Author Topic: Stewarts of Londonderry  (Read 6778 times)

Offline Elwyn Soutter

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Re: Stewarts of Londonderry
« Reply #18 on: Saturday 29 December 18 18:58 GMT (UK) »
jen5525,

I tried to identify the Stewart family church. Tradition being to marry in the bride’s church, it’s normally very useful to see where a female married. Dorothea’s was in Magherafelt Register Office. That often suggests a mixed marriage. So I am none the wiser about either party’s denomination. Her townland was Ballymacombs, Bellaghy. Her father John was a Gardener. (You thought he was a farmer. It seems not).

William Stewart/Stuart’s marriage was in Ahoghill 1st Presbyterian. Both lived in Craignageeragh, Ahoghill. William was a weaver. His father John was a labourer (again not a farmer). Ahoghill 1st would normally be the bride’s church, and is unlikely to be the Stewart family’s normal church as there are plenty nearer Moneystaughan.

I think the family moved to Scotland after 1891 as they don’t appear in that census. Elizabeth & Jane both married in Scotland in 1897, so they had arrived by that date (and presumably a bit before it). So we are probably looking at 1891 to 1895 for the move. (They may not all have gone together of course).

You would like to know what happened to John jr, Richard & Mary Ann Stewart.  If any died before 1864, we may not find that. I looked for marriages for Mary Ann & Richard but did not find any in the period 1845 – 1865.  There were about 25 John Stewart matches. A bit too many to go through. I looked in the 1901 Irish census for a Richard Stewart/Stuart of the age but did not see one. He was either dead or living outside Ireland then.

Thinking again about the Griffiths information, the Jane Jones in 1859 was unlikely to be the mother of Dorothea. She’d be Jane Stewart then, not Jane Jones.  The lady in Griffiths could be Thomas Jones’ widow, or some other relation, but she was not John Stewart’s wife.

A husband and wife would generally look after their own children. That the children were with their maternal grandfather in 1851 suggests that at least one, if not both were either dead, or unable to look after their family. There’s no obvious way of checking though.

Some of the Stewarts were labourers and weavers.  Weaving tended to be seasonal work that a labourer did in the winter months when there was no labouring work available. They wove at home on portable hand looms, such as are still used today in the Outer Hebrides to make Harris Tweed. Their weaving skills were often a key factor in the decision to move to Dundee. It was built on the 3 Js. (Jute, Jam & Journalism).  Hemp was imported from Bengal to Dundee where it was woven into jute sacks and other similar products. Huge jute mills sprang up in the 1800s and they needed weavers. If you look closely at the Dundee censuses in the mid to late 1800s, a quarter of the population was born in Ireland. 

You mentioned William Stewart’s 1855 child, supposedly born in Dundee, that you cannot locate.  You wonder if it was born on the way over. I can’t say it wasn’t but it’s not a big journey. If William and Jane lived near Ahoghill, there was a railway station a couple of miles away at Ballymena (opened in 1848) and a train into Belfast in the mid 1850s would have taken about 90 minutes. There were regular sailings from Belfast to Glasgow. The fares were very cheap as the main business was cargo and passengers were just top-up revenue. Arriving in Glasgow there were trains to Dundee (from the mid 1840s) taking about 3 hours. So you could leave Ahoghill in the late afternoon and be in Dundee by lunchtime the next day. I doubt many babies were born on that type of short migration. If you can’t find it in the 1855 birth records, it could be that it was born in Ireland (and the place of birth is wrong in the census) or perhaps born in Scotland in 1854, in which case you need to check church records on Scotlandspeople. If born in Scotland in 1855 (the 1st year of statutory birth registration in Scotland) it’s a real bonus as those certificates contain a lot of additional information about the parents. A requirement that was dropped after that 1st year as the work was too onerous. If the child was born in the Ahoghill area, then there are 3 Presbyterian churches, 1 Church of Ireland and 1 RC church there. All have baptism records for the 1850s, save for Ahoghill 3rd Presbyterian which has none earlier than 1859. Copies of the baptism records are in PRONI in Belfast but I don’t think they are on-line anywhere. So you need to get someone to look them up for you.

