Finding a marriage - Help!

[rob.loasby]

Hi,

I've been stuck for a good few years trying to find the marriage of one of my ancestors, George ALSOP.

He was in the British Army during the Napoleonic period and I have him in Portugal and Spain during the Peninsular War. He then moves with his Regiment to Ireland - although the records are not specific as to where he was located. At some stage while he was there, he married a local girl, Ann SHAIL, (Bn abt 1795) around 1815-1820, before being posted back to Scotland, then England.

Ann's relative, Margaret, is shown on the English 1851 census staying with them as a servant, age 20, born Ireland. I assume she is a neice.

I know that without any more detail, this is a needle in a haystack chase, but can anyone offer any suggestions on how I can trace Ann's birth/family? The only clue I have so far is that this surname seems to be predominately in Ulster.

Many thanks.

[Christopher]

Hi Rob,

If you know George's regiment that may help to establish where they were based and where the marriage took place. What denomination was George?

Most weddings took place in the bride's church so the parish or townland where the Shail family lived would be helpful in order to check on the records that may be available. There'll probably not be all that many as Civil Registration was not compulsory in Ireland prior to 1864.

Christopher

[rob.loasby]

Christopher,

He was with the 45th Regiment of Foot at the time, and his service record places him in Cork when he was discharged in 1818. It actually states that "the sum of £5.5.1^1/2d has been issued to George Alsop, to enable himself, his wife and one child to proceed to Dublin, a passage by sea at the public expense not having been provided for them".

There is no record of this child in later census records, but there is mention of a Margaret SHAIL (bn Ireland c1831) as a servant living with them in the 1851 census.

Unfortunately, his record doesn't state his religion, and his descendants were mainly baptised CofE, but some were either baptised Catholic or converted, just to confuse the issue even more!

Given the political situation at the time vis-a-vis Catholic emancipation in Ireland, though, I wonder whether a marriage between a British soldier and a Catholic have been accepted by her family, or indeed the community.

[Christopher]

Hi Rob,

It's hard to say whether a marriage between a British soldier and a Catholic have been accepted by her family, or indeed the community, at that time. Some families would
have accepted such a situation and others would have been dead against it. 

There have always been a reasonable number of marriages between members of the Catholic faith and members of the Protestant faith. Some of those couples remained in Ireland whilst others emigrated in the hope making a better life together in another country.

Christopher