HELP?! This is where I start.

[ard]

This is a bit of a jumble of information because I am searching for clues!

Up until yesterday I had no places in Ireland to work with for my Ferguson ancestors.

Now, with the help of the 1891 census (they were in Workington, Cumberland Eng. by then), I have a place name. My Great grandfather's mother (or step mother?) was 48 then (b around 1843) and put her place of birth as Annahilt, co. Down! YAY. Something! Agnes is her Cristian name and her maiden name could be Black but it also could be Boyd. Her husband was Samuel Ferguson. Family stories say my great grandfather's mother was Agnes Black but by putting bits and pieces of muddled stories together, I have a theory that Samuel may have remarried, still it's just a theory. [If it was agnes black, stories say her father was Sir.Black, for what that's worth.]
Agnes was already a widow in 1881 and I don't know where or when Samuel died, nor when they left Ireland.  Samuel was an orangeman who apparently fought in the Crimean war.

My great grandfather's marriage certificate has his deceased father's occupation as labourer but family stories talk of owning land, and even of Samuel's brother being and anglican minister, so I don't know what that's about.

I don't have more information on the births of the children other than:
James was born 22-Oct-1861; his brother John about 1863 and his sister Annie about 1870.

I did find a marriage for a Samuel Ferguson and an Agnes Boyd (IGI) about 1863, Holywood.
Also a birth to them of an Agnes but it doesn't fit with Annie.

Since they are not terribly uncommon names, it could all be a coincidence.

Can anyone tell me anything about the relationship between Annahilt; Ballynahinch and Holywood, if there is one?

cheers,
Ard

[Christopher]

Hi Ard,

You've got me puzzled. Have you omitted a piece of the story ? Why the reference to Ballynahinch ? I have no trouble with Holywood and Annahilt connection as they are already mentioned. There is not a great distance between Annahilt and Ballynahinch so there is no problem making that link but the Holywood connection may be coincidence.

Agnes's father - Sir ... Black. I doubt that this man was a knight of the realm. He may have been a senior official in the Freemasons, Orange Order or the Royal Black Association of the Knights of Malta. I regret my knowledge of these orders is on the weak side but the idea being expressed may well draw some useful comments from someone with more knowledge of the subject. It's just a case of putting bits of the jigsaw together.

Samuel's brother, if he was a minister in the Established Church in Ireland,  may appear in one of Canon Leslies's volumes of the Clergy and Parishes of the Church of Ireland.

[ard]

Yes, as I said it is a bit of a muddle of information, with huge gaping holes!!

When I was in my teens well over 20 yrs ago, I had asked my great aunt (then in her 90s) for as much as she could remember about her family history.

For her father's family, there wasn't much, nor was it that coherent (she was lucid at the time, I just don't think she had enough information) Her memory of place for the Fergusons was not clear: She had started with bally or balla something (in Ireland, I later found out, that won't take you far!), she said they were from outside of Belfast. At one time she gave several possible endings for the Balla/y: Mina, Money, Mahar and Mackie. It was looking like Antrim... (I wrote this all down before I had access to anything other than a world atlas to look at) In notes I took another time, although around the same period, a name she gave was ballamahinch. Since Ballynahinch is the close to that, it seems all the more plausible now that it appears her grandmother was from Annahilt...

As for the "Sir" Black bit, I don't put too much stock in it but, while searching for clues, it won't help if I omit everything that seems unlikely either! Ideas like yours about freemasons or Knights of Malta might be helpful, indeed! Those are the kinds of things that can get a bit mixed up when stories are passed down.

My aunt's made a comment about Samuel's brother - the minister- "inheriting the family 'estate' "(while in his son's marriage certificate Samuel was noted as having been a "labourer"), seems grandiose as well.  But I'm adding it because, in some twisted way, it might fit in! I don't have any name to go with the potential ministering sibbling and am short on dates unfortunately.

My aunt mentioned the name Annie Boyd, I'm not sure if it was as the mother of Samuel, but I'm truly not sure how she fits in. Having found a marriage for Agnes Boyd and Samuel Ferguson in Holywood (IGI), and a birth record (also IGI) for their child Annie that fits the age range of James' sister Annie, I got to thinking that perhaps Samuel married Annie Boyd instead of Agnes Black or perhaps after Agnes Black. Of course this may easily be a coincidence, as you say.

I've heard that many church records have been lost (something about them all being housed in one government building that was lost to a fire) so it might all be a wild goose chase anyway. Time will tell, I guess .

ard

[Christopher]

Hi,

This may be of some assistance. There are a lot of Bally's in Co. Down. It might do no harm to have a look at the Townland Index for the area. Whilst the distance between Annahilt and Ballynahinch is five miles there is a possibility that there is a townland between the two places (within the parish of Annahilt) so that we may be able to pinpoint a more exact location where your ancestors lived.
http://www.proni.gov.uk/geogindx/townindx.htm -

http://www.freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~rosdavies/ -
If the above URL does not work do a Google search for Ros Davies and open the first site which is the Co. Down Ireland Genealogy Research Site. All the surnames in which you are interested are shown as being in Annahilt.

Christopher

[ard]

Thanks for your suggestions, Christopher... I've searched Ros Davies' site before (I have it bookmarked too!)

I suppose, I should be working at trying to find a birth certificate for my great grandfather James Ferguson born 22-Oct-1861 somewhere in Ireland. WIth that I would at least be able to know where they were connected around that time. I don't have the exact dates of his brother John (about 1863) or sister Annie (about 1870)

I still don't know when his father died and if it was in Ireland or not!

Are there censuses available for Ireland, do you know?

ard