Regarding possible burial sites for the Stewart family, all I can suggest is that you check the Church of Ireland and Presbyterian graveyards in Tamlaght O’Crilly.  But as I have said, if the family were labourers/weavers, they may not have a gravestone.  And you won’t find any burial records for unmarked graves in the 1800s.

This is a link to a local family history site which covers the Tamlaght O’Crilly area. You might find it helpful.

http://www.magheragenealogy.org
Elwyn

Offline jen5525

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Re: Stewarts of Londonderry
« Reply #19 on: Saturday 29 December 18 20:04 GMT (UK) »
thank you so very much for all of this information.  I so appreciate all of your help!  What you've provided definitely fits with the family as I know it. 

I can say with a high degree of confidence that the family was not RC as no other family member going forward has been RC.  James Stewart and Margaret White were married in Episcopal Church of Scotland, as was James' first son John.  The next son to marry was William who married in the Free Church of Scotland.  Thereafter, most seem to marry in the Established Church of Scotland.  So, would be quite a shock to find that this line was RC in Ireland.  Though looking back at the 1831 census, the Jones and Stewart families were one of very few Presbyterians.  Hmmm.  Wonder what that was like?  Could that have explained the move to Scotland?  (though I know the famine in the 1840s/early 1850s probably played a role as well).

As far as the family's occupation, weaver definitely fits.  James and William (sons of John & Jane) were both weavers after the move to Scotland.  On James' marriage in 1855, he lists his father John's occupation as Weaver.  However, in later records the occupation listed changes.  On William's death record in 1863, it lists Laborer.  In James' death in 1907, it lists Farmer.  In Dorothea's death in 1933, it lists Gardener. 

As for pinning down a date of death for John and Jane.  I think your hunch about the Griffiths might be correct.  My assumption is that John died earlier than 1859 and that Jane died in the range when she was removed from the role (unless she moved to Scotland?).  Can't find a death for her there that fits though.  Scotland records usually list if the parents are deceased on the records, but I've found that to be inaccurate; many times they are not listed as deceased when they actually are; and in a few cases I've found them still living even though an early record indicates they are deceased.  So...this should be taken with a grain of salt, but for James' marriage in 1855 and William's death in 1863, neither parent is listed as deceased.

Now another question I have pertains to the William listed on the 1831 census and 1859 Griffiths records.  First, in the 1859 Griffiths, 2 Williams are listed.  The first is as renting a cottage from the same landlord as Jane Jones.  The second is listed as the landlord for 2 renters.  Are these 2 different William's do you think?  (would seem strange if you were a land owner to then lease a cottage from someone else).  And wondering how this/these Williams relate to John?  I'm sure there's no way to know for sure, but could be John's father or brother.  I've ruled out John's son William as he was already in Scotland.

A last question (more a musing really).  I'm curious how the Stewarts wound up in Ireland.  My assumption is that they must have originated in Scotland at some point; would love to know when they might have gone to Ireland.  I can say with fair confidence that John Stewart and Jane Jones did not marry in Scotland. 

Also a bit curious as to how this might fit in to the puzzle...On the upper left corner of the request for the extracted 1851 census for Dorothea, it notes "Scotch" and a number.  I assume because the family originated in Scotland.  but not sure what meaning to ascribe to it, if any.

