Sarah Cunningham and family

[scotmum]

The birth certificate in Naas registration district, looks to read as an 8th October 1873 birth for Spencer Murray Pryer. No mention of the name Joseph. Perhaps Joseph's year was wrongly recorded or, when baptised, they changed Spencer's name to Joseph, albeit day and month of birth don't match that of Spencer.

[scotmum]

1891 census only has 2 sons living with their father, Spencer, noted as William Arthur Pryer and Joseph Spencer Pryer.

It certainly would seem that Spencer Murray Pryer and Joseph Spencer Pryer are likely one and the same, as no obvious deaths in timescale of a Spencer Murray Pryer.

[oldohiohome]

What was Sarah Cunningham's father's occupation? If it was anything but "farmer" it might help pick him out of a batch of other Arthur Cunninghams.
I'm assuming you got his name from her marriage record. Did it say he was deceased? If it did, then he was, but if it didn't say so, it doesn't indicate anything, one way or the other.
Were any of the witnesses to her marriages named Cunningham? and do you know of any other siblings to Sarah and Ellen?

[Reedy2]

On both marriage certificates it says Arthur Cunningham is a Stone Mason.
It does not say deceased on either but as you said sometimes people would not say.
There are no Cunningham's listed as witnesses either.
I don't know if Sarah had any other siblings, sorry.
Thanks for helping me so far.

[oldohiohome]

And I should have asked what were the names of the witnesses to the marriages, especially the women, and especially the first marriage on the Isle of Man? It may be someone Sarah knew from Co Down.

By 1871, you have to figure she was living where her first husband had been stationed, and might not have had any friends from home in the area.

I'm just fishing for names that might tie her Cunninghams to an specific area. Sometimes you hit on a relatively unusual name that only occurs in a few places.

When I get a chance I will look at the 1861 and 1871 censuses for that area of the Isle of Man and see if anyone in the neighborhood was born in Co Down, are there Cunninghams, etc., or familiar sounding names.

[aghadowey]

I am trying to find a baptism for Sarah Cunningham about 1847 fathers name Arthur also for her sister Ellen born about 1843.
And a marriage for Ellen about 1873 husbands name Peter Smith.
In 1911 Ellen was living in England and it says she and her husband where born in County Down,

There is a marriage in 1873 for an Ellen Cunningham (father Arthur Cunningham, farmer, alive) but the groom is Thos. Gallagher not Peter Smith-
https://civilrecords.irishgenealogy.ie/churchrecords/images/marriage_returns/marriages_1873/11260/8129881.pdf

Later (1888) is the marriage of a possibly related James Cunningham-
https://civilrecords.irishgenealogy.ie/churchrecords/images/marriage_returns/marriages_1888/10756/5922701.pdf

[Reedy2]

The witnesses from the first marriage are Amelia Atchnet and John Kaighin PC.
The witnesses on the second one are Bartholemew Sheen and Willam Mitchell.
I also think William Mitchell is one of the godparents for the son Joseph.
Sarah married Spencer in March 1871 and the census was not taken till April.
Spencer is in Chatham but i dont know where Sarah was.

[oldohiohome]

The birth certificate in Naas registration district, looks to read as an 8th October 1873 birth for Spencer Murray Pryer. No mention of the name Joseph. Perhaps Joseph's year was wrongly recorded or, when baptised, they changed Spencer's name to Joseph, albeit day and month of birth don't match that of Spencer.

Maybe they needed a saint's name for the baptism.

[oldohiohome]

I think Atchnet might be a misspelling of something. I didn't find anyone by that name in the 1901 census of Ireland, Griffith's valuation, or in any trees at rootsweb. There were no results for "Amelia Atchnet" in a general search at myHeritage.com and no results for just "Atchnet" at familysearch. So that is a dead end.

The witnesses in 1871 look like they are probably fellow soldiers of Spencer. At any rate they are both men, so probably not Sarah's choice, but convenient witnesses at the time. So that is a dead end.

I did find Cunningham families on the Isle of Man in either 1861 or 1871, I forgot which. Finding their origins might help find Sarah's, or might not. I didn't look at the images to see where they said they were born.

Both her marriages are Church of England, so I think you are back to tracing down the C of I registers. Information, including a good .pdf of all the currently available sources, online or otherwise, is at:
https://www.ireland.anglican.org/about/rcb-library/online-parish-records

What doesn't fit is the baptism of her son Joseph in the RC records. Maybe her husband Spencer was Catholic?