Dave - I agree with Janet's comment: - "I understand your frustration, but sometimes people who grew up in a country where religion is not a huge issue, where people of different denominations intermarry regularly, where records are kept by the civil authorities, don't realize how important religion is to finding records in Ireland." It can be confusing to know what religion someone in Ireland was before the family migrated to Canada. In Canada, my family were Wesleyan Methodists. In Ireland I find them in Church of Ireland registers as early as 1820. Once a person like myself (4th generation Canadian) realizes that C of I was the established church into the 1870's then one can look there for early records. However, something that makes me think that they might have been Methodist in Fermanagh (please correct me if I am wrong) is that the 1820 marriage in indexed among the Marriage License Bonds. Another, is that a cousin of mine whose family has lived in Devenish Parish as early as the 1700s years told me that the people in the lowland areas of Devenish were mostly Methodist. A Fallis cousin told me our family has been Methodist for many years. Bonnie Anderson On Mon, Mar 9, 2015 at 1:20 PM, Dave H via <fermanagh-gold@rootsweb.com> wrote: > But they don't even say they don't know!! Just ignore even mentioning it > so one doesn't know if they know or not... can't be bothered asking yet > again!! >

Although I have been unable to prove a connection between "my" Armstrongs living in the townland of Lisrace during the early 1800's, baptized in the C of I Clones, and very clearly recorded as Methodists in Canada after 1842, I did find reference to other Armstrongs living in the same townland who were converted to Methodism prior to 1795. This was described in a book called "A Methodist Pioneer" by Charles Henry Crookshank which is searchable on google books. In a history of the township where my gggfather settled in Ontario he is described as Methodist and a Sunday School teacher. His brother is similarly described where he settled in Rock Island County, Illinois, USA. I love google books and have been so much more successful finding out information about my families this way than through official records. With all that, my grandfather became a Presbyterian when he married my grandmother who was a daughter of a man from Aberdeen who was a church elder. My father changed to Anglican to please my English mother, and our daughter was brought up in her Danish father's Lutheran church. All Protestant of course, so perhaps not surprising. Margot

Indeed I have a Methodist Minister..all his records, g/stone. kids all registered in C of I and as you say the C of I was the established church and where I'd have advised you to look. Their religion in new country is an indicator of what they might have been in Ireland.... Presby in new country most probably Presby in Ireland... RC in new most probably RC here etc etc... These give clues as to most probable church, g/yard etc in Ireland as a starting point. That's all I'm saying! I used to try to help people by looking up their names while going through Church records for myself... I've asked people to give me everything they had, I emailed them and asked "Is that everything?" and get a "Yes". Upon getting home I'd report which Protestant churches I checked and that I didn't find them only to get this reply.... wait for it wait... I'd get "Oh, why did you look at those Registers, mine were RC"..... UNBELIEVABLE.... ABSOLUTELY UNBELIEVABLE!!!!!!!!! Never ever again!!! On 09/03/2015 20:11, Bonnie Anderson wrote: > It can be confusing to know what religion someone in Ireland was before > the family migrated to Canada. In Canada, my family were Wesleyan > Methodists. In Ireland I find them in Church of Ireland registers as > early as 1820. Once a person like myself (4th generation Canadian) > realizes that C of I was the established church into the 1870's then one > can look there for early records. > However, something that makes me think that they might have been > Methodist in Fermanagh (please correct me if I am wrong) is that the > 1820 marriage in indexed among the Marriage License Bonds. > Another, is that a cousin of mine whose family has lived in Devenish > Parish as early as the 1700s years told me that the people in the > lowland areas of Devenish were mostly Methodist. A Fallis cousin told > me our family has been Methodist for many years. > Bonnie Anderson >