Happy
St. Patrick's Day! To celebrate my Irish roots, I'm sharing what I
know of my Irish family history.
I
located an 1857 marriage certificate for my great-great-grandparents,
Robert Stevenson and Mary Murray, on ScotlandsPeople website, which
provided both of their parents' names. Prior to this, Thomas Murray
and wife Mary Calderwood, and Alexander Stevenson and wife Sarah
Stevenson, were unknown to me.
Based
on family lore, the Murrays were from Ireland, near Belfast, though I
didn't know where specifically. A Google search led to a William
Murray who had the same parents' names as my Mary. That information
also provided me with a specific village in Ireland. Through further
searches on ScotlandsPeople, Ancestry, and Family Search, I
determined that William and Mary were brother and sister. Subsequent
research suggested additional sisters Jane and Ann. All four siblings
had relocated from Ireland to Scotland, the sisters all to Ayrshire
and William to Dunbartonshire. Jane's entry on the 1861 Scotland
census indicated that an Eliza Murray (Visitor) was present as well.
Eliza is close in age to Jane so I suspect her to be another sibling.
Additionally, the informant for Thomas and Mary's deaths was an Eliza
McCaw who may be the same Eliza, though I have not confirmed that to
date. Based on my research, the only people named Thomas Murray and
Mary Murray (ms Calderwood), who fit the information I have, died in
Donaghadee in 1876 and 1875, respectively. I ordered both death
certificates from the General Register Office for Northern Ireland,
and am confident they are my 3x great-grandparents. Mary Stevenson
(ms Murray) died in Beith, Ayrshire on 24 July 1914.
 |
| Mary (Murray) Stevenson |
Since
testing my dna through AncestryDNA, I've been able to identify a
couple of distant cousins on the Murray side, which is fairly
exciting as it confirms my research of Mary's siblings. I've been in
contact with one of them, and we were able to exchange some photos
and documents neither of us would have had otherwise.
The
Stevenson line is, so far at least, even more unknown than the
Murrays. A great-aunt provided my father with some information about
my great-great-grandfather Robert's death, which I was able to
confirm with his death certificate and a newspaper article. I was
even able to confirm her physical description of him because a
distant relative had posted his photo to Ancestry, and there is a
definite resemblance to my father! From census records I know that
Robert's father Alexander was widowed, and living with Robert in
1871. Unfortunately, I discovered Alexander in the 1881 census living
in the Cunninghame Combination Poorhouse, where he died in 1882.
These records give Alexander's place of birth as Ireland, though I
have not been able to narrow down a region so far. Various records
for Robert and Alexander list Alexander's wife as either unknown or
Sarah Stevenson. I am unsure if Stevenson was her maiden name as well
as her married name. She died prior to 1857 when Robert was married,
but I am unsure if she died in Ireland or Scotland, which complicates
the search. As a result of this uncertainty regarding Sarah, I have
been unable, so far, to locate any possible siblings for Robert.
Robert Stevenson died 14 July 1890 in Dalry, Ayrshire.
So
unfortunately, these brick walls remain for now, but I'll keep
working away at them. My hope is that through dna and the
availability of more Irish records online that I will be able to
break them down sooner rather than later.
Please
feel free to contact me if you have any comments or recognize the
names from your own family!
Go
dtí an chéad uair eile.
