as his children knew his parents as William Main and Agnes Shanks and he must've known this too by 1864 when he named his first son William Main Shanks.

1792 Old Parish Record of Baptism for Ann McPherson, daughter of Alexander McPherson and Sarah Cameron