Skip to main content

Week 14: Begins with a vowel #52Ancestorsin52weeks

 Irish! That begins with a vowel and my Irish heritage has left me with an unsolved mystery.

It was when I was doing research decades ago that I first came across the name Sarah Diammond. What a lovely name, I thought. Little did I realise that she would be a real mystery woman and that is because she came from Ireland.

I first saw her name on the death certificate of my  great grandmother Mary Boag, wife of John McAra. Mary died in 1869 and her mother is listed as Sarah Diamond (deceased), father William Boag, cotton spinner. Sarah and William got married in the Gorbals, Glasgow in 1819 by an independent minister. Why an independent minister? It took me many years before I solved that one. 

Meanwhile Sarah and William are found living in Eaglesham in the 1841 census with three sons and two daughters. Sarah's birthplace is indicated as Ireland. 

I found the sons' baptismal records easily enough, but I couldn't find the daughters. It took a while - until I thought to check Catholic Baptisms. Sure enough, there were the girls, Caroline baptised in St Mirin's, Paisley and her sisters in St. Andrew's Parish, Glasgow. 

 So ... the sons were baptised in the Church of Scotland and the daughters in the Roman Catholic Church. That could only mean one thing - Sarah Diamond was an Irish Catholic and this was a 'mixed' marriage, which explains why their marriage was conducted by an independent minister.

Unfortunately after 1841 her story comes to an end. By the time of the next census in 1851, William has a new wife, Margaret, and a new baby son and they are living in Glasgow. If Sarah has died by this time anywhere in Scotland, I should have been able to find her death in parish records.  In 1855, she is named as deceased on her son William's death certificate. However, up until now, I have still been unable to find her, though every now and then I look again, trying something new.

As for her Irish heritage, knowing she was brought up Catholic, I have searched Irish Catholic records. There is a Sarah Demond, born in 1802 to John and Anne Demond in County Carlow. This could be her, but the fact that she did not name any of her children John or Anne might caution against this. Her sons were named Thomas and William - both names from their father's family. Might the third son Hugh be named after her father?? My 2 x great grandmother named one of her sons Hugh - this would make sense if it were after her own Irish grandfather. As of yet, I have no evidence to support this.

Sarah and her Irish family remain a mystery. The search goes on.


Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

2025 Week 26 : Favourite name #52Ancestorsin52Weeks

 As well as researching my own family, one of the other trees I have spent a lot of time on is that of my daughter-in-law, Lucy. Whereas my heritage is Scots and Irish, Lucy's is English and therefore some of the names I came across were quite different to those found in my own tree. One of my first favourites was a Francis Badger who appeared in the 1851 census for England! He wasn't actually a relative, but an apprentice to Lucy's 3 x great grandfather and who also lodged with the family.  I did wonder how that  surname came about - did the original Badger have  a funnily shaped face? or perhaps a white streak through his hair?? Or was he just an annoying person?? I'll never know, but it was fun to find him! Francis Badger's entry at the bottom in the 1851 census for England. Source: Ancestry.co.uk However, my all time favourite name - and character - from Lucy's tree is a man named Golden Bridge ! He is Lucy's 5x great grandfather and he was born in Essex...
Post a Comment
Read more

2024 Week 19: Preserve #52Ancestorsin52Weeks

 A few years ago, I came into the possession of a family bible. It was the family bible of my paternal grandparents, John McAra and Christina Walker. Until her death in 2018, the bible had been in the hands of my Aunt Inez, widow of my Uncle Will McAra. When I started enquiring as to its whereabouts, I found that it was her grandson, John, who now had it. John himself had no real interest in it at all, so he was quite happy to hand it over to me. However, it was, to say the least, in a bit of a state. The front cover was completely detached and there were many loose pages as the spine of the book was also damaged and detached. I had no choice but to take it to a book repairer in Glasgow, where it was repaired as best it could be. The bible itself had been originally published in Glasgow in the late 19th century. In Victorian times it was common for Christian families to have such a large bible in which they could record events such as births, marriages and deaths. The one I have al...
1 comment
Read more

2026 Week 2: A record which adds colour #52Ancestorsin52Weeks

My husband's paternal grandmother, Janina Ciupka, was born in 1902 in a small town, Nieszawa, north of Warsaw, Poland, on the banks of the River Vistula. She was the youngest of 12 children, only 8 of whom survived to adulthood. At this time Poland had been occupied by their three neighbours, Germany, Russia and Austria and Warsaw was under Russian control.  Her family were very wealthy, owning granaries, bakeries, brick factories and carriage factories and they also bred white horses for the Russian Tzars. As with her elder siblings, Janina was taught by a private governess and the family had many servants, including cooks and cleaners. She obviously was leading a very privileged life. There was little known about the  period of her life from about 1909-1919, The family had moved south eastwards to Haczow around 1909. The reasons for the move seems to have been a combination of business and politics, as Haczow was under Austrian rule, considered more liberal than that of the ...
Post a Comment
Read more