Gregory Dowds and Ann Jane McConville death

[gaffy]

You're welcome, the only other thing I noticed is that the forename Gregory (and variant spellings) was quite thin on the ground in Ireland, by way of example, the 1901 and 1911 Ireland censuses each have some 275 or so of them, out of around 4.4 million people.  So greater confidence, when you happen upon someone called Gregory Dowd, that it's your man.

[thedesman1]

That's true, the name Gregory does seem to be quite rare. The Scottish records where I first found his name listed his occupation as Handloom Weaver [attached] (same as the article that you found).  I also noticed there is a John Dowds who was a witness at James' wedding - likely to be a brother of James. The census shows James was born in Ireland but his wife Ellen was born in Scotland.  Do you have any ideas as to where I might find death records for Gregory and Ann Jane?

[gaffy]

The witness John Dowds being James' brother baptised in 1844 has to be a possibility and 'Handloom Weaver' is a perfect fit for the Gregory Dowds mentioned in that 1843 story in the Northern Whig.  So we have Gregory and Ann Jane Dowds having a son John baptised on 30 November 1844, then marrying a couple of months later on 1 February 1845, then having another son James baptised on 26 December 1846, then... nothing, that's where the Irish records seem to fall off the cliff edge.

Civil death registration commenced in Ireland in 1864 and I can't readily see a death registration to fit Gregory or Ann Jane between 1864 and 1877.  So a possibility has to be that they died before 1864, indeed, given the cliff edge I mentioned, they might even have died as early as the late 1840s. The bad news is that burial record coverage in Ireland pre 1864 is not at all good and in many cases is non existent, I checked 'RootsIreland' and wasn't surprised to draw a blank.

Edited to add:  Here's something further on James' brother to look into if you like. John Dowds died of cardiac disease at a reported age of 68 on 8 December 1915 at 167 Renfrew Road, Glasgow, former residence 2 Houston Place, Glasgow.  He was recorded as an engineer's labourer, with the comment that he was first married to Helen Gallagher, then to Mary Ann McFall or McCartney.  His parents were recorded as Gregory Dowds, Hand loom Weaver and Ann McConville, both deceased.  The informant was his widow Mary Ann of 11 Anderson Street, Kinning Park. The 'ScotlandsPeople' website has this marriage record and the 1883 marriage record for him and Mary Ann McFall or McCartney (RD Kinning Park).

[thedesman1]

Some really great information there!  I did wonder if John Dowds lived in Scotland and it appears so based on this. Kinning Park was the area where later generations of the family lived which matches up. 

There's a possibility that Gregory and Ann Jane may have died as a result of the Irish famine of the late 1840s or that they potentially emigrated.

I recall seeing James Dowds listed on the 1881 Scottish census as a lodger, age 29 (recorded as married) living with another family at 59 Main Street, Govan. I would assume his wife Helen Dowds (nee McTavish) was living elsewhere at this time (their children were not yet born). Interestingly there was another lodger living there called Henry Dowds, age 25, also born in Ireland - likely this is another brother of James.