This is a Message Board Post that is gatewayed to this mailing list. Author: elwynsoutter1 Surnames: Classification: queries Message Board URL: http://boards.rootsweb.com/localities.britisles.ireland.tyr.general/7413.1/mb.ashx Message Board Post: Statutory recording of protestant marriages started in Ireland on 1st April 1845. There's no sign of John & Sarah's marriage in the civil indexes. That would point to their having married before April 1845, in which case you need to search church records, where they survive. In general, the surviving Presbyterian Church records are neither indexed, nor on-line. Statutory birth registration didn't start till 1864, so you won't find birth certificates for the children. Baptism information is the only possible record of their births prior to 1864. If you think the family may have been Presbyterians from Newtownstewart itself, then the two most likely churches for them to have attended are Newtownstewart 1st & Newtownstewart 2nd. Unfortunately the 1st has no baptism earlier than 1890 and the second has baptisms for 1848 only, followed by 1861 onwards. (Both have marriages from 1845/6 onwards but these are in the statutory indexes anyway). Both churches' earlier records appear to be lost. So if that's where they attended, then you may not be able to find much from those sources. There are other Presbyterian churches in the general area, some of which have earlier records eg Ardstraw which is 7 miles from Newtownstewart has records from 1837. You might want to check other churches in that general area. You can see a full list of the Presbyterian churches in that area on the PRONI website. Newtownstewart is in Ardstraw parish. PRONI in Belfast has copies of the surviving records. They are not on-line and you either need to go in person or get someone to look them up for you. http://www.proni.gov.uk/index/research_and_records_held/catalogues_guides_indexes_and_leaflets/online_guides_and_indexes.htm Griffiths Valuation for 1859 has about 20 Fulton households listed in the Ardstraw area. (Only people with property with a rental value of £5 a year were listed in Griffiths so it's not a comprehensive list of all households). If you know Sarah's father's name (eg from her death cert) then you may be able to narrow the search using that information and Griffiths: http://www.askaboutireland.ie/griffith-valuation/index.xml?action=nameSearch Important Note: The author of this message may not be subscribed to this list. If you would like to reply to them, please click on the Message Board URL link above and respond on the board.