The marriage of your great-grandparents took place much earlier than we expected, 
since we were unaware of how many more siblings your grandfather Robert had. 
The earliest child of John and Eliza Irwin found through civil registration 
was Samuel in 1869 - five years after civil registration began. 
There being no others recorded between 1864 and 1869, it would be usual to assume 
that the marriage took place say c.1867-8.
Now, however with the additional information you provided, we have traced the 
civil record of the marriage of John Irwin and Eliza Sloane (the spelling then given). 
The couple were married, as you said, on 28 August 1857 in Milltown parish church 
(Church of Ireland). John Irwin at that time was a weaver living in Cronkill. He was 
the son of Samuel Irwin, a farmer. Your great grandmother was also resident in Cronkill 
and was the daughter of John Sloane, a farmer. The witnesses were Robert Irwin and R Dilworth. 
Perhaps Robert is a previously unknown brother of John Irwin. The information is given in 
the notes section, but we ordered a print-out copy certificate from Dublin which is enclosed.


You will see that although John Irwin was of full age in 1857, Eliza Sloan was a minor i.e. 
under 21 years. This immediately rules out in theory the death record for an Eliza Irwin, 
15 Feb. 1921 as being relevant to your great grandmother. If we assume the age at death 
(given as 70) is approximately correct, then the deceased would have been born c.1851, and 
cannot have married in 1857. Ages at death are often wrong, but not usually out by nearly 
20 years. There is always the possibility that the Registrar made a mistake but whatever 
the true situation, it poses us problems.


The death of John Irwin in 1900 age 70 is, however, still acceptable as a possibility.
Given that John Irwin and Eliza Sloan were born respectively c.1820 and c.1836-9, there 
is little hope of finding records of their baptisms. For reasons you will see later, we 
think it likely that the Irwin family at least started off as members of the Church of 
Ireland, not Methodists. Milltown parish church records begin only in 1840, which is too 
late for our purposes. To cover another possibility, a search was made of Tartaraghan parish 
church records and also those of Killyman. The latter yielded nothing of interest, but in 
Tartaraghan records we noted the baptism, in 1826, of a Jane Irwin of Cranfield (the old 
name for Cronkill). She was the daughter of Samuel and Jane Irwin. Given that Samuel Irwin 
of Cronkill (or Cranfield) was the name of John's father, Jane could be John's sister. 
Since Tartaraghan records begin only in 1825, they are of no help to us for the baptisms of 
John himself or any other older siblings.


Because of the early dates involved, we are even less likely to be able to trace records 
relating to the parents of John Irwin and Eliza Sloan i.e. Samuel and (.........) Irwin, 
John and (.......) Sloan. One item of interest was noted, however - the burial in Milltown 
Church in 1876 of a Samuel Irwin, aged 90. He would have been born c.1786 and could easily 
be the father of John, born c.1820. This Samuel is the only Samuel given as living at 
Cronkill, making him even more likely to be John's father. A civil record of this death 
was sought to see if it helped any. In fact it did not, because the Registrar's information 
was a Maria Wilsop of Cranfield, but the name is not known to us. Samuel, as might be expected 
at the age of 90 was already a widower.


There is little evidence for Sloans in documents we have examined so far and we have very 
little idea of their origins.




Thomas Irwin ("Orange Tommy")




The story about John's brother Thomas Irwin is most interesting. We confirm he died in 1894- 
on 11 May 1894 to be precise. He died at Cronkill, aged 80 years, putting his year of birth 
c.1814. The Registrar's informant was his daughter Louisa Irwin of Cronkill. Thomas's widow 
survived him. Piecing together evidence from various sources (church registers, birth records, 
census returns) we feel the following is the likely interpretation of the facts re Thomas Irwin: 
Thomas Irwin married Mary Anne Williamson (her name was obtained from the birth record of their 
daughter Louisa). A search of indexes to registered marriages had us going back as far as 1848 
before we found the required entry. Thomas Irwin married Mary Ann Williamson on 20 April 1848 
at Milltown Church of Ireland. At the time Thomas was living in Derrylee and was a boatman. 
He was aged 32, hence born c.1816 (if he was truthful about his age). His father's name was 
confirmed as Samuel, so there is every reason now to believe that this Thomas was the brother 
of your ancestor John Irwin.


