Author Topic: Henry McAlister / McAllister - Tailor in Ballycarry, Larne, Northern Ireland  (Read 7841 times)

Offline JimSummers

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I am trying to trace the birth of Henry McAlister in 1872 (+/- one year) in Co. Antrim, Northern Ireland, hopefully to confirm parents and earlier links.  He married Elizabeth (Lizzie) Kirk in 1897 and had five children between 1899 and 1909, and (I think) died in 1942. Marriage, birth and death records show him in Ballycarry / Templecorran, occupation tailor, and father was a James McAlister, but I can find no birth record. 
There are three Henry McAlisters born in 1871/1873 in Belfast but with no clear links to the Carrickfergus/Larne area.
I have a James McAlister who married Ann Millar in 1868, and had a son Robert in August 1874, before Ann died in 1875.  One family tree I saw showed Henry as 'Henry Millar McAllister' but without any source documentation to show where the 'Millar' part came from. If Henry was the son of James and Ann, in or around 1872, several pieces of the jigsaw would fit nicely, but the lack of a registered birth puzzles me, particularly as the Antrim records generally seem quite good after 1845.
Would it be common for a birth record in a rural area of Northern Ireland to be missing?  Or can anyone supply the missing link?
 

Offline aghadowey

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Re: Henry McAlister / McAllister - Tailor in Ballycarry, Larne, Northern Ireland
« Reply #1 on: Monday 10 November 14 14:56 GMT (UK) »
It might just be the spelling of the surname which is making it difficult to find Henry's birth registration. Civil registration of births started in 1864 but by 1870 was compulsary (it was registration of non-Catholic marriages which started in 1845).

For reference here are the census records-
www.census.nationalarchives.ie/pages/1901/Antrim/Templecorran/Ballycarry_Town/990521
www.census.nationalarchives.ie/pages/1911/Antrim/Eden/Commons/192908

What was the father James' occupation on Henry's marriage?
Away sorting out DNA matches... I may be gone for some time many years!

Offline JimSummers

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Re: Henry McAlister / McAllister - Tailor in Ballycarry, Larne, Northern Ireland
« Reply #2 on: Monday 10 November 14 16:28 GMT (UK) »
I've tried various spellings and wildcards including just putting the surname in as M*lister wich comes up with several spelling variants.
James (the father) was recorded as a labourer on Henry's marriage record, and if my suspected link is correct,
(a) he was married three times, first to Ann Millar who died in 1875; then to Mary Ann Snoddy in 1882 who died a year later in childbirth; and then in 1892 to Margaret Erskine whose family lived only a few miles away. Margaret lived to 1918. All these marriage records show his father as Robert McAlister.
(b) The first marriage record shows James as a labourer, the next as a farmer, the next as a miner.
(c) he worked in the Carrickfergus salt mines, actually dying there in 1904.  Living family knowledge indicates connections with the salt mines, and a death reported there.
(d) Griffiths Valuation of Ireland from mid-1800s shows the occupiers of French Park farmland as being Samuel and Robert McAlister - this was subsequently developed as French Park salt mine so the link is very plausible. 
It's just the lack of a birth record which bothers me!

Offline aghadowey

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Re: Henry McAlister / McAllister - Tailor in Ballycarry, Larne, Northern Ireland
« Reply #3 on: Monday 10 November 14 16:33 GMT (UK) »
You are only allowed to post a small portion of a certificate for deciphering purposes (and the site you obtained the details may have restrictions about cutting & pasting their details).

The GRONI site doesn't allow widlcards such as M*lister- have you searched there yet?
Away sorting out DNA matches... I may be gone for some time many years!


Offline Cazza47

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Re: Henry McAlister / McAllister - Tailor in Ballycarry, Larne, Northern Ireland
« Reply #4 on: Monday 10 November 14 16:33 GMT (UK) »
There is a Henry McAlister born 13th August 1871 in Antrim, Ireland, father James McAlister mother Ann Gilliland.
Carol
Muckley, Routledge, Roe, Bontoft, Brumpton, Bills, Aspatria, Carlisle

Offline Ken Reader

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Re: Henry McAlister / McAllister - Tailor in Ballycarry, Larne, Northern Ireland
« Reply #5 on: Saturday 22 November 14 00:51 GMT (UK) »
Hi, I am a grandson of Henry's and may be able to help. I have a lot of notes written by an aunt (one of his 11 children) although as yet I have not found a birth date. I believe his parents were James McAllister and Anne Millar.

Offline JimSummers

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Re: Henry McAlister / McAllister - Tailor in Ballycarry, Larne, Northern Ireland
« Reply #6 on: Thursday 04 December 14 17:21 GMT (UK) »
Hi Ken (don't know if that is your actual name but it will do!)

Many thanks for replying on this. 

Also thanks to the others who have responded.  To Carol (Cazza47) I had looked previously at that link, and have gone back and spent some time digging further into this.  Although it is around the right date, the father James McA came from Greenock, Scotland and there are a couple of other 'unnamed' births around that period, with him as father and Ann Gilliland as mother, they are all within Belfast city over a period of a few years and that doesn't easily tie in with James being a salt miner at Carrickfergus, and probably farming this land before salt mining started on it.

If the Millar connection is correct, Henry would have had a brother Robert born in 1874, who may have died at age 5 (this may be a different branch of the family).  also, if Annie Millar is the correct mother, this makes a lot of sense. 

My wife's aunt is Anna Leana (originally McAllister or McAlister) still living in Carrickfergus, daughter of Samuel and Mary J McClean.  I'm in Scotland and what I've got from her are anecdotes / snippets of information rather than any comprehensive background.  However she recalls strong connections with the salt mines, including family deaths there.

Apart from the mystery of Henry's birth date (I wonder if he was the son of perhaps a sister of James, but brought up within James's family?), I am trying to figure out the Saunderson connection. At least one document shows James as 'James Saunderson McAlister' and Henry's son Samuel was 'Samuel Sa(u)nderson McAlister'. I've seen one family tree showing James's mother as 'Fanny Saunderson' but I can find nothing to substantiate this.

Also, I've only found birth records for 5 children of Henry and Eliza/Lizzie Kirk, although there may be children to subsequent marriages? 

Earlier records show James as a 'labourer'.  Later records indicate 'salt miner'.  Henry's occupation throughout is shown as 'tailor' and this ties in with family knowledge - I'm told his tailor's shop in Ballycarry is now a butcher's shop...
 
Any light you can throw on any of these questions would be very welcome!

Regards
Jim





Offline JimSummers

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Re: Henry McAlister / McAllister - Tailor in Ballycarry, Larne, Northern Ireland
« Reply #7 on: Monday 09 March 15 16:24 GMT (UK) »
Still at a standstill with this one....  Ken Reader, if you're able to get in touch with any info, I'd be very grateful.


Offline JimSummers

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Re: Henry McAlister / McAllister - Tailor in Ballycarry, Larne, Northern Ireland
« Reply #8 on: Tuesday 15 September 15 13:13 BST (UK) »
I have discovered some significant information about Henry McAlister's birth, from old letters held by a relative in Australia. Ken Reader, I'd be very interested to get in contact, as the link to the Reader family has become clear.

Regards
Jim