4th-gen-james-and-margaret

4th Generation - 3xgt grandparents - James GREEN and Margaret BYRNE/BURNS

As my search for my grandfather's parents in Dublin was proving so difficult, I decided to use the information from my grandfather's appearance in the 1901 census as my starting point. In this census, James Green was living in Dewsbury, Yorks with a Patrick and Mary CASSIDY - all born in Ireland. James, now 22 and a bricklayer, was described as a nephew, and also in the household were two younger CAMERON girls Moya and Susan, both born in Scotland, who were described as nieces - confirming my mother's story that her father was brought up by aunts.

The 1891 Scotland census was even more helpful ... in this census, James was living with Patrick and Mary Cassidy in Bonnybridge, Scotland. This provided the information that Mary was born in Omagh, Ireland and James in Dublin. It was also interesting that Patrick Cassidy was a brickmaker. It was comparatively easy to locate Patrick and Mary's 1884 marriage on Scotland's People - which proved that Mary was indeed born Mary GREEN and her parents were named as James Green, currier foreman (deceased) and Margaret Green, formerly Burns (deceased). So Mary GREEN must have been a sister of John GREEN.

Census and BMD records* (see note below) on Scotland's People soon revealed that in fact four of John GREEN's siblings had migrated from Northern Ireland to Glasgow during the 1870s. Research also revealed the identities of the two cousins Moya and Susan, who seem to have been informally adopted by Patrick and Mary Cassidy. It was a little confusing that Moya and Susan appeared to be the children of Mary's sister Ellen - whose husband John Cameron had died before 1901 - as their names had changed from Matilda and Jane Morrison. But luckily Patrick and Mary had taken them to Dublin by the time of the 1911 census - at which time they were recorded with their birth names of Matilda Cameron and Jane Morrison Cameron. I have since learnt that the two girls preferred to be called by the names Moya and Susan - and in fact my grandfather James Green named his two daughters Moya and Mary Susan after his cousins).

I then located the civil death records for James and Margaret, which revealed that:

Margaret GREEN, age 50, wife of currier, died in Septembr 1866 at Tyrone Infirmary; and

James GREEN, widower aged 73 years, currier, died in the Omagh Workhouse in September 1880. I wonder if he knew of the birth of his son John's children in Dublin?

So September 1880 must have been a difficult time for my great grandfather John GREEN, losing his father, his wife and his baby daughter. I would love to know what happened to him, as I have not found a death or remarriage in Ireland or Scotland.

2016 was a good year for researching ancestors in Ireland!... The National Library of Ireland released images of all available Catholic parish registers for the entire country (these are not indexed, but once you know which parish to search it is easy to trawl through the images of the registers). Then Find My Past provided indexed transcriptions to many of these registers. As a result, I managed to locate the marriage for James GREEN and Margaret BYRNE, and also the baptism of their eldest daughter Anne.

To my surprise, the couple were not married in Co. Tyrone, but in Co. Cork - in the parish of Dunmanway on 26 mar 1834. Later the same year, on 18th November, their eldest daughter Anne was baptised in the same parish. The witnesses were William and Ann Green, which suggests that other family members lived in the area. So I was thrilled to discover the baptism for James GREEN in nearby Bandon in 1810 - with parents William GREEN and Ann (nee DONOVAN) of Chapel Lane, Bandon.

At first, I had doubts that I had found the correct marriage and baptism for James GREEN - but I soon discovered other GREEN marriages and baptisms in the district including entries for a Dennis GREEN who later appeared living in Omagh where his occupation was also listed as a currier. Further research is needed to try to link these other GREEN individuals.

For many years, I was unable to find a marriage for James Green and Margaret Burns - or baptisms for any of their children, until the ever helpful Tony in Ireland pointed me to the baptism of their youngest child Mary Green in 1857 in Drumragh Chapel in Omagh. The Irish Civil birth records also revealed that Maggie Green was not in fact another child of James and Margaret, but was Susan Green's illegitimate daughter Margaret in 1867(born at Meeting House Hill in Omagh) The birth was reported to the registrar by a Margaret Green (I now know that Susan's mother had died the previous year, so perhaps this was another sister? ... hopefully, these questions will also be resolved in the fullness of time.)

old postcard showing the view of Omagh from Meeting House Hill

Known children of James GREEN and Margaret BYRNE:

Anne GREEN - James and Margaret's eldest child was baptised on 18 nov 1834 in Dunmanway, Co. Cork in the same church where her parents had been married. The sponsors were William and Anne GREEN, who I believe were her grandparents. After the family moved to Co. Tyrone, Anne married James Whyteman, a chandler, in 1857, but three years later she remarried Matthew Quin (did James die?). Matthew and Anne had seven known children, the later ones being born after the family moved to Glasgow. Anne Quinn, widow of Matthew and dau of James Green, tanner (dec'd) and Margaret Burns (dec'd), died in Coatbridge, Lanarks in 1909, when she was said to be aged 64 - though her age fluctuated widely in census entries

There is a very long gap before the birth of the next known child - during which period there could have been a number of other children* - I am continuing to search the Irish records (though no further children of James and Margaret seem to appear in the Scottish census records.)

