James Rice and Mary Fagan

[LizRice]

Thanks to those that created this site. As a frustrated family history amateur it's nice to be able to get to the place that holds the keys to the information I'm searching for.

My great, great grandparents were James Rice (born around 1832 in Ireland) and Mary Fagan (born around 1833 in Meath, Ireland). I have a copy of their marriage certificate from the General Records Office. Their wedding took place at St. Joseph's Chapel, RC, 8 Grosvenor Street, Liverpool. Mary's parents were Jane and Patrick Fagan. Jane's maiden name was Shea. My great grandfather was Thomas J. Rice who was born the year before James's death in 1872. Ann Rice who married Charles Fitpatrick in 1880 was a mother-like figure it seems to Thomas who lived only streets apart from Ann and Charles all his life. (Summer Seat, Vauxhall Road and Bevington Street). The census records show brothers John, Patrick, James, Peter and his sister Ann. A friend also found a baptism records of twins born to James and Mary though sadly neither made it to the census records.

The discovery of my great, great grandparents was news to all of my older living relatives so there isn't any family lore about where in Ireland James came from and who his parents and siblings were. I would really like to begin my Ireland search with some solid clues as to where he came to Liverpool from. I'm sure many of you have found that searching the Irish records is no easy task.

There are some curious clues given in the census and certificates I have so far. James was very close to Mary's family - in fact some of Mary's relatives were incorrectly annotated on the census in 1871 as being "Rice's" instead of "Fagan's". Also, Thomas recorded his deceased father on his marriage certificate as a "cattle dealer". This corresponds with the 1871 census occupation annotation. James recorded his father on his marriage certificate as a "cattle" or "corn" dealer (hard to read clearly - though the dealer part is clear).

To add to the frustration there also seems to be a series of familiar names used instead of their actual names. Patrick Rice is recorded as James' father on his marriage certificate yet James first born son was named "John". I suspect that the latter was familiarly known as William (though this is just an educated guess). Names in our family still follow the old Irish guidelines for naming of children.

Any help that you can offer to set me searching in the right direction would be very much appreciated.

Kind regards to all,

Liz - Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.

[MaryA]

Hi and welcome to the forum.

Just to add a date - the marriage of James Rice and Mary Fagan took place Q2 1855 (Liverpool 8b 413).

As a start we have collected a few websites to help out with Irish Research and perhaps you'd like to browse some that we've posted on our Websites Board.

http://liverpool-genealogy.org.uk/phpBB ... php?t=8254
http://liverpool-genealogy.org.uk/phpBB ... php?t=8147
http://liverpool-genealogy.org.uk/phpBB ... php?t=8075
http://liverpool-genealogy.org.uk/phpBB ... php?t=3961

I hope some of these prove useful to you.

[LizRice]

Lovely to hear from you. I'll be sure to check out the sites you referred me to. Thanks again.

Liz