Just a quick update for gaffy, I have purchased the marriage certificate from the GRONI website of Mary Woods and Hugh McBurney and can confirm it is the correct people, Marys address was given as 5 Oldpark village which is the same as on the attachment I added to this thread for Hughs birth, so thank you so much, it also states that Hugh Mc Burney was also a widow so something to look into xxxxxxxxx
That's a good result. As I said, the information in death notices indicated a previous marriage for Mary, and everything taken as a whole seemed to read across well to the Henry Woods family that I mentioned.
So for example (and staying within the bounds of website policy on not mentioning living people), when Hugh McBurney junior died in 1958 at a reported age of 40, he was described as the
'husband of Kathleen McBurney' and the
'son of Mary and the late Hugh McBurney... 42 Oakley Street'. There were also references to
'his sorrowing Brother and Sister-in-law, Robert and Sadie Woods', also
'his loving Sister, Margaret, and Brother-in-law, Samuel Rainey', and his
'Sister, Mary, and Family'. The mention of Hugh having a brother with a different surname was an immediate pointer to the possibility that his mother Mary had been married before.
When Mary McBurney died in 1963 at a reported age of 83, there were several references in the death notices to
'42 Oakley Street' (ie. conveniently linking back to the 1958 death of Hugh junior), she was described as
'nee Woods' - which of course she technically wasn't, but it's a common enough mistake - and there were references to say that she was the
'mother of Margaret Rainey', the
'mother of Robert Woods', the
'mother of Mary Smyth', and the
'mother of Sadie Nawn'.
Possible marriages to 'fit' these various references can be readily found in the GRONI website marriages index, for example, Robert Woods and Sarah Newell in 1936, Margaret Woods and Samuel Rainey in 1922, Mary Woods and David Smyth in 1927 - all registered in Belfast. The one reference above that initially confused me was to
'Sadie Nawn', for I couldn't see a Woods child called Sarah. Until I happened upon a February 1950 'in memoriam' notice for Hugh McBurney senior who died in February 1949, mentioning his
'Daughter, Son-in-law... 19 Brandon Parade'. A quick check of the Belfast Street directory for 1951 shows that a Charles Nawn was occupying that address, so I'm guessing that, in addition to Hugh junior born in 1918, Hugh senior and Mary (Orr Woods) McBurney had a daughter Sarah who went on to marry a Charles Nawn... the 'FamilySearch' website Ireland Civil Registration Indexes show a birth registered in Belfast for a Sarah McBurney in the Jul-Sep quarter of 1920, which has to be a possibility - that birth registration should become available shortly on the GRONI website under their 100 year rule, for they appear to be quite up to date in releasing under that rule.
For this geographic context, Nawn isn't exactly the most plentiful surname around, so the marriage of a Hugh McBurney to a Kathleen Nawn in (what is today) the Newtownabbey Registration District on 10 December 1941 (pay to view on the GRONI website) is intriguing - could this be Hugh born in 1918 and could it be that McBurney siblings Hugh and Sarah married Nawn siblings Kathleen and Charles? Just speculation of course.
Edited to add: I've just now noticed a marriage in the GRONI website marriages index for a Sarah McBurney and Charles Nawn, registered Antrim, it took place on 6 April 1943.
