Looking for family

The marriage seems to have taken place in Clogheen district which is to the west of Carrick on Suir district. Which church / denomination is shown on the marriage cert, is there an occupation given for Mary ?

I'm wondering if maybe she was working away from home at the time. Have you found Mary on the census returns to see which county she lists as place of birth ?

There's also an 1883 marriage of a Mary Anne Skehan in Clonmel district, which is located between Carrick on Suir and Clogheen.

p.s. are there any Skehans as witnesses to the marriage ?

Thanks for your reply. Mary was married at St Paul's in Cahir, she had no occupation. The witnesses were soldiers from the barracks, she married a soldier. I wondered if her family may have taken this badly?

did she marry a Charles West ?

I presume you've already seen Charles and the children on the 1901 census as a widower, with his seven children. Looks like Mary died in 1899, reported age 42 in Clogheen district, which covers Cahir.

Charles and the three older children are shown as born England.

The marriage is coming up under Clonmel Church of Ireland for me - is that what the cert has ?

It might have been a mixed marriage as Charles and all the children are shown as RC on the census.

Do you have an actual cert for the marriage or a transcript ?

Yes, that's her. I have the original certificate. I know quite a bit about the family later on but nothing of Mary's birth. I've always assumed that she was RC and Charles was Protestant.

Yes, that's her. I have the original certificate. I know quite a bit about the family later on but nothing of Mary's birth. I've always assumed that she was RC and Charles was Protestant.

The denomation question could be important, as if it's the Skehan family that where Church of Ireland it changes the parishes you need to look out for, and since Charles and the children are listed as RC it's sounding as though that's possible.

Carrick on Suir is some distance from where the couple married, and marriages tend to be in the bride's current parish... sounds more like Cahir was the current parish for Charles, or did Mary originally come from Cahir, but was living near Carrick-on-Suir at the time but returned to Cahir for the marriage ?

RC records for Carrick-on-Suir for back to the 1780s, and transcripts are on RootsIreland paywebsite, but as I'm sure you've already seen there's no good match for Mary in these. Carrickbeg records which cover the south of the town are also included, and dont show a match either. RootsIreland dont seem to have CofI baptisms for Carrick-on-Suir.

Is the bride's residence clear to read on the cert ?

There are several townlands named Knockroe in Co. Tipperary, and Co. Waterford (parts of which would be close to Carrick), and there could be more as variations of spelling, but none that I've been able to find that seem to be near Carrick-on-Suir. There is a Knockroe in Clogheen district, Neddans civil parish so could be close to Cahir...

It's a pity they just seem to have missed the 1891 English census - that might have helped with a county for Mary

p.s. long shot ...  on the basis that Knockroe might a mishearing or similar or difficult to read and actually be someplace that reads or sounds similar I checked for any townland names where the name starts with "Knock" and in Carrick on Suir poor law union, so likely close to the town.  Just one townland matches - a Knocknaconnery, which not only is in Carrick on Suir poor law union, it's in Carrick civil parish, the same as the town. The first name that shows up on Griffith's search for this townland is a 'James Skeahan', and he's listed as occupier in the townland with a house, offices (i.e. stables, workshops etc) and land of just over 27 aces. He's a tenant of a Rev. Francis Brisoce, and this section of the valuation is dated 1850. Knocknaconnery townland is located just north east of the town of Carrick on Suir...

Wow! Good work! Mary's husband Charles is based in Cahir barracks at the time of marriage so I guess that's why they marry there. The place of residence is not very clear, I can read 'Knock' and then there's three more characters which could be 'roe'. I found a baptism of Mary Skehan in Carrick on Suir in 1856 with parents Jacobus and Mary Hogan which is close.

there's a 'Skehin' household shown in Knocknaconnery on the 1901 census, likely related to that James listed on Griffith's. Widower Mary age 70, and son Patrick age 45. These are the right type of ages to be your Mary's mother and brother.

Checking for a baptism for Patrick shows a possible match in Carrick-on-Suir RC in 1857, and his parents first names are matching James and Mary... There are some other probable baptisms for this couple but no sign of Mary... could still possibly be be the correct family, if for example Mary's baptism is on page in the register now missing or damaged...

The BMD Index is showing a death for a James Skehan in 1897 with a reported age of 72 in Carrick on Suir district - might be worth following up with a cert for this to see his place of death, occupation and informants name etc.

There also a death of a James Skehan in 1875 in the same district reported age 75, that could fit, but I think the first one is more likely.

Jacobus is latin for James - so think that batpism you mentioned fits. Could be the same family I found.. just with his name recorded for the other baptisms in English... I'll see

Thank you so much. I've found several children in Waterford and Tipp for Mary Hogan and James Skeahan/Skehan, Patrick was one. I will look at the census now.

yep - all one family Ellen 1851, Catherine 1852 with father's name as James, then Mary 1856 and Alice 1859 with father's name in Latin as Jacob/Jacobus, then Patrick 1857 (as mentioned above) and James 1861 father's name in English again - mother's name matching Mary Hogan for all. Some are recorded as Skeahan, others as Skehan.

Looks to me like Knocknaconnery was misheard or shorted by someone, possibly written in abbreviated form - Knockn'ry or similar ?

Oh I do hope this is them. How complete are the records? Thanks for all your help - you've been fantastic. In which towns are the Waterford births? Are all the Tipp ones in the same place? I've looked for a marriage between James and Mary Hogan but to no avail.

The town of Carrick-on-Suir is right on the border of counties Tipperary and Waterford - the river Suir which runs through part of the town and marks much of the county border in this area. RootsIreland has County sections which concentrate on records for their own county but also includes some parishes which have areas split across several counties - like Carrick-on-Suir and Clonmel..

RootsIreland transcripts should show the the name of the parish, from the free index I get four under Waterford / Carrick-on-Suir RC parish, and two (Mary and Alice) under Tipperary / Carrick-on-Suir RC parish - the two with the Latin version of the father's names on the Co. Tipperary system. Maybe some of the register volumes for the parish were transcribed by Co Tipperary centre, and others by the Co. Waterford centre ?

Some of the county centres seem to translate the first names to English to allow easier searching, but it appears that Tipperary dont, at least for these volumes. It's all the same family, as everything fits, and those children probably all lived at Knocknaconnery.

There are some gaps noted in the registers for the parish - and in addition to these there can be sections of pages badly faded and unreadable. Often the only way to be sure for a particular date is to view the historic records on microfilm in the National Library. See note on the records and the gaps here (John Grenham / Irish Times)

That's very helpful, thanks