Having tracked down some relatives in Northern Ireland I'd like to find out what their occupations w
Patrick McMullen b.26 March 1813 or 14. He married Sara Walsh on 28 Sep 1823 at St Patrick's, Belfast city and died in Manchester, England. His father was John Patrick McMullen b.1783. I believe the family came to England in 1842. I have read that people living in Antrim were mostly farmers but can anyone suggest where I might start my search?
Best Answers
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@Marie Lock
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Marie
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If you have not already tried, you could try ...
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Give this a go for starters ... in relation to Ireland ...
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Irish Genealogy
https://www.irishgenealogy.ie/en/
▬ a website maintained by the Government of Ireland
▬ most of the "Images" of the records are FREE to access and download
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I hope this helps.
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Brett
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@Marie Lock
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Marie
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In that case ...
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Next ...
What about ...
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The Public Record Office of Northern Ireland (PRONI)
The official archive for Northern Ireland
https://www.nidirect.gov.uk/proni
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Search the archives online
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Family and local history records
https://www.nidirect.gov.uk/articles/family-and-local-history-records
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Will calendars
https://www.nidirect.gov.uk/information-and-services/search-archives-online/will-calendars
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eCatalogue
https://www.nidirect.gov.uk/information-and-services/search-archives-online/ecatalogue
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Or, altogether ...
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Government of Northern Ireland
Department for Communities
Public Record Office of Northern Ireland (PRONI)
https://www.communities-ni.gov.uk/topics/public-record-office-northern-ireland-proni
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Brett
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We do have an @Ireland Genealogy Research group here on Community. Perhaps someone there can give you some guidance?
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Thank you for this link but I have already tried this and couldn't find anything. I don't know what Parish he was born in so that maybe the reason.
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Thank you, will try there.
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Hello Marie,
You were interested in the occupations of Patrick McMullen and Sara Walsh.
Given their names, and that you mention that they were married in Saint Patrick's in Belfast, it is almost certain that they were Catholic. Their religion would likely have constrained what occupations they could aspire to at that time in Ireland.
You mention that you have read that people living in County Antrim were mostly farmers at this time. That would be correct for County Antrim in general, however, as the couple were married in a church in Belfast, it would be reasonable to assume that the couple, or at minimum the bride, lived in Belfast. Belfast at this time was the industrial center for the whole of the island.
In these years, Belfast became the world's leading linen producer, with extensive textile, shipbuilding, engineering, whiskey distilling and tobacco production industries.
The couple's subsequent move to Manchester, at that time England's industrial center, could possibly be seen to further underline potential industrial links.
It is a possibility that one or both of the couple worked in, or for, the industrial factories in Belfast and/or Manchester.
Hope this provokes some thoughts.
John.
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Thanks very much for your reply John. Yes I knew they were Catholics because of where Patrick was Baptised but I hadn't realised that this could affect his occupation. His father John Patrick b.1783 moved with the family to Manchester which had extensive textile production at the time. I don't know when or where his mother died. His son William b.1893 was a Tailor, Trouser Maker on the 1881 Census which could indicate he followed his father into a similar trade. It does give me some ideas but not sure where to go from here.
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Re farmers in County antrim. This could be anything from massive land owners down to small plots of a few acres where they were at the subsistence level and everywhere in between. However being Catholic they were more likely to be at the lower end of the scale and renting the land from a landowner
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Thank you. Any idea where to look?
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I thought I had replied to this but cant see the reply. If youve seen it youll have seen my howler where I totally mixed up the ages of your relatives and somehow got over 100 years between the birth of the father and the son!!! What a howler. Must have been too early in the morning for me. (Thank goodness I dont do this for a living)
Anyhow. Assuming that my "reply" ended up lost in the ether the best place to look is catholic parish records freely available on the website for the "national library of ireland + catholic parish records" (a google search will get you them) or theyre transcribed on ancestry ( but care must be exercised as transcription can sometimes be wrong). ALso name variations will play a big part in your search (McMULLAN, McMULLEN, McMULLIN, etc) and you'll be hoping that dropping of the prefix Mc does'nt come into play. If the marraige was in Saint Patricks in Belfast certainly that would be the most obvious place to start to expand what you can find about the family. If they moved into Belfast from the countryside prior to or for the marriage that could hinder your search somewhat. I took a brief look and note that there is a letter "C" following the marraige entry while others have "H". Not sure what that means.
For dates preceeding the parish registers theses not much to look at. The joy of Irish Genealogy. However the REcord Office in Dublin which was destroyed in 1922 is in hte process of being "digitally" recreated and is due online in 2022. Keep an eye out for that ; it may help.
If you saw my earlier reply I can only apologise and put it down to using my phone not the PC to do the reading/replying and apologise for looking so daft.
Davy
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Hi Davy - No I hadn't seen a previous reply but now I have thank you very much for your help and pointers for which I'm grateful. I'm out today but will have a search tomorrow. - Marie
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I wanted to thank you all for your replies and sorry that I hadn't got back to all who replied to me - life happens!
I got diverted when I discovered that the family lived in Drummaul or Randalstown, Antrim and that one of the sons b.1831 in Brookfield, Antrim had joined the 88th Regiment the Connaught Rangers in 1854, was sent to India where he died in a cholera epidemic in Lucknow. Sad end. He had his wife with him and she married another soldier shortly after his death. He had been a tailor before he joined the military so he was following in the family tradition.
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