James McVay, Sounty Down

I strongly suspect that your "McVay" spelling is a variant of "McVeigh," which is much more common in that area.

My GGG uncle Robert Verner, who lived north of Portadown in County Armagh, married an Elizabeth McVeigh who was born about 1832, if her age as reported in the 1901 Census was correct. I have no idea if she was related to your Mary b1834/35. Newcastle, Down is not that far from northern Amagh by today's standards (about 35 miles, but more than an hour by car because the roads are not highways), so that suggests a decent chance they are not related.

I suggest you continue your research using the spelling McVeigh. You will get a great help if you go to www.johngrenham.com, put that in the box on the home page, and you'll get some very helpful information on all the variant spellings and where they lived.

Susan Rogers

Grass Valley, California

Hi Susan, I'm sorry for the late reply!  I know I need to be open about the spelling and that McVay might have been McVeigh.  But all the records I do have for my ancestor (her marriage in the UK, and birth of children in Australia) refer to her maiden name always as "McVay".  A possible brother was also called "McVay".  I feel I need to exhaust this idea that it was "McVay" from Newcastle, Ireland before moving on ... there are also many more "McVeigh's" and my task will be even harder!

Thanks again... who knows...

Regards

Dee Webb

Melbourne, Australia

Hi Dee, no need to apologize, we're all busy and genealogy takes a lot of time!

I understand why you want to concentrate on McVay spellings. Just remember that spelling was mostly a matter of personal choice for individuals and families until the mid-1800's. How it was pronounced was considered far more important than how it was spelled, especially since literacy rates were not great in many areas.

Cheers,

Susan