We have sought more information about Thomas. He may be the Thomas Irwin of Cranfield who was 
confirmed in Tartaraghan church in 1828, aged 15 (his death record implies he was born c.1814, 
but it may have been nearer 1813).
After his marriage to Mary Anne Williamson, Thomas had a number of children:


Sarah, baptised in 1856 in Milltown church;

 
Abraham, baptised in 1859 in Milltown church;

 
Thomas, baptised in 1862 in Milltown church;

 
Louisa, born 7 March 1867 (see civil registration) apparently not married, 
   but the mother of Thomas (1886); 


Mary Anne (known as Minnie, 1893);


Sarah (1895);

 
Frederick (1901);


and Herbert (1905).


With the exception of Thomas, the births of these children were registered-
Lucretia, born c.1869/70 - census return, 1901, for Cronkill, No.10,  birth not
confirmed in civil registers.
There could have been other children between 1848 and 1856.



In 1901, Thomas's widow Mary Ann Irwin was aged 78, and a record of her death subsequent 
was sought and found to have occurred on 10 September.





Frances Irwin



The head of the household in property No.8 in 1901 census return for Cronkill is a Frances Irwin
(i.e. female), not Francis (male) - we rechecked this just to be sure. This Frances was the 
mother of Amelia Jane Irwin, who turned out to be older than the census would have us believe. 
Amelia Jane was in fact born on 1 Dec. 1863 and baptised in Milltown Church. Her parents were 
given as John and Frances Irwin of Cronkill. This John Irwin cannot therefore have been a 
brother of your ancestor John Irwin, bearing the same name. He could easily have been a 
cousin, or even an uncle. A search of the index to registered marriages before 1863 showed 
us that the name John Irwin was not uncommon in the Lurgan/Armagh registration districts. 
Without knowing Frances's surname, it would have been a time-consuming exercise to check out 
every possible entry from the index. Fortunately we were helped by consultation of the civil 
registers relating to Milltown Church. The marriage had took place in 1863 (17 Feb.). John 
Irwin married Frances Blair, both lived in Cronkill. John was the son of a John Irwin, but 
how he could be related to your family we do not know. Obviously John Irwin himself was dead 
by 1901 when Frances was a widow, but looking at "John Irwin" entries in death registers 
(first report), the earliest in the years covered (from 1873) was for a John Irwin of Cronkill, 
who died in 1877, aged 59. He would have been born c.1818. The search was continued for the 
years 1864-1873, but no other possible entries found.





Children of John Irwin/Eliza Sloan



1.  Elizabeth Irwin (born 3 June 1859).
Records of baptisms in Milltown parish church confirmed Elizabeth's date of birth.
Since it seems questionable as to whether Elizabeth actually married John Williamson or not, 
we have not yet sought a marriage record. 



2.  John Irwin (born 4 Feb. 1862).
Date of birth is confirmed from baptismal entry in Milltown Church of Ireland registers. 
Without knowing what sort of age John was when he died we cannot really search for his death 
record (the name John Irwin is very common). The fact that he may have died at sea compounds 
the problem -he could be anywhere, The location governs the place of registration - inshore 
(Standard registration) or in deep sea (marine register). Additionally, a death Certificate 
for those lost at sea can only be issued if a body is found.



