Browne Islandmagee

[HaganexLarne]

Thanks for response. I have done considerable search on Census and found. family in 1901 & 1911
http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/pages/1901/Antrim/Larne/Waterloo_Road/996642/
http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/pages/1911/Antrim/Larne/St__John_s_Place/196507/
Hence my comments re literacy and how pronounced.
Also found from maritime records where he was on sinking of Tara and POW
http://www.naval-history.net/xDKCas1915-11Nov.htm
http://search.findmypast.ie/results/world-records/prisoners-of-war-1914-1920?firstname=thomas&firstname_variants=true&lastname=higgins&eventyear=1916&eventyear_offset=2
I have traced his marriage to Emily Spence.
And believe he may have been a stoker on Queen Mary - Battle of Jutland.
There is a T Higgins listed as stoker
Also a son William http://larne-in-ww1.irishgenealogy.net/larne_war_mem_HIGGINS_W.html

I was trying to find Thomas Parents/family or tie in with other Higgins/ Heggan Islandmagee

[ernestjames]

It looks as if you have been checking for maritime record matches for your grandfather John Higgins/Hagan born Islandmagee  1899 and his older brother Thomas born ca 1884.

How about these possible matches for John

http://www.irishmariners.ie/searchdatabase.php?srch_surname=hagan&srch_forename=john&srch_identityno=&srch_yob=1899&submit=Search

and from the following 1915 crewlists

http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C14736719

I think that you need more information such as a birthplace to match Thomas Higgins with either the Tara or HMS Queen Mary. I suspect, for example, that the  Thomas Higgins on Tara was born on Anglesey. Tara was originally the railway steamer ss Hibernia which seems to have retained a significant number of  Anglesey men in the crew.

best wishes
ernestjames

[HaganexLarne]

Thomas was born Islandmagee about 1861-62, Confirmed by Census records, note spelling Higgins and Heggins.
Family stories had that he was torpedoed 3 times. Actual sinking of Tara confirms 3 topedoes fired to sink her.
I am only guessing at Queen Mary, as timing seems to match and no mention of him later, and death of William lists Thomas as "late" in 1918.
When comparing various Hagan/ Heggen/Heggan census from Islandmagee with cemetery records, shows lots of "swapping" of spelling. I have cemetery records for Heggen, but both 1901 and 1911 census show as HAGAN. I was hoping someone has already identified this and worked out a solution?

[aghadowey]

I was trying to find Thomas Parents/family or tie in with other Higgins/ Heggan Islandmagee
According to 1911 census Thomas & Emily were married c1883 and sure enough there's a marriage which fits-
Thomas Haggan, son of Thomas, 10 Oct.1882 Larne district to Emily Spence, daughter of James. You can view the full details on GRONI's website.

Since you have an idea of when and where Thomas was born have you looked for church records? baptism should lists names of both parents (hopefully will include mother's maiden name so that you can search for their marriage, other children, etc.).

Meanwhile there are several Will Extracts on PRONI which might tie into the family-
http://apps.proni.gov.uk/DCAL_PRONI_WillsCalendar_IE/WillsSearch.aspx

[ernestjames]

I looked at possible seaman matches for Thomas Higgins, born 1861,  using Islandmagee or Larne as his birthplace. I found the following:-

http://www.irishmariners.ie/searchdatabase.php?srch_surname=higgins&srch_forename=thomas&srch_identityno=&srch_yob=1861&submit=Search

"deceased" note appears to have been made in 1926. I checked the findmypast record.
There is a photo of this man in Southampton Archives.

There also appears to be a ww1 mercantile marine medal for the same man with a birth year of 1862 on the National Archives website which you will have to pay to download.

http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/results/r?_fn=thomas&_ln=higgins&_pl=larne&discoveryCustomSearch=true&_cr1=BT+351&_cr2=MT+9&_col=200&_dt=BW&_hb=tna

This looks a good match to me. What do you think? If you do download let me have the details as it may help in finding more information.

I have also located a Samuel Hagan born Larne 1900 who may be another son of Thomas

http://www.irishmariners.ie/searchdatabase.php?srch_surname=hagan&srch_forename=samuel&srch_identityno=&srch_yob=1900&submit=Search

What do you think? There is also a photo of this man in Southampton Archives.

ernestjames

[HaganexLarne]

Ernest james
Thanks for your assistance, I had already located the irish mariners for Thomas 1861 sons and his. yes John (my G/F) and his younger brother Samuel are recorded.
I had located a record of marriage but it only listed 1/4 yr records for 1882, but did NOT show names of fathers - Thanks for that. Also not aware of it recording as Haggan.
Obviously there appears problems in interpretation of how names are pronounced and written, makes it difficult, I hadn't considered this spelling.

Thanks Jim

[ernestjames]

Jim
I'm glad you got a match on irishmariners for Thomas and two of his sons, John and Samuel.

In my opinion its worth downloading the mercantile marine medal card for Thomas Higgins to see if it relates to your great grandfather. There may be additional useful information there.

best wishes
ernestjames

[aghadowey]

Ernest james
...
I had located a record of marriage but it only listed 1/4 yr records for 1882, but did NOT show names of fathers - Thanks for that. Also not aware of it recording as Haggan.
Obviously there appears problems in interpretation of how names are pronounced and written, makes it difficult, I hadn't considered this spelling.
Thanks Jim

I was the one who posted the marriage details. What you looked at was probably the civil registration index but GRONI will give exact date. I then used free search on another database to get the fathers' names.

[HaganexLarne]

Sorry for thanking the wrong person, I am certainly new to the chat room format.
I found many sites which want to charge for access and fees would mount quickly when you don't know where your looking. So far I have been scanning through free access info.

I left Larne in 1967 and was only 9 yo so place names and areas create an extra challenge.

Thanks for your assistance.
When I tried to search for Father James and Spence last night, that birth came up in 1865 as for a male?