Hi Suzy
I'm pretty new to this, so please bear with me.
I've been researching the Keyland family from Durham/Co Antrim too but through Sarah's brother, John Keyland.
From what I've gathered, Sarah and James Keyland moved from Co Antrim to Durham.
On the 1861 England census, there is a record, in Durham, for Sarah, James and 10mth old baby Daniel.
The two older children (John and Rose) are not in Durham with them. Unfortunately there was a transcription error and it appears as "Heyland".
I presumed Sarah & James returned to Ireland to collect the older children around 1864 and that was when Sarah was born.
As you know, the whole family were in Durham in 1871 but then disappear from the 1881 census,
I have found John Keyland (under the spelling Kyland) at Chatham barracks in 1881, as a soldier but I can't find any of the others.
John then went to Egypt, aboard the HMS Monarch (there was some uprising at the time).
It appears he married a local woman, called Rachel Golubzow and they returned to Spennymoor, Durham. (There first child, John Jrs was born there in 1884)
The elder sister, Rose, marries in Durham in 1881 but I can't find her on the census for that year either.
It makes me wonder if they just weren't away from home at census time, as other than John, they all disappear.
I have a query of my own, the HMS Monarch was docked at Port Said, Egypt, at the time John Keyland married Rachel Golubzow.
They returned to England and had a few children.
John then got remarried to a Mary-Ann Harrison in 1887 and states he's a widower. I presumed Rachel had died but I couldn't find a death on the registers.
I've recently found 2 entries in the passenger lists, for Mrs R Keyland, in 1910 and 1920, travelling from Port Said to England.
As its quite a rare name and not only is the initial correct but she's travelling from the place Rachel was born, it seems more than a coincidence.
It seems odd that Johns trips abroad where also at the time Sarah was on her travels.
I wondered if there was any connection
Dawn