Will look into ordering some of the records that you think might be accessible.  Thanks so very much for the leads!
Stewart in Kirkden, Paisley, Port Glasgow Scotland; Londonderry, Ireland; South Africa
Neilson in Paisley, Port Glasgow Scotland
Baillie in Peebles, Paisley, Edinburgh Scotland
Anderson in Angus/Forfarshire & Kincardineshire Scotland
Forbes in Kirkden Forfarshire & Kincardineshire, Scotland
Patterson/Paterson in Carmyllie & Kirkden, Forfarshire Scotland
Calhoun in Tyrone, Ireland & Jersey City, New Jersey
Mitchard in Liverpool England & New Jersey

Offline jen5525

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Re: Stewarts of Londonderry
« Reply #20 on: Saturday 29 December 18 20:36 GMT (UK) »
jen5525,

Thinking again about the Griffiths information, the Jane Jones in 1859 was unlikely to be the mother of Dorothea. She’d be Jane Stewart then, not Jane Jones.  The lady in Griffiths could be Thomas Jones’ widow, or some other relation, but she was not John Stewart’s wife.  A husband and wife would generally look after their own children. That the children were with their maternal grandfather in 1851 suggests that at least one, if not both were either dead, or unable to look after their family. There’s no obvious way of checking though.


You mentioned William Stewart’s 1855 child, supposedly born in Dundee, that you cannot locate.   If you can’t find it in the 1855 birth records, it could be that it was born in Ireland (and the place of birth is wrong in the census) or perhaps born in Scotland in 1854, in which case you need to check church records on Scotlandspeople.


As to the above 2 points.  That makes sense about Jane Jones to some extent; however, if she were Thomas' widow, wouldn't she have also been listed on the 1851 with the other family members?  Same goes for her parents; it does seem curious that Dorothea listed all of her siblings and included her maternal grandfather on the 1851 but did not include her parent's names in that list.  I do agree it's likely that both have passed at that point, and that the Jane Jones in the 1859 is another relative.  Or, Jane Stewart reverted to her maiden name on John's death?  Or had left the children behind and moved with John elsewhere around that time?  I often see grandchildren with their grandparents in a census and then later they are back with their parents (e.g., Dorothea Walker & her mom Elizabeth).  I suppose we'll never know :)

I've done a search for Susan Stewart (also under Stuart) from 1851 to 1861 in all possible records (including RC).  There were only 2 possibilities.  In 1861 (way too late) there is a Margaret Susan but the next child is Margaret Jane, so that's not her.  In 1854, there is a Susan Hastings Stewart; parents are William Stewart and Jane McConnel (possibly her, McConnel is not so far from McKelvie) but the birth was in Holywood which is no where near Dundee but I suppose could have been on the way from Ireland to Dundee?  I don't have a lot of confidence that that is her.

Thanks for all of the additional information; very helpful for putting this into historical context.  Will check into all of your links :)

Jen
Stewart in Kirkden, Paisley, Port Glasgow Scotland; Londonderry, Ireland; South Africa
Neilson in Paisley, Port Glasgow Scotland
Baillie in Peebles, Paisley, Edinburgh Scotland
Anderson in Angus/Forfarshire & Kincardineshire Scotland
Forbes in Kirkden Forfarshire & Kincardineshire, Scotland
Patterson/Paterson in Carmyllie & Kirkden, Forfarshire Scotland
Calhoun in Tyrone, Ireland & Jersey City, New Jersey
Mitchard in Liverpool England & New Jersey

Offline Elwyn Soutter

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Re: Stewarts of Londonderry
« Reply #21 on: Sunday 30 December 18 02:03 GMT (UK) »
You ask whether being Presbyterian would have been a factor in the move to Scotland. I don’t think so. In the 1850s, Protestants significantly outnumbered Roman Catholics in Co. Londonderry. They still do today. So I doubt your family would have felt obliged to leave on minority religious grounds. In the 1901 census there were 144,823 people in the county. 64,762 were RC. The rest were protestant of one denomination or other.  So about a 60-40 majority. I don't have the figures for the 1851 census but expect they were in similar proportions. Economic factors were the main reason why people left Ireland, in the mid 1800s, not religious discrimination.