3.  Jane Irwin (born 13 April 1865).
Jane's birth was not registered, but she was baptised apparently in 1864. Jane married 
Robert Benson in 1895 and the births of 6 children were registered (a seventh was not found). 
Full details are given in the notes for the Benson children - 
Edith (1896), Evelyn (1898), Errick (1901), Mabel (1903), Ethel (1905), Lesley (1907). 
The children were born at Cronkill, Mullenakill or Derrylee.
A search for the deaths of Jane and Robert Benson gave confusing results. No record for Jane, 
and two in the name Robert Benson. One of the latter is more likely -Robert Benson 
died 9 July 1944 at Derrylileagh, aged 75 (born c.1868/9). The informant was a Margaret Benson 
of Portadown. Given that Jane and Robert lived in or near Portadown at some part of their lives,
this record could fit.



4.  Samuel Irwin (born 29 April 1869).
Our information from the registrar's office previously gave a date of birth of 9 May 1869 for 
Samuel. His death record, now traced, gives a date of death 26 May 1869 and an age of 2 months. 
There is obviously a discrepancy somewhere, but there seems little doubt that baby Samuel died 
shortly after birth. (In passing, we should point out that a registrar only wrote down 
information given to him by a member of the public; the registrar was responsible for the 
safe-keeping of the registers themselves, but had no jurisdiction over the information given 
to him.)



5.  Samuel Irwin (born 22 May 1872).
This birth was registered. We already have a record of Samuel's marriage to Elizabeth Gates 
and of births of their children. Your information is that E1izabeth was born 23 April 1879 
but her baptismal record in Milltown gives 23 March 1879. A search for the birth or baptism of 
her sister Maggie who married Robert Brown has failed to produce any results. Alexander and 
Margaret Gates had other children as well.

E1izabeth Irwin, Samuel's widow, was found to have died 20 June 1938, age 59 (see notes), 
but not at her usual residence.



6.  Robert Irwin (born 5 Jan. 1879).
You are correct in saying that your grandfather did leave a will - in fact we quoted from it 
in the notes section; apologies for the slip.




Children of Samuel Irwin/Elizabeth Gates



We can now add a little to the life histories of the following:- 
1.  William Irwin (born 15 Dec. 1903).
We had identified three children of William Irwin and Margaret Johnston, William 1927), 
Johnston (1928), E1izabeth Jane (1937). The fourth whom you mention, Eileen who was not 
apparently William's child was not registered at birth, either as Eileen Irwin or 
Eileen Johnston.
A search was made of indexes to registered marriages for May 1955 but no record of 
William Irwin's remarriage was noted. (There were other William Irwins around this time.)




2.  Mary Alice E1izabeth (born 12 June 1921).
No record of her marriage to James Stevenson has been found, although the birth and death of 
their daughter Myrtte have been traced (see notes).





Children of Robert and Alice Irwin



1. Thomas John ("Jackie")
A search of indexes to registered deaths afforded no entry for 
this child c.1929.




Mullenakill North



We have tried to trace the ownership of Irwin land in this town and through valuation records 
and documents kept at Land Registry.
3 acres of land in Mullenakill were bought by Samuel Irwin in 1919 (then 9 acres); prior to 
this the land had been leased from Harry Verner, first by John Irwin (in 1936 - a date which 
we believe John to be dead, so perhaps leased by his widow), by then by Samuel Irwin himself 
in 1908. Another 1 acre of land leased by John Irwin was bought the same year and passed into 
the names jointly of Samuel and Robert Irwin in 1922 (by which time we believe their mother 
to have died). Samuel and Robert also bought jointly, 3 acres of bogland in 1908.
Nowhere is there any record (in Land registry or P.R.O.N.I.) of Samuel having bought out 
his brother's share. 
This transaction may have taken place, but there is no record of it deposited in public 
documents.
After Samuel's death, the land was owned by his widow. then his son, and his widow. 
There are also records of land at Mullenaki1l purchased by William Percival Irwin.




Census Records



Although census records were taken in Ireland every 10 years from 1821 on, the majority of 
these were pulped. Fragments of the 1821, 1831, 1841 and 1851 census survive but none for the 
area of Armagh we are considering. The earliest useable record is therefore that for 1901.




