Cummings Of Ballycarton.

[owenc]

Well i have a whole two pages of records from magilligan, ballerena,myroe and limavady churches, aswell as ones from the coleraine library,if you would like you can have them. Mind you they are cummins but it depends as you say what the clergyman wrote them down as. If ou do want them you could give me some names that you know of and i'll find them

[Summerhill]

I would love them!! I am going to send you a private message with my contact details.

Regards,
Summerhill.

[owenc]

I would love them!! I am going to send you a private message with my contact details.

Regards,
Summerhill.

Ok thanks we can just pm them, though your going to have to give me names incase they are not the people you know.

[owenc]

I'm not the least bit offended but was just pointing out that if he was Catholic then he wouldn't have been baptised as a child in a Presbyterian church.

Ok no problem, but i don't think sumer hill has his baptisim?

[Gortinanima]

Summerhill - I was looking at Magilligan RC records today in PRONI and noted your Cummings family mentioned. The name was originally Miskimmins and also McCummins in the earlier records and most of the family in the Magilligan/Aghanloo area were Presbyterian. In the absence of formal census material then the church registers are very important in building up a picture of the family - sponsors, witnesses & addresses etc:

You probably have these details already [these are all of the Cummings entries in the Magilligan RC records]

Magilligan RC registers: c. 1863-1880 MIC 1D/56/1

Marriages [the RC registers did not name father but from civil marriage all of these Cummings are children of James Cummings]

Married 22 Aug 1871 James Cummings of Ballycarton to Elizabeth McDermott: Witnesses - Daniel Cummings, Ballycarton & Jane McDermott, Duncrun

Married 27 Sept 1874 Daniel Cummings to Margaret Mullan: Witnesses - Jas & Mgt McLaughlin of Clagan

Married 3 Feb 1877 John Coghlan Ballycarton to Elizabeth Cummings, Ballycarton: Witnesses - Edward Mullan and Annie Cummings, Ballycarton.

Baptisms
25 Sept 1865 Elizabeth of Samuel Cummings & Mary Ann Coyle, Ballyhendry: sponsors - John Mooney, Ballyhendry & Nancy Cummings of Ballycarton.

[Note - this is the only entry for children of Samuel Cummings. It seems he was related to the Ballycarton Cummings'].

19 May 1872 Mary Ann of Daniel McLaughlin & Elizabeth Cummings Ballycarton: Sponsors - Pat McIvor & Mary Ann Given [note in margin - Mary Ann married to Galloway in New York 5-11-1908]

18 Aug 1872 Sarah Jane of James Cummings and Elizabeth McDermott of Derry: Sponsors - Daniel Cummings Ballyc[faded] and Sarah Ann McDermott, Duncrun.

28 June 1874 Daniel of Daniel McLaughlin & Elizabeth Cumming, Ballycarton: Sponsors - John Coghlan & Elizabeth Cumming of Ballycarton.

10 Feb 1877 James of Daniel Cummings and Margaret Mullan, Ballycarton: Sponsors - John Coghlan & Mrs John Coghlan of Ballycarton

27 Aug 1876 Elizabeth of Daniel McLaughlin & Elizabeth Cummings of By'carton: Sponsors - Eliza Cummings & Pat McIvor

Burials [only one Cummings burial]
27 July 1875 - Mrs Cummings, Ballycarton

Note - on its own the burial seems to be virtually useless. However, this must be the mother of the Cummings' family above since the title 'Mrs' Cummings suggests so. A search of the civil death index for the year 1875 produces one hit -

Sarah Cummings died 1875 aged 62 years [born c.1813] Newtownlimavady, Volume 11 page 573.
[Sarah Cummings above could be the wife of James Cummings that you were looking for?].

[Summerhill]

Gortinamina you are an absolute star!!! Thank you first of all for even thinking of me when you were there in PRONI & secondly for taking the time & trouble to note all these & post them up.  I had only Marriage records for 2 of the Cummings' and birth records only for the Children of James Cummings & Elizabeth Mc Dermott. I had a vague recollection also of Elizabeth Mc Dermotts 'father being married twice , as she called her first born after her late mother Sarah Jane who was born in 1872 in the McDermott homestead at Ballycarton. Her stepmother witnessed & recorded the birth. This was confirmed when I got a copy of the civil birth cert.  But that was really all the information that i had.  So all this is really the icing on the cake.

[Gortinanima]

No problem summerhill - I am interested in a Brooks family from Aghanloo and there is a connection to Cummings so I am trying to find the family link.