You seem curious as to why your family went to Scotland. Ireland lacks natural resources. No coal, oil, iron ore etc, and so apart from a modest amount of shipbuilding in Belfast and the Belfast linen mills (which mostly only employed women), it did not really get the industrial revolution that benefited England and Scotland where mills, steelworks, ship building, coal mining and all their support industries were major employers creating hundreds of thousands of new jobs. Much better paid than subsistence farming or weaving. Added to that you had the effects of a massive population explosion in Ireland – up from 3 million in 1750 to 8 million in 1841 (no-one is really sure of the reasons why but reduced neo-natal deaths seem to be a factor) and the famine. So some push factors and some pull factors saw huge numbers of people leave Ireland. Something like 8 million people emigrated from Ireland in the 1800s. In the late 1840s, the famine was also a driver, but folk had been pouring out of the country all through the 1800s. All the famine did was speed the flow up a bit.

Scotland was a particularly popular place to go to work because it was easy and very cheap to get to. Several sailings every day from Belfast, plus regular sailings from Portrush, Ballycastle and Londonderry. People working in Scotland could come home for weddings or the harvest, as well as holidays (Glasgow used to shut down for 2 weeks every July, known as the Glasgow Fair holiday and there would then be a huge exodus to Ireland).  You could also send children back to stay with grandparents, thereby leaving the wife free to work. You couldn’t do all those things so easily from Australia, America or Canada.  For Presbyterians, Scotland also had the benefit of being culturally very close as well as geographically very close. Something that persists to this day, in religion, music eg piping, sport etc. The experience and welcome offered to a Presbyterian from Ireland was generally much better than that given to a Roman Catholic. For further information see:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/education/guides/zr6ycdm/revision/2

Scottish Registrars have to rely on the informant’s information. There will be mistakes. Not every informant for a death is going to get the deceased’s parents names or ages right.  I have seen mistakes too, but overall they aren’t bad at all. With 2 certificates to rely on, I would accept that John Stewart and his wife Jane were both alive in 1855 and 1863.  (And consequently my assumption about why their children were living with their grandfather in 1851 must be wrong). Death registration in Ireland started in 1864 so we have to hope they survived till that year.  Death certificates from 1878 onwards are on-line free on the irishgenealogy site. I don’t see one for John Stewart in the Magherafelt registration area post 1878. There are 2 in 1864 - 1877 that could fit (1865 aged 71, and 1875 aged 75). Likewise with Jane Stewart I didn’t see any death post 1878 that fitted. I see 3 possibles in the period 1864 to 1877. 1864 (aged 83); 1869 (aged 70) & 1871 (aged 78).  You would need to pay to view them on the GRONI site to see if they are your family.

Re the 1851 census extract and the comment “Scotch”, I don’t think the Dorothy’s possible Scottish origins would be a reason for that. I think it was because she now lived in Scotland. You can trawl through the pension applications, looking at those who lived outside Ireland. I found 2 in Wales that were marked “NE” in the top left hand corner. Another in Australia was marked “NSW” (ie New South Wales).  I think they were just noting where applicants lived. To qualify you had to be 70 or over, born in the UK and Ireland, have an income of £30 p.a. or less and be of good conduct. It didn’t matter whether you were Scotch, Welsh or whatever.

I am reaching the 5000 character limit for each post, so I’ll continue this in a separate post.
Elwyn


Offline Elwyn Soutter

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Re: Stewarts of Londonderry
« Reply #22 on: Sunday 30 December 18 11:09 GMT (UK) »
Regarding the 2 William Stewart entries in Griffiths in Moneystaghan Ellis, there’s only the 1 William Stewart. On plot 19a you have William with a farmhouse and just under 10 acres of land. He has two labourer’s cottages on his farm which he sublets. One to William Farrell (19b) and the other to John Egleson (19c). So William is listed once as a tenant and once as a landlord. Most farms had a few labourers cottages. The labourer could pay rent to the farmer in cash or by an agreed number of days labour on the farm each year, or a mix of the two.