Susan GREEN - born in Ireland in about 1850 according to her age in Scottish census records - was the first of James and Margaret's children known to have migrated to Glasgow when she appeared as a shirtmaker in the 1871 census. By the 1881 census she had been joined in Glasgow by two 'sisters' (though one turns out to be her illegitimate daughter) - Mary and Maggie. Susan died in Falkirk in 1892, single, tailoress, aged 42 - her death being reported by her brother-in-law Patrick Cassidy. Her only known child was Maggie GREEN, who was baptised in Drumragh in 1867.
John GREEN - who married Eliza(beth) KAVANAGH (~1854-1880) in Dublin. In the absence of a baptism or death entry for John, the only clue I have to go on as to his year of birth is that he was 'of full age' when he married in 1877 - I know that he was a currier like his father and I was told that his son was orphaned at an early age, but despite checking all likely deaths in Dublin I have still not found any record of him following his wife's death in 1880. John's only children were James Joseph GREEN (see previous generation) and Mary Joseph GREEN, who died aged six weeks in 1880.
Ellen GREEN - born in Ireland in about 1855 from census information first appears in the 1881 census in Glasgow - by which time she is married to Scottish blacksmith John CAMERON. The couple married in Rutherglen in 1876 and had nine known children between the years 1878 and 1895. Ellen was widowed before 1901 and two of her daughters were informally adopted by her younger sister Mary (See below). I believe that Ellen may have accompanied her son Alexander Australia in 1920 - though I have not found a death for her in either Scotland or Australia.
Mary GREEN - was baptised in Drumragh in 1857 and joined her older sister Susan in Glasgow by 1881 where she married Patrick Cassidy, a brickmaker. Mary and Patrick do not appear to have had any children of their own, but by 1891 they were caring for James Green, the son of Mary's brother John following his wife's death. And by 1901 Mary and Patrick were living in Yorkshire, still with James Green and now also with two of Mary's sister Ellen's daughters - Matilda and Jane Morrison Cameron (though they had renamed them Moya and Susan). By 1911 Mary, Patrick and the two girls (now with their real names) appeared in the Dublin census where Patrick was foreman at the Dolphin Barn Brickworks.

They probably were the parents of James Green, a labourer of Drumragh, married, and age 47, who died in Omagh Infirmary on 25 May 1895 (so he would have been born in about 1848 - though I have not yet located a possible marriage for him)

I am fairly certain that they also had a daughter Margaret Green, because the sponsor at Susan's daughter's baptism was Margaret Green, and Susan's mother (who was the only other known Margaret in the family) had died the previous year.

They may also have had a son Denis Green, as I found a baptism of a Dionysis Green in Drumragh in 1871 - son of Denis Green and his wife Ellen (nee O'Donnell) of Gallow Hill. (Witnesses were Joseph Kearns and Ellen Green) I can't locate a marriage for this couple.

*NOTE: The reason I was able to locate the GREEN sisters Anne, Susan, Ellen and Mary using Scottish BMD records is that Scotland's People not only indexes names of both parents on Marriage records and Death Records - but it is possible to search on this information too. Once found, Scottish birth, marriage and death records contain much more information than those for any other country in the British Isles.

If the sisters had been living in England, or had remained in Ireland, I would never have found any of them and would have had little to confirm the identity of their parents.

Sadly, I have just one photograph of a members of this generation of my ancestors, this beautiful photo of Mary Cassidy (my grandfather's aunt who brought him up), with her adopted daughters Moya and Susan (with grateful thanks to CM).

If you are connected with this family, please do contact me to share information.

james GREENE in Omagh in Griffiths Valuation

I was pleased to locate James GREENE in the Griffiths Valuation of 1860 - living in the parish of Drumragh in the townland of Dergmoney, which seems to be in the Meeting House Hill district of the city. You can view the entry recording his tenancy and also the map of Omagh marked with the location of this townland, by clicking on the thumbnails.

return to main GREEN page

Mastel Family History

GREENs in the Scottish Census (summarised):

in 1871 census:

The only member of the Green family found to date is Susan GREEN, age 26, shirtmaker, b. Ireland, livng in Glasgow St Peter

in 1881 census:

Susan (30) has been joined by her youngest sister Mary (20) and her daughter Maggie (14) (who is described as a sister, living at 22 Charlotte St, Glasgow - the two older girls are tailoresses, Maggie is a message girl.

Their eldest sister Ann (40, and now married to Matthew Quinn, plus their six children are now living at Buchanan St. Only the two younger children were born in Scotland.

Another sister, Ellen (24) must have arrived some years earlier as she is now married to John Cameron, a blacksmith - and they are now living in Kinning Park with three children

In 1891 census:

Susan (40, tailoress) and Maggie (20, bag maker) still described as sisters, are still at Charlotte Street.

The Quinn family are still at Buchanan street, though only the youngest daughter is with them.

The Cameron's are still at Kinning Park - now with six children (however, Ellen is referred to as 'Maggie' - I think I have seen another reference to her as Margaret Ellen.

Mary is now married to Patrick Cassidy and they are living in Bonnybridge, with young James GREEN (11, nephew)

1901 census:

Patrick and Mary Cassidy are now living in Dewsbury, Yorks - with them are nephew James Green (22, bricklayer), and nieces Moya and Susan Cameron (9 and 7)

Ellen Cameron (no sign of husband John) is in Falkirk, with five of their other children.

Annie Quinn (but no husband) is in Coatbridge with two children and a gddau - while her married son Peter is living nearby ith his family.

Susan Green died in 1892 in Falkirk, and I have not managed to find a death or a marriage for her daughter Maggie.

1911 census:

Peter and Mary Cassidy are now living in Terenure, Dublin with Matilda Cameron and Jane Morrison Cameron (aka Moya and Susan) where Peter is brickworks manager of the Dolphin Barn Brickworks.

To date, I have not found any members of the GREEN family in either the 1901 or 1911 Irish censuses.

click to open a pdf chart showing the known descendants of James Green (abt 1807 - 1880) and Margaret Burns (abt 1816 - 1866) - you will need to zoom in to view