The Coming and Going of Jane McCrystal

The 1901 census of Legahorry includes Patrick McAtamney, age 50 (he was 46), his wife Jane, 35, and their three children, Bella (8), John (7), and Minnie (3).

The 1911 census of Brownlow's Derry includes Patrick, still age 50 (he was 56), his wife Jane, 45, and six children, Isabella (18), William John (17), Mary Jane (12), plus Francis, Patrick James, and Joseph Henry.

Patrick was a brother of my second great grandfather, William McAtamney. He and Jane Acheson married on 22nd May 1892 at St. Joseph's RC Church, Edenderry, in Seagoe Parish.

Normally we'd call this done. Sometimes men just don't age, while their wives and children do. Everything else lines up, but follow along here with the mother's name.

Looking at the civil birth records, we find that all of these six children were born to Patrick and Jane.

• Isabella (1893) and William John (1894) were born to Patrick McAtamney and Jane Atkinson of Kilvergan.

• Mary Jane (1898) and Francis James (1901) were born to Patrick McAtamney and Jane McCrystal of Tullygally (near Legahorry). The transcription of Mary Jane's baptism at St. Peter's Church in Lurgan names her mother Jane Christie.

• Patrick James (1908) and Joseph Henry (1910) were born to Patrick McAtamney and Jane Acheson of Tannaghmore West (in Brownslow's Derry).

Atkinson and Acheson are close enough. Acheson is the name used at the marriage. But McCrystal is an outlier, and with several years between each pair of children, born in different locations - yet with the first three on the 1901 census and all six on the 1911 census - there's a story here.

The Consanguinity of Felix and Catherine

While trawling through the civil marriage records for the Lurgan registration district, I came upon Felix McAtamney, who married Catherine McAtamney on 3rd March 1878.

Click to Enlarge

The civil register is unclear on the church where they were married. Normally, it would say St. Peter’s Lurgan or St. Patrick’s Aghacommon (or Derrymacash) [1].

The St. Patrick's (Seagoe Parish) register is illegible around that time, but the transcription at rootsireland.ie says they married the next day [1], on 4th March 1878, and includes this note:

DISP IN 3RD & 3RD DEGREE CONSANG WERE DISPENSED WITH BY DR MORGAN

Consanguinity means they were closely related, which is no surprise, given the surnames. But Google says "A third degree would be an uncle/aunt with a niece/nephew.”

Felix's father was John McAtamney (dead), a farmer. Catherine's was Eugene McAtamney (alive), also a farmer. The witnesses were Henry McAtamney and Elizabeth McAtamney.

There's a tidy case for Catherine being the daughter of Eugene McAtamney and his first wife, Elizabeth (Betty) Hennan (or Hennon). Their Catherine was born 8th February 1842, and would have been 36 at the time of marriage. She had siblings named Henry and Elizabeth.

But who was Felix?

In order for him to be Catherine's uncle - and establish 3rd degree consanguinity - Felix would have to be Eugene's brother. But that's not possible, because Felix's father was John. We know that Eugene's father was William.

Could Felix have been Catherine's nephew? Was his father, John, her brother?

Maybe. The marriage record says Felix was of "full age" (i.e., 21, so born 1857 or earlier). His father John could have been born around 1837; the same year as Catherine's eldest brother William.

Catherine had a half-brother named John, born in 1870, who died in 1871. She had a second half-brother named John, born in 1872. It was common practise in those days to re-use baby names.

It is possible that Catherine had an older brother named John, who died after Felix was born in 1857 (or earlier) and before her first half-brother John was born in 1870.

There's no record of a John being born to Eugene around 1837. There are records of Eugene's 20 other children (by two wives), but not this John.

But there is a record of a John McAtamney having married Sarah (Sally) Hendren (or Hendron) in 1840. They produced seven children including a son named Felix, born 1847, before John died in 1857 in Aghacommon. There's no record of John's father, but his marrying in 1840 means he was born around 1819. He was a peer of Eugene; not a son.

The Griffith's Valuation in 1864 lists Sarah McAtamney as tenant of plot 15 in Aghacommon. It also lists Catherine's father Eugene occupying plot 14.

Click to Enlarge

Sarah died on 28th December 1879 [2]. The Valuation Revision book for Lurgan Union 1875-1885, which was used to update the record of leaseholders from the 1864 valuation, has Sarah crossed out and Felix written in, as of December 1879. The 1911 census shows Felix and Catherine still there, aged 65 and 65 respectively, and having never had children.