Can’t really help you with answering how William might be related to John without knowing more about him eg age and marital status.  Looking backwards 30 years, in the tithe applotment records for 1833, there were 2 Stuart farms in Moneystaghan. One held by James and the other by William.  But those records don’t tell us how those 2 people are related.

http://www.irishgenealogyhub.com/derry/tithe-applotments/tamlaght-o-crilly-parish.php#.XCifTxSqCns

Looking forward, using the Valuation Revision records on the PRONI site, I see that William Stewart is replaced by Henry Stewart in 1874 and at the same time William become tenant of one of the cottages (now renumbered 20a). So it looks as though he retired and his son Henry took over. The other cottage, occupied by John Egleson, is deleted, being described as “down.” In other words it has collapsed or been demolished. William Stewart is deleted as tenant of the cottage in 1882. So you could search the deaths around that time to see if you can identify him.

Here’s Henry in the 1901 census. The family were Presbyterian:

http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/pages/1901/Londonderry/Claudy/Money_Staghan_Ellis/1542591/

I had a look for daughter Lizzie’s birth but could not find it. (The ages look a but suspect in the census, and I checked back to 1864 but without success). And looking at her age in the 1911 census, she was probably born c 1860, before birth registration began. You might get her mother’s name from church baptism records though. But that would require a visit to PRONI.

http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/pages/1911/Londonderry/Clady/Moneystaghan_Ellis/608839/

The daughter appears to have died in 1948. Probate abstract:

Stewart Elizabeth of Moneystaghan Ellis Portglenone P.O. county Londonderry spinster died 22 February 1948 Probate Belfast 27 April to Robert Moore labourer and Joseph Samuel Smyth farmer. Effects £122 10s.


You suggested that Jane Jones might be the widowed Jane Stewart reverting to her maiden name. That’s not something I have ever seen in Ireland. A widow normally retains her married name.

I don’t think the Holywood born Susan Stewart is likely to be your family. Bear in mind too that there was no statutory birth registration in Ireland in 1854. The vast majority of church records are not on-line (especially for Presbyterian churches). Roman Catholic records are available on-line and some Protestant churches have their baptisms on-line but the vast majority do not. If Susan was born in Ireland, in 1854, I’d search the records for Ahoghill (where her parents had lived) but none of those records are on-line. You need to go to PRONI to look them up.

I would think that the “gave birth en rote” answer is unlikely. It took less than a day to get from Ahoghill to Dundee. The likelihood of giving birth in the middle of the journey does not seem very high to me.
Elwyn

Offline jen5525

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Re: Stewarts of Londonderry
« Reply #23 on: Sunday 30 December 18 14:05 GMT (UK) »
Thank you so much for all of the time and effort you've put into this! It's more than I could have expected or hoped for! Such useful information you've uncovered.  Will have to have a go at having someone look up PRONI records at some point.


A few of your points have gotten me thinking. ;)

Regarding the 2 William Stewart entries in Griffiths in Moneystaghan Ellis, there’s only the 1 William Stewart. On plot 19a you have William with a farmhouse and just under 10 acres of land. He has two labourer’s cottages on his farm which he sublets. One to William Farrell (19b) and the other to John Egleson (19c). So William is listed once as a tenant and once as a landlord. Most farms had a few labourers cottages. The labourer could pay rent to the farmer in cash or by an agreed number of days labour on the farm each year, or a mix of the two.

You suggested that Jane Jones might be the widowed Jane Stewart reverting to her maiden name. That’s not something I have ever seen in Ireland. A widow normally retains her married name.

I don’t think the Holywood born Susan Stewart is likely to be your family. Bear in mind too that there was no statutory birth registration in Ireland in 1854. The vast majority of church records are not on-line (especially for Presbyterian churches). Roman Catholic records are available on-line and some Protestant churches have their baptisms on-line but the vast majority do not. If Susan was born in Ireland, in 1854, I’d search the records for Ahoghill (where her parents had lived) but none of those records are on-line. You need to go to PRONI to look them up.

I would think that the “gave birth en rote” answer is unlikely. It took less than a day to get from Ahoghill to Dundee. The likelihood of giving birth in the middle of the journey does not seem very high to me.


Thanks for clarifying there weren't 2 separate William Stewarts; that's extremely helpful!  I'm still at a loss as to why he was a tenant of someone else if he owned a farm with cottages on it.  Why wouldn't he have lived in one of those instead of leasing his house from another person?

