Hello All, I am re posting this query again in the hope that someone can help with suggestions. I am new to the list and have finally found information about my Irish anceststors. I am planning a trip to Northern Ireland this May and would like advice on the best course of action to confirm what information I have and to add to it. My great gradfather was JAMES DIAMOND born in WIGAN, LANCS c.1821 On the 1841 census he is Aged 20 and living in WIGAN with PHILIP DIAMOND Aged 80 born in IRELAND CHARLOTTE DIAMOND Aged 70 born in IRELAND EDWARD DIAMOND Aged 25 born in IRELAND EDWARD McDONALD Aged 20 born in IRELAND MARGARET DIAMOND Aged 9 born in LANCS In 1849 James married ANN ELLISON in the Parish Church in Wigan. On the marriage cert. it states that James' father was called PHILIP and was a weaver. Information from the Irish records shows a PHILIP DIAMOND was born c.1764 in MILL STREET, SHANKILL, Co. ANTRIM and was baptised 7th May 1772 at ST. ANNE'S SHANKILL. His parents were PHILIP DIAMOND & ELIZABETH BURRUS. Philip then went on to marry CHARLOTTE KIERAN in DUNDALK RC Church on 19th I Dec. 1795 with witnesses PATT McDONNEL and NIC DEARY. I have several queries which I hope someone will be able to help me with. 1. Why the long gap between Philip's birth and Baptism? 2. Philip and Charlotte seem rather old to be James' parents. They would have been married for 20 years even before Edward was born. Could they be their grandparents? If so - where are the parents? and where does Margaret fit into the family? 3. Could Edward McDonald be related to the witness Patt McDonnel? Any suggestions would be most gratefully received. Regards Judith (nee Diamond) Cambs.

Hi Judith - DIAMOND, a lovely surname, I've always been fascinated by it. If I am not mistaken, the surname has connections to Co. Londonderry/Derry back in the midst's of time. Hope you have a marvelous time on your trip and that you'll share your adventures! Keep in mind that the farther you go back, the more difficult it is to pinpoint a particular line as "your own, unless they were a very prominent family and can be traced in the literature. What street address or area or church do you have for KNOWN members of your family based on later Wigan, Lancs. census? What religion did they practice? The given names of the children sound Protestant although KEIRAN and KIERAN seem (to me, anyway) more Catholic. What sort of employment did your KNOWN family take? I would suggest trying to find some information on where your particular family lived in Ireland from Wigan resources - wills, death notices, etc. - and try to work backwards from there. Later kin would have left some documents. If they were well-to-do, perhaps you can come up with a family will or two. If you feel certain that this is your family, Edward DIAMOND might have lived another 40 years; if he stayed put, address-wise, you might be able to trace him. If you had a married name for Margaret, you might be able to find out something more on her on some sort of document. Has your family lore brought up a particular county in Ulster, or any mention of (Dundalk) Co. Louth, in the Province of Leinster? You might want to change your subject line or your post in future responses as it wasn't clear whether you were researching KEIRAN or KIERAN. Also keep in mind that a variation of DIAMOND is DIMOND in your researching, and misspellings often occurred, even so, unless you had a very well-educated family. Irish often married someone else when their spouse died - sometimes a related family member, a sister of the decease, let's say. Similarly, a family would likely take in orphaned related children and perhaps those of neighbors. Your KNOWN ancestors in Wigan may have had others join them from Ireland, have you looked around on a later census to see if they have neighbors with the DIAMOND surname? The 1911 census for Wigan has many DIAMOND individuals born in England, maybe you can spot some of yours. A Thomas DIAMOND, born 1887, age 24 in 1911, was living in an institution in Wigan, Lancashire. A James Diamond, born 1876 was 35 on that census, also living in Wigan. You could check and see if my scribbled notes from a few days ago are correct on the search engine at (You might want to change your subject line or your post in future responses as it wasn't clear whether you were researching KEIRAN or KIERAN, a variation of each other found on records. Also keep in mind that a variation of DIAMOND is DIMOND in your researching, and misspellings often occurred, even so, unless you had a very well-educated family. Most of those families gave their children middle names. Names were repeated generation after generation. Quite often an "unusual" given first or middle name of a well-to-do son is actually mother's maiden ("nee") surname or another surname of importance to the family. What sort of industries did they have in Wigan through the years that might attract well-off individuals or employ poor families leaving Ireland? http://www.irishtimes.com/ancestor/ A resource for surnames found in Ireland during the Primary Valuation (1848-64). You can also click on a county on the interactive map there to find out what resources are available for researching for particular counties. Jean ----- Original Message ----- From: <JuRothwell@aol.com> To: <ireland@rootsweb.com> Sent: Monday, February 09, 2009 8:49 AM Subject: [IRELAND] Re posting query .DIAMOND, KEIRAN, BURRIS > > Hello All, > I am re posting this query again in the hope that someone can help with > suggestions. > I am new to the list and have finally found information about my Irish > anceststors. I am planning a trip to Northern Ireland this May and would > like > advice on the best course of action to confirm what information I have > and to > add to it. <snip>

Addendum: Me again, Judith -- I didn't do such a good job on my last note -- here are some corrections: The 1911 census for Wigan has many DIAMOND individuals born in England, maybe you can spot some of yours. As well - A Thomas DIAMOND, born 1887, in Ireland, age 24 in 1911, was living in an institution in Wigan, Lancashire. A James DIAMOND, born 1876 in Ireland was 35 on that census, also living in Wigan. (You could check and see if my scribbled notes from a few days ago are correct on the search engine at www.1911census.co.uk ) It would be interesting to find why some of these "born in Ireland" men were living in Wigan, wouldn't it. You could try playing around with the search engine, put in a name of an Irish county rather than just Ireland. Listers may have other ideas. Jean ----- Original Message ----- From: "Jean R." <jeanrice@cet.com> To: <ireland@rootsweb.com> Sent: Monday, February 09, 2009 11:12 AM Subject: Re: [IRELAND] Re posting query: DIAMOND, KEIRAN, BURRIS