Downie Ancestors/Descendents in Renfrewshire.....

[ndiem]

Hi everybody,
I'm looking for my ancestors and possible living relatives of my great-grandparents, John and Mary (McCormick) Downie. They lived in Port Glasgow on Lyons Lane during the late 1880s. She died in 1900; he died in 1901. They had six children: Patrick (b. 1884, married Elizabeth Coyle); Joseph (b. 1886, married Jeanie McLaughlin); Mary McCormick (b. 1887, married Charles Carr); Rose Ann (b. 1891); Elizabeth "Betty," my grandmother (b. 1893, emigrated to USA in 1915); and Daniel (b. 1897, married Sarah McLean).
The family was Catholic, attending St. John's Church.
John Downie's parents, John and Bridget (McCurdy) Downie, lived in Greenock. Mary McCormick's parents, John and Mary (McNinch) McCormick lived next door on Lyons Lane.
Although both sides of the family originally came from Ireland, I've only been able to trace the McCurdys and possibly Downies from County Antrim.
Progress has been slow, especially with the 20th century people, so any leads would be very much appreciated.

[Andy]

Hi Nancy, welcome to the board. The reason I know your given name is that I gave you a wee bit of help on my own website a few weeks ago.

As you know John Downie and Bridget McCurdy were married in Cushendun, Antrim in 1855 though still within the Catholic North East of Antrim, my records are almost completely for Rathlin Island.

You also know that your ancestors and mine swapped cups of sugar on Lyon's lane since they were literally next door neighbours.

It may be as well to nip over to the McCurdy thread on Rootsweb or Ancestry (same info) and try to attract the attention of either Shane or J. A. I. McCurdy. They are the McCurdy Gurus and may be able to help more on Bridget.

Downey is a fairly common name all over Ireland with most in Cork, Kerry and Down. There were wee pockets in Antrim too. McCormick is very common in Down and Antrim. McNinch is almost exclusively Antrim as is McCurdy.

I guarantee you'll enjoy this board.

Happy hunting,

Andy

[JustJean]

Hi Nancy and welcome!

As you well know it's very difficult to work forward to living relatives using the online records as they just seem to stop us short of where we want to go. I've just had a poke around looking for anything interesting that could help you add more to your tree and may have some items you don't list. Or maybe you do but just haven't listed them all....anyway....you can find your Patrick Downie marrying 3 times. First wife Elizabeth Coyle died in 1910. He marries in 1913 to a Catherine Boyce but she dies the next year. The 3rd time is the charm and that occurs in 1924 in Camlachie. Then I stumbled onto the death of a very interesting name....Patrick Coyle Downie....in 1950 in Gorbals. Unfortunately he doesn't have a child as informant and was a widower at the time of his death but he was the child of Patrick and first wife Elizabeth and his dad's current address (in 1950) is given. All of these records I've listed can be obtained online from ScotlandsPeople website for a small fee. To make any further progress you'll certainly need to delve into the records only available at NRH or Park Circus. If you're researching from a distance then you may have to use the services of a professional.

Hope you have some success!! I know how thrilling it is to find some living family in Scotland.

Best wishes
Jean

[ndiem]

First, to Andy:
I hope you received my heartfelf thanks for all that McCurdy info. (I wasn't sure if I sent my regards to the right address.) Because of your generosity I now have a whole new avenue to explore. As a matter of fact, upon receiving your help, I went straight to the other sites you mentioned to dig further. Very exciting.

And Jean:
Because I'm relatively new to this and it's so hard investigating my ancestors from across the ocean, my sibs and I first hired a gentleman in Scotland to give us a basis. (My poor gram died quite young over here in the states, a few years after her young husband, and that left my dad and uncle in an orphanage. No records! No memories!) The researcher's work gave us much of the Port Glasgow background. I also used Scotland's People to find the marriage info (or at least the initial stuff in Patrick's case!)
Thank you for your own contribution to my cause. I look forward to exploring this site more. Can you tell me what "NRH" and "Park Circus" are in you message?

Also, my sister is coming over to Ireland and Scotland next spring to do some genealogical digging. (O'Briens and Cannons in Donegal; McCurdys and maybe Downies in Antrim and Renfrewshire; and another mystery, William Harlan Ryan, who supposedly was born in County Armagh.) If either of you have suggestions on logical places to look for records, please let me know. She's trying to set up an itinerary.
What a shot in the arm you've both been!

[JustJean]

Hi Nancy

NRH is an abbreviation for New Register House. Located in the heart of Edinburgh and the home of all those original neat Birth Marriage and Death registers and also the census information. Park Circus likewise is a genealogy center in Glasgow that you can visit to research in person. I've only just made my first trip over the pond to Edinburgh and did some digging in my own lines in the records that I can't access from home via the ScotlandsPeople website. Since I can't afford a plane ticket everytime I want to do this I have also utilized the services of a professional and have even managed to obtain some info from fellow researchers and new found family.

Visit these links to try and understand more about what is available, where, and then you can better decide how to plan your attack

about Park Circus - http://www.glasgow.gov.uk/en/Residents/ ... ogyCentre/

General Register Office Scotland (GROS)
http://www.gro-scotland.gov.uk/

Hope this is helpful...but by all means keep asking questions as there are tons of other gifted folks around this forum who love to help.

Best wishes
Jean

[Andy]

Hi Nancy, I did receive your thank you message, thanks for that.

I don't know why I didn't twig earlier but I do have quite a bit more on other branches of your tree.