I agree it's not a common practice for the women to revert back to her maiden name; however, I've seen it a number of times in Scotland.  Sometimes even while still living in the same house as her husband, a wife would have been recorded on census with her maiden name; sometimes when the husband is absent in the census (e.g., just leaves), I've seen them recorded under the maiden name.  I've seen it after a death as well. So it was a thought. Though definitely unlikely :)

I agree that it's likely the record I found isn't the correct Susan Stewart.  Will definitely check in Ireland.  It does seem with such a short trip it's not likely she gave birth "en route."  Not sure of whether the route they would have taken from Ireland to Dundee might have gone through Holywood.  There is a 2 year gap between Susan's birth and the next child, Margaret.  Could they have originally settled for a while in Holywood before moving on to Dundee?  Not critical to my research either way; just more curious than anything.

Thanks also for all the information provided about the travel back and forth between Scotland and Ireland; gives me a better understanding of the historical context which I'm only starting to get into researching.  My question was not only about what made them go to Scotland; but what made them go BACK to Scotland.  I know with the information I have right now, I have no way of knowing for sure, but my assumption is that they originated in Scotland at some point, particularly with the surname of Stewart.  How many generations before John that would have been is uncertain since I've no way of knowing if John was born in Scotland or not, and where in Scotland to even begin looking. The brief look into history I've had would suggest that there was a migration to Ireland from Scotland during the settling of the Ulster plantations. 

Again so very much appreciate your help :)
Jennifer







Stewart in Kirkden, Paisley, Port Glasgow Scotland; Londonderry, Ireland; South Africa
Neilson in Paisley, Port Glasgow Scotland
Baillie in Peebles, Paisley, Edinburgh Scotland
Anderson in Angus/Forfarshire & Kincardineshire Scotland
Forbes in Kirkden Forfarshire & Kincardineshire, Scotland
Patterson/Paterson in Carmyllie & Kirkden, Forfarshire Scotland
Calhoun in Tyrone, Ireland & Jersey City, New Jersey
Mitchard in Liverpool England & New Jersey

Offline Elwyn Soutter

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Re: Stewarts of Londonderry
« Reply #24 on: Sunday 30 December 18 16:21 GMT (UK) »
Jennifer,

Re William Stewart and his farm, he didn’t own it outright. He was a tenant farmer, renting from the Casements. He owned the stock, grain, tools and domestic furniture but the buildings and land belonged to someone else. That was the normal arrangement in Ireland. Very few farmers owned their land outright, mostly because landowners wouldn’t sell. It was part of the many grievances that people had over land ownership in Ireland for 200 years or more. By the 1860s, provided he paid his rent and maintained the farm, he probably had indefinite security of tenure, but he didn’t own the farm. He could sell the unexpired part of the lease plus his assets, so it had a cash value, but as I say he didn’t own the buildings and land. The Casements owned that. (The ability to buy farms with Government funded mortgages was introduced around 1903 with Wyndham’s Land Act and only then could farmers routinely buy the freehold).

I’d guess that in 1874 cottage 19b became vacant and so William retired to it, leaving Henry in the main farm house. Just a guess but could be what happened.

The likely route to Dundee would have been from Ballymena station to Belfast York Rd station where they would have got a jaunting car to the ship to Glasgow (a quarter of a mile or less).  The ships to Glasgow usually went overnight, though there were some day sailings. Holywood is some 5 miles away on the other side of Belfast, on the way to Bangor.  Not somewhere you would routinely stop on the way to a ship in Belfast docks. (I looked in the 1901 census and there were 37 people named Susan Stewart living in Ireland at that date, so it’s a fairly common name).

I looked on Scotlandspeople and I don’t see any Episcopalian records for Dundee in their collection. So if the family were of that denomination the baptism records are either still with the church, or are lost. So Susan may have been born in Dundee c 1854 but there is no record on Scotlandspeople.

