Killegar - Smith - Cullen

[heywood]

Smith/Smyth is common but as you say, Michael not so common.
Presumably, William was a bachelor?
Who were the witnesses?
As shanreagh says, sometimes priests made notes in the parish register. I suppose it depends on the ‘fervour’ of the priest to make sure all was well and that the candidate was suitable.
E.g.
https://www.nrscotland.gov.uk/research/guides/catholic-parish-registers/marriages
* ‘at best parish of origin’ plus other details
*’at worst names and date
There is an example of an 1893 marriage which is very brief.

[billcs]

Smith/Smyth is common but as you say, Michael not so common.
Presumably, William was a bachelor?
Who were the witnesses?
As shanreagh says, sometimes priests made notes in the parish register. I suppose it depends on the ‘fervour’ of the priest to make sure all was well and that the candidate was suitable.
E.g.
https://www.nrscotland.gov.uk/research/guides/catholic-parish-registers/marriages
* ‘at best parish of origin’ plus other details
*’at worst names and date
There is an example of an 1893 marriage which is very brief.

Yes William was a bachelor, and Catherine a young widow. The witnesses were her sister and brother-in-law.

But unless William lived in Glasgow prior to his marriage, he left Scotland 20 years later for Canada, and I have all of the documentation of the births of his children and the censuses from 1901 and 1911. I see that Glasgow isn't too far from County Derry along with a ferry boat ride, so it doesn't seem that it would be out of reach for relocation purposes even in the 1890's. Unfortunately there would be no documented travel records since it was all within the UK.

Unknown pieces still remain assuming the connections that have been made so far:  did William live with his mother and stepfather? Where and for how long? When did he leave to go to Glasgow? So that is a 30 year gap to fill.

[shanreagh]

Is there any chance of attaching a copy of the marriage certificate.  Could you give us the names of the witnesses please. Could you advise the form of the statement saying that Catherine was a widow. 

[billcs]

Here you go

The certificate says William was a bachelor and Catherine a widow, and witnesses were Agnes and Frank Watson, her sister and brother-in-law. And of course Margaret's maiden name appears to be spelled Killochan.

[billcs]

I contacted the cemetery where William is buried to see if they had a birth date and place on file, and they do not. Interestingly, while his gravestone has a year of birth of 1863, their records say he was 74 when he died, which would have put his year of birth at 1864 since he hadn't yet turned 75.

I am now checking with municipal, provincial and federal government offices to see if they might have that information on file.  Fortunately his ferry boat work was with the Toronto Transit Commission, so either municipal or provincial offices may have some records. The federation government may have information available through income tax collection.

[aghadowey]

Have been going through all the information posted on this thread (still not finished) but think things are becoming clearer. I found a possible death for William Smith's mother and another vital clue about her background. So far, I'm fairly confident that geographically William's connection in Ireland is within  one area of County Derry. Don't want to post more just yet as there's been so many red herrings here already.

[shanreagh]

Good on you Aghadowey.  I have been looking at the name of the mother as written in the marriage certificate.  This to me is a best guess based on hearing a name spoken by an Irish person and written down by a Scots one. The names I have come up with don't look like the name on the certificate but could possibly sound like it. 

I am waiting with eager anticipation

[heywood]

Thanks aghadowey for your interest.
I too have some ideas re Margaret’s family/background but have not yet posted for similar reasons - ‘red herrings’.
It will be interesting to see if we have the same ideas.

[billcs]

Thanks again to everyone for your interest and time.

Our Toronto Archives has information about Toronto Transit Commission employees that is public after 90 years. However much of the information from the 1920's has not yet even been opened and reviewed by staff. The Archivist advised me to wait to visit to review the records until after they have been opened.

In the meantime, I have contacted Ontario Archives and will await their response.