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A family of our ancestors left Devenish Parish in May 1847 and sailed from Derry to Quebec. They were tenants in Drumscollop townland, but 20 or so years earlier were in Tullykelter. They were:

(father) John Emerson, ca 1796-ca 1891

(mother) Isabella Armstrong, d. 1847 (married 1821)

(son) Robert Emerson, 1822-1899

(son) Edward Emerson, ca 1823-1893

(son) Thomas Emerson, 1827-1902

(son) James Emerson, 1830-1910

All four sons had their own families after leaving Ireland and all four have descendants alive today in the U.S. and Canada.

We are happy to share information about this family's life in North America that may be relevant to this project. We also seek information about their life in Devenish, including learning the names of John's and Isabella's parents.

There was another family named Emerson who left Tullykelter in the 1830s and went to the U.S. We believe they are connected to our Emerson family because parts of both families, over time, lived in the same two places in the U.S. We are interested in learning whether we are connected to that Emerson family or, indeed, any other Emerson or Armstrong family in the county.

We have looked into such census and church records as we can find, but hope that others on this list may be connected and know more.

Scott Leonard

Saturday 13th Sep 2014, 05:13PM

Message Board Replies

  • Hi Scott
    There are 3 John Emerson birth/baptism records 1796 + - 5 years on www.rootsireland.ie/: 1798 Down; 1799 Antrim 1799 Monaghan

    ColCaff, IrelandXO Volunteer ☘

    Sunday 14th Sep 2014, 01:49AM

  • Sorry, I hit the save button too early!

    http://ifhf.rootsireland.ie/quis.php?page=1&confirmPageView=Y

    There is a record of the baptism of Isabella Armstrong 1791 in Down - the parish is DROMORE C of I

    I found another John Emerson baptism spelt  Amberson (illitercay / transcription errors?) 1793 in Down but neither it nor the 1798 one is from Dromore C of I & I was too lazy to go through all the parishes again!

    I couldn't find a marriage record for them.

    rootsireland charges to view the records which MAY have the parents' names.

    Another site you may want to check if you haven't already is PRONI

    I assume you have checked on ancestry for connections

    Col

     

     

    ColCaff, IrelandXO Volunteer ☘

    Sunday 14th Sep 2014, 02:14AM

  • Thanks, Col! I appreciate your looking at this.

    County Down may be a bit too far afield for these people. I say that, because there are several other Emersons in Devenish parish in the 1800-1850 period to whom we think they are related (but we don't know how). Also, because there are so many others with the name over around Tempo, also in County Fermanagh. The Tempo group seem to go back into the 1600s.

    I've had luck with PRONI when I've known specific dates in specific register books, and then mailed in my request and money. I think for Devenish, PRONI have a large gap 1800 and earlier, which keeps me from looking for John Emerson there around 1796. I also visited PRONI in Belfast in 2008, looking for a different branch (Co Tyrone) of my ancestry. I may wish to go back one day and devote a day or two to looking through films of register books at will.

    I will have a go at the RootsIreland site. I didn't know about that site, so thanks for that as well.

    All the best, Scott

    Scott Leonard

    Sunday 14th Sep 2014, 01:45PM

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