Help? My Scottish family is lost in Ireland 1851-1858

[Kaite]

I have a Scots family who moved to Ireland sometime around 1851. They lived there until about 1858 when they returned to their homeland of Perthshire, Scotland.

Can anyone tell me what would take a family from Scotland to Ireland at the tail-end of the potato famine?  Were there any special events at that time that would entice a family to go there to seek their fortune or perhaps to help rebuild Ireland?

What part of Ireland might they have gone to??  This is a huge brick wall for me!!

They had a total of 13 children. The first two were born in Scotland. The next 5 were born in Ireland. And then the last 6 were born in Scotland.  All records I have found so far, (marriage, obits, death certs, etc.,) say the Irish births were in "Ireland".  I have no idea where in Ireland.

To compound the problem of finding them, their surname is RICHARD, which of course brings up a zillion search results due to the fact the Richard is a common forename as well.

Later family were protestant - if thats a clue??  The father and his older sons were all millwrights after the return to Scotland ... what they did before that, I'm not sure although previous generations, were all weavers .... for at least three generations in Muthill, Perthshire, Scotland.

Can anyone help before this family drives me crazy?   

Thank you!!   

Link to same post on Scotland-General board-
www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php/topic,525850.msg3806641.html

[shanew147]

I would think the most common reason for a person or family to move would for for employment opportunities ...

Unfortunately it's going to be next to impossible to find out anything in Irish records for the dates you have without knowing where in Ireland they lived.

What were the parents names and also the names and approx. birth dates for the children born in Ireland ?


Shane

p.s. the term Protestant covers a number of different denominations - Church of Ireland/England, Presbyterian, Methodist etc

[hallmark]

As Shane says.. you need to maximize every clue you have Parents, names of Irish born etc.

Plus their religion, Presbyterian wouldn't even cover it as there were different types and in general they didn't get along together.

For example; Derryvally church was built in 1800 with its own separate churchyard after a sharp disagreement among the congregation of First Ballybay church over who should replace their minister, Rev John Arnold. He had departed in something of a hurry. The dilemma was resolved when a large part of the congregation left with a new minister, Rev Robert McAuley, to build and establish this separate church 200 yards away!  See  http://www.geograph.ie/photo/2020306.

So, exact religion is very important even just to know what churches to look at, also as they were only here a few years makes it more difficult.

Mills were all over the place so doesn't help too much either.

Were both parents Scottish born? Did either of the parents have a sibling who married an Irish partner??? etc

[Elwyn Soutter]

I have read that some of the big Irish estates quite liked to employ Scottish estate managers and gamekeepers. I don't know if that fits with your family's employment background in any way.

[aghadowey]

Information about their occupations given in original post-
"The father and his older sons were all millwrights after the return to Scotland ... what they did before that, I'm not sure although three previous generations, were all weavers."

[Kaite]

Thanks so much for your replies.  I'm not sure of church affiliation ... I will see what I can find out from later marriage records, if possible. George, the father is buried in the Church of Scotland Cemetery.

There are no Irish relatives that I can find. Both sides of the family were in Scotland for several generations and all pretty much from Perthshire, with some from Stirlingshire. That's what confuses me ... I can't figure out any reason they would have moved away unless it was just on a whim or  ... maybe they were tired of their relatives! LOL.

The names are:
George Richard b. 1818 Muthil, Perth, Scotland
Catherine (Mather) Richard b. 1823, St Ninians, Stirling, Scotland
                  
                children born in Ireland:

Alexander b. 25 May 1851
George b. 29 Apr 1853
Andrew b. 31 May 1855
John b. 09 April 1857

[hallmark]

You haven't much to go on so, but if they left Scotland for Ireland then Why? Were things bad in Scotland then? Were George and Catherine living with his/her parents? maybe they were indeed tired of their relatives! A promise of a job with their on house tempted them? The answer may well lie in Scotland!  Maybe whoever they worked for had mills in Ireland?

Is there anything written on any cert giving a clue? Possibly even a word crossed out or in margins? I've one of mine in Essex on a census where the enumerator started writing down his birthplace then crossed it out and wrote Ireland down... the likes of this is often overlooked.

[sancti]

If any of the children born in Ireland then had to make a Poor Relief Application in Scotland, the record may show their birthplace.

[johnjensen]

There is a George Richard listed at 16 Grafton's Alley (off George's St) in Cork City in the Griffiths Valuation national list of primary tenants, this part of which was printed in 1852.  The image of the original page mentions Stables as part of the description of the premises.  Does this strike any chords?

Here's a shortened link to the results of a search on George Richard.
http://goo.gl/tl4ZD

There are two hits, but they actually relate to the same record, when you look at the details and original listing image.
 
It may be worth keeping an eye on the following for the next few months
http://www.irishgenealogy.ie

They are due to relase further free records for Cork in the next few months, though there does appear to be some uncertainty about whether they will have records for Cork city.