Your Stewarts are most likely to have arrived in the Magherafelt area in the 1600s. That’s when the vast majority of Scots arrived.  So there’s probably between 4 and 8 generations back to the first generation to settle there. Unfortunately the records don't go back anywhere near that far, either here or in Scotland.

In general, the Scots came from the counties below a line from Glasgow to Dundee. Many came from Ayrshire and adjacent counties, such as Wigtown, Renfrew, Dumfries, Kirkcudbright, and so on. (It's very close. On most days you can clearly see the Scottish coast from Antrim. In the 1600s when there was trouble, the Scots settlers in Ireland used to light fires on the Antrim hills, as a signal, and Scots would jump in their boats and come over to assist).

 DNA testing might find you some Scottish roots, but I am not sure how reliable that is if you are going back over 400 years.
Elwyn

Offline jen5525

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Re: Stewarts of Londonderry
« Reply #25 on: Sunday 30 December 18 22:05 GMT (UK) »
Wow!  That’s such interesting information! Thanks so much.  I’ve been toying with the idea of having male cousins with the Stewart surname do the Y DNA testing.  May follow up and do that :)
Stewart in Kirkden, Paisley, Port Glasgow Scotland; Londonderry, Ireland; South Africa
Neilson in Paisley, Port Glasgow Scotland
Baillie in Peebles, Paisley, Edinburgh Scotland
Anderson in Angus/Forfarshire & Kincardineshire Scotland
Forbes in Kirkden Forfarshire & Kincardineshire, Scotland
Patterson/Paterson in Carmyllie & Kirkden, Forfarshire Scotland
Calhoun in Tyrone, Ireland & Jersey City, New Jersey
Mitchard in Liverpool England & New Jersey

Offline jen5525

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Re: Stewarts of Londonderry
« Reply #26 on: Monday 31 December 18 13:52 GMT (UK) »
Just a note that I FOUND Mary Ann Stewart!!!  I did a broad search in the 1861 Scotland census on Ancestry looking for anyone named Mary Ann living on the same street as her 2 brothers (William and James).  And I got a hit. 

Mary Ann Comtnay, with husband Thomas and children Nancy (1854) and James (1857). All born in Ireland.  Cross referenced with scotland's people because of the weird spelling.  Indexed as Courtnay.  Searched for each of them on Ancestry and came up with another 1851 census extraction request and Nancy Courtney came up.  Her parents were Thomas Courtney and Mary Ann Stewart!  And...on the form, it lists the head of household as John & Jane Stewart!!!!  In Tamlaght O'Crilly.

I then searched and found Thomas and Mary's marriage (indexed as Thomas Courtenay) in 1853.  In the same parish, Ahoghill in Co. Antrim, as brother William's 1850 marriage.  The townland is also the same for both records...can't read it, but it's Craig...?  Mary Ann's father is listed as John, a laborer. So I think the family was no longer in Tamlaght O'Crilly in 1851 (which is why they couldn't find them in the 1851 census look-ups?).  Perhaps I should be searching Griffith's in that area instead?  And, I now have a bride's church.  Does that help pin down their denomination? And might you know how I can find out if there are records for this church?

Registration district
Ballymena

Place of marriage
St Colmanells Church of Ireland, Ahoghill

Date of marriage
9th May 1853

Groom details
Groom name(s)
Thomas Courtenay
Age at marriage of groom
21

Bride details
Bride name(s)
Mary Anne Stewart
Age at marriage of bride
18
Stewart in Kirkden, Paisley, Port Glasgow Scotland; Londonderry, Ireland; South Africa
Neilson in Paisley, Port Glasgow Scotland
Baillie in Peebles, Paisley, Edinburgh Scotland
Anderson in Angus/Forfarshire & Kincardineshire Scotland
Forbes in Kirkden Forfarshire & Kincardineshire, Scotland
Patterson/Paterson in Carmyllie & Kirkden, Forfarshire Scotland
Calhoun in Tyrone, Ireland & Jersey City, New Jersey
Mitchard in Liverpool England & New Jersey