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Beginners => Family History Beginners Board => Topic started by: ceemac23 on Saturday 10 January 15 10:38 GMT (UK)
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I'm looking for information on a J N Bonar. I believe he may have come to Balbriggan (Ireland) some time in the 1920s. As there is no census for the time, I can find no record of who he was or where he came from. I have a reference to him as being called Captain JN Bonar and I'm pretty sure he was a member of the Church of Ireland. Any help at all would be greatly appreciated including for example his full name, D.O.B. etc. I am aware that there are variations in the spelling of Bonar but he seems to have been consistently called Bonar.
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Is this to do with the history of Balbriggan R.F.C.?
Without a first name, age or other identifying details it's very difficult to try identifying a person. Have you tried local directories from the period to get a first name/first & middle name? Also Valuation Revision Books (Nationald Archives, Dublin) may help with the name and approx. dates of when he moved to the area.
Balbriggan comes under Balrothery Poor Law Union.registration district so have you checked for a likely death? Of course he may have died elsewhere or left the area.
https://familysearch.org/search/collection/1408347
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could only find one J Bonar - no N as middle initial ...but he looks to be born the right timeframe
https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:FBVQ-CP8
Glenties is in Donegal - Balbriggan is in Dublin = 117 miles apart ...both on the coast - was he a Sea Captain /Master Mariner ?
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Thanks for the replies. Yes, not having a full name is a real difficulty. I am researching this man in relation to the founding of Balbriggan RFC. He appears in the Thoms Directory in 1928 under traders and then in 1930 - 1932 under clergy, nobility, gentry, living in Balbriggan.
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For this period 'captain' could have been rank for WWI so not much help unfortunately.
No indication of what sort of 'trader'? Is 1932 directory last trace of him?
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I have no idea what sort of trader he was, it doesn't say. And there is no trace of him in Balbriggan after 1932 that I can find so far.
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Have just received info from newspaper archives that refer to him as G N Bonar, rather than J N, and that his wife's name was Margaret. Two children (boys) that I know of, but only have their initials R and the other is J. In 1932, these boys are approximately 15 and 14 respectively.
From this, I've done a bit more looking and I found a G N Bonar who was President of the Insurance Institute in Ireland 1926-27, and that he was working at Commercial Union.
If anyone has any information on this family, it would be greatly appreciated.
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http://www.freebmd.org.uk
shows a possible George N. Bonar who married in England in 1915 to a Margaret A Burleigh, and a death in 1967 aged 79 (birth about 1888). Two sons in England, ("I", not "J", born 1918 and a "R" born 1919).
Can't see a birth in England/Wales for him (perhaps try Scottish records?)
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jorose,
Thanks for that information, I'll check it out.
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Just in case jorose found the correct family-
Ian Newton Bonar (1917-11 Oct.2000)
Ronald Burleigh Bonar (1919-27 Dec.1998)
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Thanks so much aghadowey and jorose for all your help. The name Newton is something I came across in Scottish archives. There was a George Newton Bonar born in Scotland in 1863 in Edinburgh, Midlothian. Then following from that, there is a George N living in Midlothian in the 1881 census. By 1891, he's married and has a son, also called George N born in 1888. This could be the George that I'm looking for. The names of the children of G N and Margaret Bonar would make sense then.