CONWAY - BUCHAN

[Templar75]

Hi all,

        looking for assistance please, my great grandfather was William Conway, he married Ann Buchan at St. Mary's R.C. Chapel at Haddington in 27-11-1871, at that time I think they worked at Bearford ( Beresford ) Farm Haddington.

Ann Buchan would have been born around 1839 as she is recorded having died in 1913 aged 74 years and William Conway around 1846 as he died in 1899 aged 53 years, his parents were William Conway and Ann Douglas, however, I am unable to find their marriage on S.P., why is it not in the Statutory Registers as they were started in 1855.

I have found it in the Catholic Registers but it is a book, there is no mention of parents in it, the witnesses are William McNally and Mary Jane Buchan. Ann Buchan at the moment is a mystery, I would love to know what her mothers name was and where Ann was born.

Another member called CaroleW very kindly searched and came up with the information listed below for Buchan, but I am unable to find William or his parents anywhere except his death cert, either that or I am doing something wrong and knocking hell out of my credits.

When I was younger I am sure it may have been the Conway's that were mentioned, anyway, I heard that one of them may have been a soldier and came over from Ireland, if that is so an my gg grandfather was the one, then I suppose there is no way I can trace him

As far as Ann Buchan goes was her mothers name McNally or Bohannan, what a puzzle, and I apologise for this being so long, but your help is really appreciated.

William Conway and Ann Conway ( Buchan ) died at Liberton Edinburgh.

Best regards.

Archie.     

THE ENTRY FROM CaroleW

1851 for Haddington - all b Ireland except Mary

William Buchan 48 beehive and casket maker
Michael   16
Anne  13
Maria 9
Helen 19 shown as Buchan
Henry McNally 23 son in law beehive and casket maker
Mary McNally 3 Months b Haddington
Haddington ED 4 Page11 Line 11

Found this on the IGI

HELEN MCNALLY   Birth:  14 DEC 1857   Haddington, East Lothian   
Father:  HENRY MCNALLY    Mother:  ELLEN BOHANNAN 

1861 for Haddington indexed as Bohan - all b Ireland except children

William 60 ag labourer
Anne 21 dtr - she is shown as 25 in 1871
Maria 18 dtr
Anne 69 sister
Helen 28 visitor ag labourers wife - shown as Bohan/Buchan but suspect she should be McNally
Mary A McNally 10 g/dtr b Haddington
Helen McNally 3 g/dtr b Haddington
Haddington ED 16 Page  8 Line 4

[CaroleW]

Ann Buchan at the moment is a mystery, I would love to know what her mothers name was and where Ann was born.

My 1851 info shows that all the Buchan family were born in Ireland.  As Maria was b Ireland 1842 - they only arrived in Scotland after the 1841 census

As far as Ann Buchan goes was her mothers name McNally or Bohannan

You are confusing the IGI entry I found for Helen McNally b 1857

If you look again at the 1851 details - Helen Buchan was married to Henry McNally and they had a 3mth old daughter Mary.  Helen Buchan was the sister of Ann Buchan

In 1857 Helen (Ellen) and Henry  had a daughter Helen but Helen (Buchan) McNally's maiden name is shown as Bohannon not Buchan.

This could be either a transcription error or possibly Bohannon was Buchan or vice versa

[CaroleW]

SP shows one match for a male Conway marriage to an Ann Buchan in East Lothian in 1871

However - it does not match to a William Conway

Have you already viewed that entry?

[MonicaL]

I think that is likely to be the right one Carole - IGI have groom indexed as W._W CONWAY. IGI date matches the RC register.

Monica     

[Templar75]

Thank you both very much for your very hard efforts, if you ever come to Edinburgh please allow my wife an I to run you about and explain the history of the City and suburbs.

I saw them on the IGI plus the photo of the marriage in the Catholic Register, please see attached if it's not forbidden, Bohan or Bohannon might be Irish for Buchan, if they came from Ireland the Irish were not well received here hence the possible change of name.

Thank you once again.

Best regards.

Archie.

[CaroleW]

Hopefully - mum's name and maiden name will be shown on the entry. 

The 1861 entry is Bohan so it may have been the Irish accent. 

The high levels of illiteracy back in those days meant that the enumerator often had to record the names "as spoken"  (ie) best guess

[Templar75]

Hi Carole,

               thank you for your latest reply, yes what you say makes sence, when you hear the accent it is very dificult to make out especially the broader accent, I found out the the name Bohan is Norman and it seems the name has something in common with Scotland, In Ulster Bohannon is a variant of Buchanan which is Scottish, so with this in mind they either chose Buchan it or as you said their name sounded like it.

Best regards.

Archie.

[lyndyloo6]

Hi,
Just to say that I too have done some research on Irish roots....I have a McGoohan, recorded as McGowan probably due to the liteacy problem and the preist interpreted it as McGowan...caused a lot of problems...I also have Conways from Ireland and have had no luck tracing them......

Lynda

[Templar75]

Hi Lynda,

                     The problem is, that the old ones when they were alive never spoke of them, I am lucky to have a photo of my g-grandmother, she had a hard but sweet face obviously due to the times she lived in and the life she had.

I remember my gran had a beautiful clock on the living room dresser, it was the wind up type and only she was the only one allowed to do it. I asked here where she got it, oh she said it was a wedding present from my mother, and she got it from her mother, so god knows how old it was, it kept perfect time and never had a maintenance done to it nor was it cleaned inside.

I don't know if it was the Conway side or the Buchan's but, I was told that one of them went missing one night, they found him frozen sitting on the ground, he must have gone out to one of the Pubs and had a bender, he would never have felt it, I think Dunbar was mentioned.

When the Potato Famine hit Ireland there was about 8 million of the population, between those poor souls who died through it and those who left, there were only around 4 million left in the country, so sad.

Then during the rebellion of 1922 the records office was burnt down, this has caused a lot of problems and I think they have had to rely on the old parish records.

Where are you located and did you have any relatives in Scotland ?.

Happy hunting.

Archie.