... I'm struggling to find a marriage for this couple, the 1911 census suggests c. 1891.
The following may sound bizarre to anyone who hasn't yet encountered this phenomenon, but after struggling to find a marriage c. 1891 for John Goodwin and Sarah Lynch (based on the 1911 census return information) and indeed a birth c. 1892 for their oldest child Charles Goodwin (based on the 1901 census return information), I tried looking for John
McGuigan and Charles
McGuigan.
McGuigan and Goodwin weren't substitutes for each other as a
general rule, but there is precedent for it in a number of instances, indeed sufficient precedent for Bill Macafee to mention it in the following document:
http://www.billmacafee.com/databases/spellingsurnamestownlands.htmAnyhow, it appears that this is exactly what happened here, with the marriage taking place on 12 November 1890 between John
McGuigan and Sarah Lynch, it took place in St. Mary's RC Church in Fivemiletown, John was recorded as a 19 year old servant, the son of James McGuigan (deceased), a labourer, Sarah was recorded as a 17 year old servant, the daughter of John Lynch, a farmer, both were living in the townland of Bolies:
https://civilrecords.irishgenealogy.ie/churchrecords/images/marriage_returns/marriages_1890/10718/5907332.pdfBolies is right on the money location-wise:
https://www.townlands.ie/tyrone/clogher/clogher/bolies/And so it was also the case with their son Charles, whose birth at Beigh on 9 September 1891 was registered under the surname Goodwin but later changed to McGuigan:
https://civilrecords.irishgenealogy.ie/churchrecords/images/birth_returns/births_1891/02377/1886980.pdf'Beigh' was likely Beigh Glebe:
https://www.townlands.ie/tyrone/clogher/clogher/beigh-glebe/Significantly, note the comment at the left of the above 1891 birth registration, namely:
'... cols 5 and 6 for "Goodwin" read "McGuigan" corrected on the 14th July 1939 by me JF McCrea Supt. Registrar on production of a Statutory Declaration made by John McGuigan Father'.So John married Sarah as a McGuigan, their children were all initially registered as Goodwin (I think I also saw a 'Gowden' spelling for one of them), the 1901/1911 census returns were completed as Goodwin, and John then attended the Registrar's Office many years later in 1939 to alter the surname in Charles' birth registration to McGuigan.