The evidence indicates that Felix was the eldest son of John McAtamney and Sarah (Sally) Hendren (or Hendron). He took over her farm.

So what of the 3rd degree consanguinity?

It's compelling to conclude that Felix's father John was a brother of Catherine's father Eugene (and therefore a son of William).

But that would also mean that Felix and Catherine were first cousins, and consanguineous in the 4th degree. The church would have got that right.

Unless... remember that Catherine's mother was Elizabeth (Betty) Hennan (or Hennon) and Felix's mother was Sarah (Sally) Hendren (or Hendron).

Hennon... Hendron..

What if they were sisters? That would make Catherine and Felix double first-cousins.

Even if the two women were only first cousins, Catherine and Felix would be genetically closer than 4th degree consanguineous.

Further investigation is needed!

Footnotes

[1] It's a shame that the scan of the Seagoe Parish register for March 1878 is illegible. I wonder if there was a transcription error, or if Catherine and Felix somehow had a civil wedding and made the church give them a dispensation.

[2] Sarah McAtamney died on 28th December 1879, and was buried at St. Patrick's Church Aghacommon the next day. A couple of days later, on 1st January 1880, her civil death registration was filed by the coroner, who recorded that she was a widow, age 61, a farmer, and concluded that her death was caused thusly:

Being lunatic and distracted did throw herself into a well and was drowned and suffocated then & there. Instantly died.

Researching family history, we try to solve puzzles, but quite often, we run into very sad stories. In this case, Sarah took over the farm when her husband died, with children aged 3 months to 16 years, and ran it for 22 years before meeting her tragic end. We hope she rests in peace.

The Mystery of Mary Sinnamon

Patrick McAtamney and Mary Sinnamond were married at St. Patrick’s Church in Aghacommon, Seagoe Parish, Co Armagh on 9th October, 1889.

Click to Enlarge

Patrick was age 19, a weaver from the townland of Kilvergan. He was the son of William McAtamney, a labourer.

Mary said she was of “full age” (she wasn’t), a servant from Kilvergan. Her father was George Sinnamond (dead), a weaver.

An entry in the Seagoe Parish baptisms register reveals that Mary converted from Methodist to Roman Catholic on the day of her marriage to Patrick.

Patrick is noted in the marriage record as having signed his name, and Mary as having made "her mark." It would have been unusual in 1889 for a Methodist to be illiterate.

Patrick and Mary moved their family from Kilvergan to Lurgan, and then to Glasgow (apparently via Hartlepool) as the weaving trade died out. They had three children in Kilvergan, eight in Lurgan, and one more in Glasgow.

Patrick & Mary McAtamney circa 1918

When Mary died in 1922, Patrick gave the name of her father as John Sinnamon, a farmer (deceased), and her mother as Mary Fulton. Her age at death was 46, making her 14 at the time of the marriage (both ages are probably incorrect).

Obviously, Patrick could have been wrong. He likely never met Mary’s father, who was already dead at the time of their marriage.

Or was he? As a Methodist, Mary’s father may have disapproved of her underage marriage to a Catholic. Mary may have misstated his name and mortal status, along with her age.

On the other hand, Patrick and Mary weren’t (ahem) obliged to marry quickly. Their first child, Isabella, was born 9 months and 20 days after the wedding.

Moreover, the fact that Mary was illiterate and a servant supports the idea that her father had died while she was young. It’s quite likely that she was not from Kilvergan.

Unfortunately, very few Methodist records are available online, and there is no trace of George or John Sinnamon, or of Mary Fulton. 

For an added twist, Mary’s eldest son, Thomas James, referred to his mother on more than one occasion as Mary Chambers. There’s no trace of her either.

I recently took an Ancestry Autosomal DNA test, and matched with 3rd and 4th cousins who are descended from the Sinnamon family. Their distant ancestors are:

• Benjamin James Sinnamon, born 6th March 1836 in Portadown, Co. Armagh.

• Rachel Sinnamon, born 1853 in Tartaraghan, Co. Armagh.

Their more recent Sinnamon ancestors are from Ballyfodrin and Cornamucklagh in Drumcree Parish, which is adjacent to Seagoe Parish.

During my recent trip to Ireland, I spent a day at the Public Records Office (PRONI) in Belfast, sifting though Methodist registers from around Lurgan. I found nothing.

Mary’s birth is a veritable “brick wall.”