james mcdowall

[stephen mcdowall]

hi, I am trying to find out information where my gg-grandfather came from he was married to isabella McDowall nee McDonald in 1871 in Glasgow. looking at the Scotland census it said he was born in Ireland, he stayed at 38 Catherine st anderston Glasgow.on his marriage certificate his father James mcdowall and his mother mary mcdowall nee smith.
he was aged 29 yrs old when he got married so he would have been born in 1842? would be grateful if anyone could help
yours
stephen mcdowall

 

[RJ_Paton]

Unfortunately "Ireland" may be as close as you get ( I have several like that on one of my main lines).

One possibility is to check later census reports to see if it gets narrowed down

www.irishgenealogy.ie  has Irish Civil records of Births deaths and Marriages but their records for births don't start until 1864 and marriages (non catholic) from 1845. Their church records are pretty sparse.

Checking for a death report in the Civil registrations for Mary McDowall turned up 410 of them and for James McDowall 250.

[stephen mcdowall]

thank you very much for your help much appreciated
stephen mcdowall

[shanreagh]

Thankfully the picture is that it is not all doom and gloom for Irish records as suggested by Falkyrn.  In Irish research there are a couple of things that are important and that is 1) religion and 2) townland.  Well you do not have the townland yet but presumably you do have the religion of your ancestors.

I recently gave some tips and tricks - not exhaustive by any means on this thread below and they hopefully will help.

https://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php?topic=860143.new#new

In Ireland we make great use of what are called 'census substitutes'.

If you have the names of the children these can give possible clues to the names of parents and grandparents of the couple

[shanreagh]

hi, I am trying to find out information where my gg-grandfather came from he was married to isabella McDowall nee McDonald in 1871 in Glasgow. looking at the Scotland census it said he was born in Ireland, he stayed at 38 Catherine st anderston Glasgow.on his marriage certificate his father James mcdowall and his mother mary mcdowall nee smith.
he was aged 29 yrs old when he got married so he would have been born in 1842? would be grateful if anyone could help
yours
stephen mcdowall

 

Is there an occupation for the father James and was there a notation as to if he was deceased at the time of the marriage?  Have you checked to see if the parents came to Scotland as well? 

[wivenhoe]

From the marriage certificate, 1871, that you have -

Where did they marry?....a residential address?

What occupation for James McDOWALL, the groom?

What occupation for his father, James?

What names do you see for witnesses?


"he stayed at 38 Catherine st anderston Glasgow."

Is this address on the marriage certificate, or on a Census....which Census?

[stephen mcdowall]

hi, thanks for your reply the certificate says
married at 38 Catherine st anderston Glasgow on 31/3 /1871 usual residence 38 Catherine st.
on the certificate, I think it says he was a sugar refine labourer and isabella was a lodging housekeeper.
the witnesses are hector McKenzie and mary McIvor
bans were put in the free church of Scotland the minister was David Farquhar
hope this is helpful
 Stephen McDowall   

[aghadowey]

Working in a sugar refinery was likely a job he picked up in Scotland but in Ireland might just have been listed as labourer or similar.

[sugarbakers]

Agreed ... a labourer ... and two days after his marriage the census states he was 'labourer to smith'.