Help with transcribing Catholic Birth record 1858

Gail,

This is the entry you refer to:

https://registers.nli.ie/registers/vtls000632615#page/3/mode/1up

I read it as B Thomom Telford filium. Thomi et Margaretta Dimond, sp Eliza Irvine. Illge. C’Dawson.

I am not 100 per cent sure but to me that translates as Baptised Thomas Telford, a boy.  Parents Thomas (Telford is implied) and Margaret Dimond. Sponsor Eliza Irvine. Illegitimate. Castledawson.

Thanks so much Elwyn...do you think then that Thomas and Margaret weren't married. I am reading it this way, and this could be why Magaret Diamond when she married William MCMullin 1868 in Magherafelt stated she was a spinister. I have found out when William McMullin died 1904 Antrim, Thomas jun was his step son present at death. The only other puzzel is if Margaret was a Catholic, how was she able to marry in the Presbyterian church, would that have been acceptable in 1868. Thank you so much for your help.

Regards, Gail.

Gail,

I see “illeg” (or similar) against several baptisms in that register. I can’t think of any other interpretation of the scribble, and it was common to identify illegitimate births in the records, so that would be in keeping with church practice. And if, as you say, Margaret was a spinster when she married in 1868, then that all fits.

You ask how, if Margaret was a Catholic, she was able to marry in a Presbyterian church. She didn’t marry in a Presbyterian church. She married in Magherafelt Church of Ireland. The Church of Ireland was pretty relaxed about marrying anyone. It goes back to the time when it was the Established or State church, and so it had a duty to offer marriage services to anyone who was free to marry and wished to do so, regardless of their denomination. So, like this couple, you sometimes see a Presbyterian and a Catholic marrying in the Church of Ireland and you might wonder: “What was that all about?” but there was a logic if either had had difficulties with their own Minister or Priest.

Each family dealt with mixed marriages in their own way. In some cases one of them went lock stock & barrel for the other denomination. In others you see the daughters brought up under the wife’s denomination and the sons under the fathers. (It’s easy to spot families like that in the 1901 & 1911 censuses). In this case it looks as though all the children, including Thomas Telford, were brought up as Presbyterians:

http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/pages/1901/Antrim/Templepatrick/Straidballymorris/920790/

http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/pages/1901/Antrim/Kilbride/Fifty_Acres/919020/

Thomas Telford married Agnes Smith in 1881 and his marriage certificate names his father as Thomas Telford, farmer. So that ties in perfectly with the baptism you found in Magherafelt RC parish records.

Mixed marriages often caused friction between families but they weren’t as rare as people sometimes think. (The Civil Register Office records are full of them). It was sometimes a factor in a couple’s decision to leave Ireland too, but there were plenty of them. 

Thank you so much, I feel I have now broken through my brick wall as I am confident I am on the right line of research. Everything fits perfectly, and now understanding more about the  Church system in Ireland has helped alot. Again, many thanks.

Kind regards,

Gail.

With respect to the earlier "illegitimate" birth, one possible explanation could be poverty.  Priests and ministers usually charged a good bit to marry someone (one pound was a common amount in the 1800's).  As a results, many poorer people were marred by itinerant, unlicensed priests or ministers (Catholic and Protestant), sometimes including defrocked Catholic priests, who traveled around performing unsanctioned, essentially common-law marriages.  If the couple had a child, the local priest (and probably most ministers) generally felt obligated to baptise the child (and baptism cost a lot less - usually only a few shillings), but some took pleasure in noting the illegitimacy (I've seen cases where they wrote the word "Bastard" in big letters, though they were usually more subtle).  If the couple could afford to later on, they would go to church and get the marriage done "legally".