William Brooks [son of John] was married 3 times:
1. Jane Wilson on 10 Aug 1849 Christchurch CI, Limavady. She died 1854
2. Mary Cummings c. 1855-57 [fist child of this marriage born 1858]
3. Mary Jane Thompson in Magilligan P in 1882

I have the first and last marriage certs as they were registered. I cannot locate a marriage certificate for the marriage to Mary Cummings. My hunch is that the marriage took place in a Catholic church, perhaps Magilligan, as this may have been a mixed marriage. So this got me off searching on the Cummings family.

Magilligan Presbyterian Church records are excellent. A census of the families of the congregation 1855 has listed 3 Cummins families in Ballycarton:

7. David Cummins sen & jun
8. David Cummins jun & wife - children Eliza & Anna
9. James Cummins wife & family RC

The latter entry is very interesting as it seems that James Cummins was a Presbyterian but his wife & family were RC. This was a mixed marriage where it looks like the children were raised Catholic.

And here is a most remarkable entry in the baptismal register of Magilligan Presbyterian by the Rev Butler who must have had an interest in family history as his entries are so detailed:

No 348 - on the evening of Friday sixth day of Nov 1840 Thomas McCumins son of James McCumins of Old Town and of Jane McLaughlin, Ballycarton was baptised in his father's house after a lecture having been born 23 Oct 1840. Present being the father and mother, the grandmother wife of the aged George McCummins in the same town and a few of the wife's relatives who is the daughter of James McGlaughlin of Ballycarton a Roman Catholic. The age of the father James McCummins ia bout 36 and his wife Sarah 26 - their other child Thomas was baptised by Robert Gage about 18 months [ago].

There are two obvious mistakes in the entry - the wife of James McCummins was noted first as Jane and later as Sarah [in any case she was a McLaughlin so she may have been Sarah Jane. I think she is the Mrs McCummins listed in Magilligan RC burial register for 1875 in Ballycarton & the Sarah Cummins listed in the death index 1875 N'Limavady aged 62 so born c. 1813.] The 2nd mistake is where the Rev Butler at the end says their other child Thomas was baptised by Rev Gage [minister in Magilligan CI].

This is still a work in progress but so far but looks like the progenitor of the Cummings of Ballycarton was George McCummins:

The records above tell us:
George Cummings [1831 census Ballycarton] by his wife had issue:
James Cummings [born c.1804] who married Sarah Jane McLaughlin [c 1813-1875 dau of Jas McLaughlin].
It was probably this James Cummings listed in 1855 census Magilligan P with wife & family RC.

Have you date of death with age for your James Cummings who married Eiza McDermott?

[Summerhill]

That is a lot of very very interesting information. I am gobsmacked!!! You have managed to find what i have been searching for over 3 years. Infact I had drawn a blank. Thankyou so much

Now you ask if I had a date of death for James Cummings who married Elizabeth Mc Dermott in 1871. I am afraid I don't. But I did write to Derry city cemetery to ascertain if they were buried there but they were not. They seemed to have vanished off the radar. But I searched my records again to day & here is what I do have.
1) James Cummings married Elizabeth Mc Dermott in Bellarena RC Church 1871.

2) Daughter Sarah Jane born in Elizabeths homeplace Duncrun.on 12/8/1872.

3) Anne Elizabeth born in Derry 29/6/1874.(My Great Granny)

4) Isabella Kathleen born in Derry 18/9/1875.

Now sometime later they moved to Ballymoney, Co. Antrim where two more children were born.
James Alexander 10/12/1877
Charles Edward 13/8/1879. I got the civil birth certs for these two but I am afraid the registrars writing leaves a lot to be desired. The certs are barely legible.

James Cummings was a Pork Butcher & moved around quite a bit.  When my Great Granny married in 1899 her address on the Civil marriage cert is given as Chamberlain street.Derry.

But any searches for her parents drew a blank. I wonder though could they have remained in Ballymoney Co. Antrim & are buried there??

[Summerhill]

Regarding you ancestor Mr. Brooks's second marriage to Mary Cummings circa 1855-1857 , I feel that it may have indeed been a mixed marriage & as far as i know mixed marriages were not conducted on the main alter in a catholic church but in a side alter or small annexe. also some clergymen may not have recorded these marriages either. But you could try bellarena catholic church or any other catholic churches in the locality at that time.  also have you tried the local Church of Ireland registers.?