Bridget's mother was named as Martha McCaugan on her death cert.

The parents WERE, in fact, Alexander McCurdy and Martha (sometimes called Matilda) McCahan both of Cushendall, Antrim they married abt 1816 (Alexander was born abt 1790 and Martha abt 1795)

Bridget's oldest brother, John, born 1818 in Cushendall later moved to Dunbarton where he married Mary McBride, they had 7 children and I have information on a few of these RIGHT up-to-date so LIVING rellies for you! Hismother is named as Martha too but most records in Ireland name her Matilda, it is the same family.

There was a BIG diference between the dates of John and the next child, Margaret, born 1st January 1827 in Culfeightrin.

Elizabeth (Betty) was born 26 MAR 1829 again Culfeightrin along with twin brother Daniel.

Then Bridget 20 JUL 1831

Now I did a fair bit of research on John in Dunbarton because he lived within spitting distance of known Rathlin McCurdys.

Shane, J. A. I. and I have some thoughts, but nothing positive, about Alexander's possible parents.

Brian Og McCurdy and his wife Nancy McLaughlin had a son Alexander in Cushendall of about the same age as your Alexander.

They had another seven children that I know of between 1789 and 1808.

Anyway, Brian Og's father was Bryan McCurdy of Cushendall and Mary (McCurdy) McCurdy of Rathlin. Bryan's father was Michael McCurdy.

I'll send you the information I have.

[ndiem]

So much wonderful information!
Thanks for the confirmation that Bridget's death certificate (which a researcher looked up for me) had an incorrect maiden name for her. I've found several instances with other ancestors where the letters are a bit off from one document to the other---no doubt because not everyone back then could read and write, and I'm sure mistakes were made in the hearing of a name by the person recording it. At any rate, I'll stick with Matilda McCahan in future queries.
Modern-day descendents! Oh my...I'd love to have the whole family line. Thank you so much for the offer.
Have you run across any Downie info (besides my great-grandparents' marriage in Cushendun) in Antrim County? I'm corresponding with a very nice gentleman in Scotland who's tracing a Charles Downie, whom he thinks is from Antrim.
Anyhow, cheers, my friend. You made my week!
Nancy

[EmmaHuggz]

Hi,
I have just found your post regarding Patrick Coyle Downie.
I am doing a little research into my Husband's family, and this is a little bizarre, as we thought he had none.
You (or somebody) mentioned that he had no children..well he did..my Husband.
My Husband's name is Alan Peter Downie, and his father was Patrick Coyle Downie, his Mother Elsie Berekis..from Lithuania.
It seems you may share the same great-grandparents?

[ndiem]

Dear Emma,
Please forgive the long lapse in answering---more than a year. It's just that I hadn't been back to this site in a long time, as I was kept busy with a lot of new discoveries on the other side of the family.
Now, regarding Patrick...when you say Patrick Coyle Downie, I assume you're referring to a son of the eldest Downie child, Patrick, who married Elizabeth Coyle. Right?
And he married a Lithuanaian woman named Elsie Berekis? And they had a son (your husband) named Alan Peter Downie?
If that is the case, then indeed, he and I share a great-grandfather?
How exciting! \:D
Now I must pepper you with questions!
Are you and your husband (my second cousin?) located in Scotland? (I'm in the U.S.)
When you say you didn't think your husband had any family, does that mean that you were unaware of much family beyond his mother and father? Your husband had no brothers or sisters?
Was the information in my post new to you? If not, do you have information on any aunts or uncles of your husband's ? If not, why?
Would you want a more expanded version of what we've learned about the Downies?
Do you have any photos?
I really hope you're monitoring this site more frequently than I've been! Thanks, Emma, for giving me an important new lead. Let's hope we can expand each other's research.
Nancy

[hamishwaz]

Nancy

I can see from your profile details that you haven't been on this site since 2012. I am writing this in the hope that one day you will find this post.
Yesterday I decided to start looking into our family tree which is a challenge I've always known I would one day take on but have been worried at how difficult a task it would be as my father knew very little of his family's past and he was also very unsure how he was related to the people who brought him up after his parents died when he was very young.
I found this thread straight away when I google my grand father's name (Patrick Coyle Downie). This thread made very light work of the task I was facing as you, Andy and Jean appear to have done most of the hard work for me. I have pieced together my fathers paternal history using the names and dates on your previous posts and checked all the birth certificates, marriage registries and deaths certificates available online and they have explained things I would never have imagined I would find all within around 5 hours.

You explained in your first post that you were looking for living relatives of your great grand parents.

My name is Alan Anthony Downie, I am the son of Alan Peter Downie who is the son of Patrick Coyle Downie, So your Great-Grandfather (John Downie) is my Great,Great-Grandfather.


To answer your questions above:

My father and I lived in Glasgow till 2001 when we both moved to the south-coast of England where we both still live today.
My father was born in 1949. Patrick Coyle Downie died in 1950 of stomach cancer aged 45 and his wife, Elsie Downie m/s Berekis, died shortly after my fathers birth so Patrick did not father anymore children.

Patrick Coyle Downie was the son of Patrick Downie and his first wife Elizabeth Downie m/s Coyle.
There is no record of any children from Catherine Boyce - his second wife and no one that my father recalls.
Patrick Downie did father another child though with his third wife Sarah Wilson Downie m/s Neil. Her name is Mary and she married George Dundas Buchanan in Camlachie in 1953.


Regards

Alan Downie