First time researching Irish Family History - RYAN, Waterford

[stannarp]

Hi all,

I'm a bit in the dark here, have been researching my family tree in England, Australia, South Africa and Sweden for several years; but have now found an Irish Ancestor and have no clue where to start.  The impression I've always had is that Irish family history research is complicated by the loss of many records over the years.

I've checked the usual places (census information and attempted to find something in BMD records for FamilySearch) and left more confused than when I started.

I've got a Margaret RYAN, b 1837, Waterford to Thomas and Margaret Ann RYAN, according to her probate record in Queenstown, South Africa in 1901.

Jamjar kindly found my Margaret RYAN's first marriage in Yorkshire in 1851, and I suspect I may have found her in the 1851 Yorkshire Census:

"Name:   Margaret Ryan
Event Type:   Census
Event Date:   1851
Event Place:   Leeds, Yorkshire,Yorkshire (West Riding), England
Registration District:   Leeds
Residence Note:   Back Providence Street
Gender:   Female
Age:   17
Marital Status:   Unmarried
Occupation:   Spinner Flax
Relationship to Head of Household:   Niece
Birth Year (Estimated):   1834
Birthplace:   Ireland
Page Number:   9
Registration Number:   HO107
Piece/Folio:   2319 / 552
Affiliate Record Type:   Household"

There are a few other Margaret Ryan's in this census in Yorkshire, but they are listed with their parents, and the names don't match what I have on her probate record.

Can anyone give me an idea where to start looking for more information about her parents, possible siblings, etc?

Regards,

Patricia

[hallmark]

Religion?

[hallmark]

IF they were R.C

St. John's, Waterford city

Diocese of Waterford and Lismore | County of Waterford 

https://registers.nli.ie/parishes/1118

plus surrounding Parishes via Map

[hallmark]

https://www.irish-genealogy-toolkit.com/irish-roots.html

[stannarp]

Hi Hallmark,

Possibly RC, but hard to tell, as the rest of my family has always been Anglican / Methodist; but as we come predominantly from England and the daughter of this ancestor married an Australian, and her granddaughter married a Swede, the RC may have become lost along the way.

Her second husband (and her) are buried in the RC portion of the Queenstown Cemetery, so I'm going with RC as my current working assumption.

Thanks for the link, I will check it.

Regards,

Patricia

[heywood]

Hello,

Here is your other thread for information

https://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php?topic=802478.

The marriage was in Scarborough but your possible sighting for Margaret is Leeds 

Do you have her father’s name from the marriage record to match the parents you have?

Heywood

[stannarp]

Hi Heywood,

Thanks for that - being in South Africa, I have to use Google Maps for distances in the UK ... and what seems relatviely small distances for us now (some 120km) were probably almost insurmountable for people in 1851; and 'average' South African distances are still huge by UK standards, I think.

I still need to find those PR's and go through them to find the actual marriage, but that is a job for another day, I think; its taken me many years to get this far with her family.  Her first husband's surname was Bleach, which is also easy to mix up with other names like Blake, etc.

Regards,

Patricia

[heywood]

A newspaper snippet indicates that John Bleach was a Private in the 63rd Regiment and that they married in the Roman Catholic Chapel, Scarborough.
Another snippet seems to indicate that he was in the 85th regiment.

However, if he was a soldier, they could have met in Ireland - perhaps?

[heywood]

The marriage certificate would confirm fathers’ names and occupations which might help your search for Margaret’s origins.

December 1851 Scarborough vol 24 pg 687