McCracken Family

Terry,

Statutory birth registration didn’t start in Ireland till 1864 so you won’t find a birth certificate for John. You might find his baptism but to do that you would need to know his exact denomination and at least his father’s name, to be sure you had found the right family. If he married in Liverpool in 1871 his marriage cert should give you his father’s name and occupation. With that, plus his denomination, you could search the baptism records in Belfast. You can get a copy of that marriage certificate from GRO Southport. Go for the research copy if you can as it is cheaper: https://www.gro.gov.uk/gro/content/

I don’t think your search will be very easy. My personal guess is that the family were Presbyterian. Most of the early population of Belfast were Presbyterians, (being Scots settlers who built the city) and the 1901 census has 72 John McCrackins (most of whom lived in Co. Antrim and were Presbyterian). However there are about 50 Presbyterian churches in Belfast. Most of the surviving records are in PRONI (the public record office) in Belfast. But they are not all on-line and so you would need to go and search them yourself or get a researcher to do the work. And you should be aware that several churches records were lost in WW2 due to German bombing of Belfast. So there are some gaps.

Terry www.rootsireland.ie/ has 11 Belfast baptism records of John McCracken (+surname variants) 1853 + - 5 years; 7 are C of I & 4 R C

Does the marriage record have his religion??

IF he followed the irish naming pattern with his own children then his first son & second daughter would have been named after the first son & second daughter so if you supply those names I could check to see if there are any parents in the roots records with those names

Col

Thanks both for responding.  

John was married in a Anglican church his religeon is not noted.  His father's name is shown as Hugh John Wallace so not McCracken.  Hugh's profession is shown as a Provision Merchant.  He named his first son John Shadrack Gibson McCraken (Shadrack is his wife's fathers name).  His first daughter was named Alice Jane (Alice was his wifes name and his second daughter was named Annie.   Thanks for your help.

Best regards Terry

Terry,

McCracken (and variant spellings) is a fairly common surname in and around Belfast. Looking at the 1901 census for Counties Down and Antrim there were about 700 people of that surname. The majority were Presbyterian, then Church of Ireland and a lesser number of Roman Catholic.

The middle name of Gibson is often a clue the family was Presbyterian.  Presbyterians often used the mother’s maiden name as a middle name. Not a universal rule of course but sometimes a hint.

The problem with Presbyterian records is that they are not all on-line. The majority are still held in paper format/microfilm and you have to go to PRONI in Belfast to look them up.  Probably a day’s work searching all the Presbyterian records in Belfast for this baptism.

That John’s father’s name is not McCracken could point to illegitimacy. Or it could be that Hugh John Wallace had died, and John’s mother re-married to a McCracken with John taking his step-father’s surname.

No luck with McCracken parents John & Ann on www.rootsireland.ie/

Following Elwyn's suggestions re Wallace & Presbyterean I tried Wallace and found this one:

Name:John Hewitt WallaceDate of Birth:21-Apr-1859
Date of Baptism:10-Aug-1859Address:Waring StParish/District:ROSEMARY ST PRESBYTERY, BELFASTGender:MaleCountyCo. Antrim
Denomination:Presbyterian
Father:John WallaceMother:Margaret Keenan
Col