Hello Marg, and welcome to the CountyTyroneIreland (CTI) list. I will probably make a few different postings to the list, to try to help you. But as most of what I want to say has been posted previously, to save time and effort I will try to find hyperlinks to those relevant responses to other people, and post those links for you. For the moment though, I have looked online at the NSW State Records listings. One item which you mention is that William SIMPSON arrived in 1853 with his wife Eliza -- and if I have the correct people, also with their 1-year-old son William. The State Records' free online indexes show TWO separate arrivals in 1853 for a William SIMPSON and family. One did not have a wife named Eliza, and they all came from Fifeshire in Scotland. The only family shown arriving in 1853 (I accepted that year given by you as their year of ARRIVAL in Oz -- so did not check the 1854 arrivals for William SIMPSONs), arrived on the Talavera in September 1853. That one shows William as a Laborer. If he was a Blacksmith I'd have expected that to be shown instead of Laborer, as surely there would have been an ongoing need for blacksmiths in oz at that time. Anyway, that shipping list gives HIS birthplace/native-place as being in County Monaghan; his wife's as being in County Armagh; and their son's as being in Belfast, County Antrim. So he is not showing any County Tyrone connection there. It was usual to marry in the wife's parish; so you might find a marriage for them in County Armagh. Or, as their son was born in Belfast, it is possible that they might have met and married in Belfast itself (the wife's parish church at that stage of her life might have been in Belfast if she had moved away from her birthplace). Here is a hyperlink to the page from the "Kate" showing the arrival of this family, and the above information: http://srwww.records.nsw.gov.au/ebook/list.asp?Page=NRS5316/4_4791/Talavera_5 Sep 1853/4_479100062.jpg&No=5 I have not done the search myself, but have a look here at www.familysearch.org for the MARRIAGE of William and Eliza, as that might give you other info. This same link might have marriages for others in the family too. : https://familysearch.org/search/collection/1408347 I tried a similar exercise for the John SIMPSON who you say 'migrated' in 1849. The only ARRIVAL in oz by that name who I can see listed on the NSW State Records' online indexes, arrived in Dec 1849 and came from Yorkshire. Here is a hyperlink to the page from where I obtained that information: http://srwww.records.nsw.gov.au/ebook/list.asp?Page=NRS5316/4_4786/Blonde_27 Dec 1849/4_478600460.jpg&No=9 From the foregoing, it seems to me that there are families here which seem to bear no relationship to each other --- or else I am misunderstanding what you have written, or I am conducting faulty searches (always a possibility. haha). I have therefore not tried searching any further, but you can try to find Margaret KNIGHT's arrival the same way and see what it says for her. Good luck with it. ray in oz On 23/12/2013, at 7:21 PM, marg o'leary <[email protected]> wrote: hi all, am new to the list and hoping for some pointers to researching in Tyrone. The family I am tracking is that of James Simpson married to Mary Thompson. Possibly of Omagh. I don't know how many children they had all told - but the following went to Australia. John migrated age 27 in 1849 , so born about 1822, which would make his parents born abt 1795 perhaps. William followed in 1853 with wife Eliza Thompson, I think these men were blacksmiths. A sister Margaret (mrs Knight) arrived before 1856 and the last three children, Susan 20, Alexander 18 and James 16 arrived in 1856, and certainly when they arrived, both parents were deceased. They were sponsored by the tow older brothers. Alexander had the name of the place he was born as something that reads like Delgr Tyrone, and I wonder what that was. I would really like to know more of this family's background in Ireland and if there were more family members. Most grateful about advice of where to look. regards Marg OLeary Port Stephens NSW

Thank you very much for that. I do have the Australian information already, there is some discrepancy between records at different times giving birth places, but Tyrone is the most consistent for the family overall. Certainly William worked as a blacksmith later as did his brother John. What I am needing is information about the Tyrone end please. regards Marg OLeary Port Stephens NSW [email protected] also [email protected] From: ray15 Sent: Monday, December 23, 2013 9:20 PM To: marg o'leary Cc: [email protected] Subject: Re: [CoTyIre] Simpson family of Tyrone, Omagh 1850s to Australia Hello Marg, and welcome to the CountyTyroneIreland (CTI) list. I will probably make a few different postings to the list, to try to help you. But as most of what I want to say has been posted previously, to save time and effort I will try to find hyperlinks to those relevant responses to other people, and post those links for you. For the moment though, I have looked online at the NSW State Records listings. One item which you mention is that William SIMPSON arrived in 1853 with his wife Eliza -- and if I have the correct people, also with their 1-year-old son William. The State Records' free online indexes show TWO separate arrivals in 1853 for a William SIMPSON and family. One did not have a wife named Eliza, and they all came from Fifeshire in Scotland. The only family shown arriving in 1853 (I accepted that year given by you as their year of ARRIVAL in Oz -- so did not check the 1854 arrivals for William SIMPSONs), arrived on the Talavera in September 1853. That one shows William as a Laborer. If he was a Blacksmith I'd have expected that to be shown instead of Laborer, as surely there would have been an ongoing need for blacksmiths in oz at that time. Anyway, that shipping list gives HIS birthplace/native-place as being in County Monaghan; his wife's as being in County Armagh; and their son's as being in Belfast, County Antrim. So he is not showing any County Tyrone connection there. It was usual to marry in the wife's parish; so you might find a marriage for them in County Armagh. Or, as their son was born in Belfast, it is possible that they might have met and married in Belfast itself (the wife's parish church at that stage of her life might have been in Belfast if she had moved away from her birthplace). Here is a hyperlink to the page from the "Kate" showing the arrival of this family, and the above information: http://srwww.records.nsw.gov.au/ebook/list.asp?Page=NRS5316/4_4791/Talavera_5 Sep 1853/4_479100062.jpg&No=5 I have not done the search myself, but have a look here at www.familysearch.org for the MARRIAGE of William and Eliza, as that might give you other info. This same link might have marriages for others in the family too. : https://familysearch.org/search/collection/1408347 I tried a similar exercise for the John SIMPSON who you say 'migrated' in 1849. The only ARRIVAL in oz by that name who I can see listed on the NSW State Records' online indexes, arrived in Dec 1849 and came from Yorkshire. Here is a hyperlink to the page from where I obtained that information: http://srwww.records.nsw.gov.au/ebook/list.asp?Page=NRS5316/4_4786/Blonde_27 Dec 1849/4_478600460.jpg&No=9 >From the foregoing, it seems to me that there are families here which seem to bear no relationship to each other --- or else I am misunderstanding what you have written, or I am conducting faulty searches (always a possibility. haha). I have therefore not tried searching any further, but you can try to find Margaret KNIGHT's arrival the same way and see what it says for her. Good luck with it. ray in oz On 23/12/2013, at 7:21 PM, marg o'leary <[email protected]> wrote: hi all, am new to the list and hoping for some pointers to researching in Tyrone. The family I am tracking is that of James Simpson married to Mary Thompson. Possibly of Omagh. I don't know how many children they had all told - but the following went to Australia. John migrated age 27 in 1849 , so born about 1822, which would make his parents born abt 1795 perhaps. William followed in 1853 with wife Eliza Thompson, I think these men were blacksmiths. A sister Margaret (mrs Knight) arrived before 1856 and the last three children, Susan 20, Alexander 18 and James 16 arrived in 1856, and certainly when they arrived, both parents were deceased. They were sponsored by the tow older brothers. Alexander had the name of the place he was born as something that reads like Delgr Tyrone, and I wonder what that was. I would really like to know more of this family's background in Ireland and if there were more family members. Most grateful about advice of where to look. regards Marg OLeary Port Stephens NSW