My McCusker and McAlarney ancestral families: I have been looking at family history records recently on my computer and I realised that I know very little about the place of birth and year of birth for my great-grandmother Susan Elizabeth McCusker and her sister Charlotte. I know the age given on the marriage record and on the death certificate for Charlotte, so her year of birth was probably 1855. I know the age given on the marriage record and on the death certificate for Susan, and the age given for her on the censuses 1881 - 1911, so her year of birth was probably 1856. Her place of birth was given as Fermanagh on the 1911 census. Can anyone help regarding place and date of birth for Susan and Charlotte?
Please see the attached file. I am aware that civil registration for births in Ireland started in 1864. William McCusker was born in 1865 and I was very lucky when someone I knew, when visiting his family in Galway, was able to obtain a copy of William's birth certificate from the register office in Galway. Finding proof of origin or date of birth could have been impossible for all the others until a Civil Service Evidence of Age, relating to Elizabeth Jane McCusker, appeared in documents held by the Society of Genealogists. A cousin belongs to the Society of Genealogists and kindly obtained a copy of the documents. Recently, this same record appeared in find my past site, so now I have printed copies and can see it on line, too. The wonderful thing about this is being able to see her father's actual signature. He mentioned the family bible - I wonder what happened to that! I have had contact with descendants of Elizabeth McCusker and of Charlotte McCusker.
In the attached file is ". (See Joseph Harrison for the continuation of this line.)" - that is the way a report was generated from the computer and I should have deleted that sentence.
Further discoveries have been made about the McAlarney family, including the fact that the surname's spelling varies considerably.
Susan McAlarney had a brother Philip, born about 1833, who succeeded his father William in his tailorshop business on Main Street in Maguiresbridge, Fermanagh. Philip is listed in directories of Maguiresbridge as a tailor. The 1881 Slater's commercial directory shows a Phillip McAlarney, tailor at Maguire's Bridge - near Lisnaskea and the 1894 edition shows him as a tailor at the same place.
He married Mary Keenan in 1870 in the Roman Catholic Chapel of Newry. Mary Keenan was from Louth, born in 1852, her parents John and Eliza. Philip’s death registration - Philip M'Allarny, age 57, registered Apr-May-Jun 1890, Lisnaskea district. Mary emigrated to America with some of their children.
The Slater's 1870 directory shows a William McAlarney, Tailor in Maguire’s Bridge, Lisnaskea.
