Irish Roots

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.