Alice Nelson and Northern Ireland

[caroline99]

Hi

I am trying to trace my GGGrandmother Alice Nelson. Unfortunately I don't have much information on her and what I do have is not consistent. She had children with Robert Bardsley including my great grandmother Mary and her brothers Zebulon and Isaiah to name a few. I have found the family on the 1901, 1891, 1881 and 1871 censuses. But in 1861 Robert Bardsley seems to be living with his parents Zebulon and Nancy whilst there is an Alice Nelson living with her daughter Elizabeth Nelson as boarders with Isaiah Bardsley, who is possible Robert's brother. This makes me think that Elizabeth Nelson who appears in the later censuses is actually Robert's stepdaughter.

But Alice is not very consistent in saying where she is from in the census - though in 1891 and 1901 it lists Ireland as her birth place and in 1891 more specifically Strabane in County Tyrone. I am in the process of ordering her daughters birth certificate to see what that says - I haven't found a marriage certificate for Robert and Alice.

Can someone suggest where I might try and find a birth certificate for her in Northern Ireland. Based on the census she would have been born around 1839/1840.

Thanks

Caroline

[Elwyn Soutter]

Caroline,

Statutory records for births in Ireland only started in 1864, so the only record of Alice's birth may be a baptism, if church records have survived. You really need to know her religion to search for that. Judging by the surname, she's most likely to be Presbyterian or possibly Church of Ireland but you may know differently. So you should search the records for churches of those religions in the Strabane area.

Most, but not all, church baptism records have been copied to the Public Record Office for NI www.proni.gov.uk. (Some churches refused to allow their records to be copied). You can search to see what PRONI have on-line (I can see that there are some records for 1839/40 in Camus & Leckpatrick parishes which covers Strabane). But you need to look the records up in person. You can't do that on line. Alternatively you could write to the individual churches to see if they will help you. Note that there were 2 Presbyterian Congregations in Strabane, so you'd need to contact both.

Incidentally if they are Presbyterian, that tells you their ancestors almost certainly came to Ireland from Scotland, sometime from around 1610 onwards.


Elwyn

[obbie]

From LDS Record Search Pilot - England, Cheshire Parish Registers, 1538-2000

Robert Bardsley
Christening - 09 Oct 1901, St Mary, Broadbottom, Cheshire, England
Father - Robert Bardsley
Mother - Alice
Principal's Residence - St. Mary, Broadbottom, Cheshire, England

James Bardsley
Christening - 17 Jul 1898, Gee-Cross, Cheshire, England
Father - Robert Bardsley
Mother - Alice Bardsley
Principal's Residence - Gee-Cross, Cheshire, England

[caroline99]

Hi Elwyn

Handy information. I will get in contact with the churches and see how I go. From her life in England I think she might be Catholic. Her children were baptised in a mix of anglican and catholic churches and from the information I have on her husband I think it is more likely he was the Anglican one.

Obie, thanks for the look up but the children are too young - there were a lot of Bardsley's up that way and Robert and Alice seem to have been a common combination.