Portadown Rowe Family

[Sessylt]

Hello all,

A long-standing brickwall of mine has been the couple John Rowe and Catherine Rowe and their three children Margaret, John and Selina. All five of them are only attested after leaving Ireland for Cumberland, and listed as born in Ireland – Margaret specifies in later sources that it was Portadown, Co. Armagh, but that might obviously not apply to everyone.

According to their census ages, which are unfortunately rounded up in the first England censuses, John should be born ca. 1801 and Catherine ca. 1806. This matches more or less with their ages on their death certificates. Margaret was born ca. 1834, John ca. 1838 and Selina ca. 1846. All of these ages probably have to be taken ± 5 years.

Would anyone more savvy about navigating Irish records be able to tell me if there are any appropriate births for a John Rowe/Roe/Row/Wroe/etc. in Armagh (or elsewhere) ca. 1801, or if there is a marriage between a John Rowe and a Catherine before ca. 1834? I realise this isn't much to go on, but maybe there's a chance to find something, especially births for the right children...

Some variations might include Catharine (as she appears in the English sources) or Katherine/Katharine; Selina appears as Saleena and Sceline in the English sources.

Thank you very much for any insight!

Kind regards,
Sessylt

[Elwyn Soutter]

Birth and death registration didn’t start in Ireland till 1864, non RC marriages 1845, RC marriages 1864. So your family married and were having children long before those dates.  You might be able to find their baptisms and marriage if the records still exist. However those records may well not be on-line.


First thing we need to know was the family denomination. If Church of Ireland (ie Anglican) and Portadown is accurate, you could search the records for Drumcree which start in 1784, and Portadown itself whose records start in 1826 which is possibly when the church opened. If they were of another denomination, let me know and I’ll tell you what records are available. However looking at the 1901 census for Armagh there were 30 folk named Rowe. All were Church of Ireland, so I’d start with it.

The Drumcree and Portadown records are held in PRONI in Belfast. Personal visit required to view them. I don’t think either set is on-line anywhere yet.

Bear in mind that tradition was to marry in the bride’s church after which she’d attend her husband, so the marriage might not be in the same church as the baptisms.

If Portadown is not correct, then you could widen your search to adjacent parishes but there’s quite a few.

https://ulsterhistoricalfoundation.com/getting-started/ulster-civil-parish-maps/county-armagh

[Sessylt]

Birth and death registration didn’t start in Ireland till 1864, non RC marriages 1845, RC marriages 1864. So your family married and were having children long before those dates.  You might be able to find their baptisms and marriage if the records still exist. However those records may well not be on-line.


First thing we need to know was the family denomination. If Church of Ireland (ie Anglican) and Portadown is accurate, you could search the records for Drumcree which start in 1784, and Portadown itself whose records start in 1826 which is possibly when the church opened. If they were of another denomination, let me know and I’ll tell you what records are available. However looking at the 1901 census for Armagh there were 30 folk named Rowe. All were Church of Ireland, so I’d start with it.

The Drumcree and Portadown records are held in PRONI in Belfast. Personal visit required to view them. I don’t think either set is on-line anywhere yet.

Bear in mind that tradition was to marry in the bride’s church after which she’d attend her husband, so the marriage might not be in the same church as the baptisms.

If Portadown is not correct, then you could widen your search to adjacent parishes but there’s quite a few.

https://ulsterhistoricalfoundation.com/getting-started/ulster-civil-parish-maps/county-armagh

Thanks for the information Elwyn. It's pretty clear from the children's and grandchildren's records that they were all Catholic, not CoI; does that make things easier or more difficult?

[Elwyn Soutter]

Helps in the sense that most RC parish records are on-line on various sites such as FindMyPast, Roots Ireland and the National Library. However Drumcree’s RC records don’t start till 1844. Your family were evidently in England by 1841 so you are probably out of luck.

Incidentally re the age rounding down in the 1841 census, that applied to adults but people aged 15 and below were supposed to have their actual ages recorded. Can still be wrong but probably not too far off.