Joseph Brown and Martha Hall



Further pointers has been found to suggest that Joseph Brown and Martha Hall are likely to 
be the parents of Thomas Brown and consequently your own great-great grandparents. Joseph 
Brown died 9 June 1876 at Derrylileagh, his wife Martha 26 Jan. 1905 at the same place. In 
both cases the informant was Robert Brown, son (i.e. the Robert Brown who married Elizabeth 
Conlon). Indeed, after her husband's death, Martha went to live with her son Robert and appears 
on the 1901 census return for his household.
Both Joseph and Martha are buried at Milltown, as indicated by the burial registers. 
Calculated years of birth indicate Joseph Brown was born c.1820, Martha Hall c.1824, but we are 
unable to make further use of this information since Milltown church records begin only 1840. 
There would not appear to be any further information on them either in Tartaraghan parish church.
We have ordered printouts from death registers for both Joseph and Martha Brown. These will be 
forwarded when to hand.




Children of Joseph Brown and Martha Hall



Information comes from baptismal records for Milltown parish church, civil records, 
and census returns. After their marriage in 1843 Joseph and Martha Brown 
had the following children:



1.  Robert Brown
Robert was born 17 Dec. 1844 at Derrylileagh and baptised on 5 Jan. 1845 in Milltown Church 
of Ireland. In 1876, he married Elizabeth Conlon . According to civil registration, their 
eldest child was a girl, born 13 Dec. 1880 and still un-named at registration; there was then 
a gap until 1887 when a son John Joseph was born, followed by Jemima in 1888 and Elizabeth 
in 1891. We know that the son John Joseph died later in the same year that ha was born and 
was buried at Milltown. The girls, however have posed us some problems. According to your 
own information there were three girls - Martha, Jemima and Sara. The census return gives 
Mary Jennie (born c.1889) and Sarah (born c.1893). We could reasonably assume that it was 
Martha who was the un-named female born in 1880 and that by 1901 she had already left hone. 
Jemima was born about the same date as "Mary Jennie". Perhaps Elizabeth was subsequently 
baptised as Sarah or perhaps there were two children, one Elizabeth and one Sarah - if so, 
the birth of the latter was not registered and the former must have died without a death 
being registered. There seems to be no way we can resolve this dilemma. Ages given on census 
returns are often inaccurate, but names are usually correct.



2.  Joseph Brown
Joseph was born 8 Aug. 1847 and baptised 29 Aug. 1847. 
Nothing else is known about him.



3.  John Brown
John was born 16 June 1851 and baptised 7 Sep. 1851. 
No further information.




Jane was born 1 June 1853 and baptised in August. at Milltown Church. Jane married 
Isaac Walsh in 1875 at Milltown Church. Five of the seven children you suggested they 
had were registered at birth - Joseph (1877), John (1881), Eliza Jane (1884), Sarah (1886) 
and Rachel 1893). All were born at Derrylileagh. The 1901 census return for the family 
gives us the name of one other daughter, Martha Ann, born apparently c.1881, but more likely 
between Joseph and John. This in fact is confirmed from Milltown baptisms which show Martha
Anne (sic) was born 23 April 1879. We do not know why her birth was not registered. 
John (1881) was baptised as John Henry.



Thomas Brown
Your great grandfather; his baptism has at last been found amongst those in Milltown Church 
registers (a section difficult to read).
Born 16 March 1856 and baptised a week later.




We are also pleased to tell you that at last we have located a record of the marriage of 
Thomas Brown and Ann Jane McKinnev. The marriage took place on 24 November 1880 at Milltown 
Church of Ireland. All the details are as expected (see notes section).
The witnesses were George Brown and Margaret McKinney - neither name is already known to us. 
We eventually had to consult the Registrar of Marriages at Craigavon to obtain this record 
which would appear to have been omitted from the general index.



James Brown
Born in 1858, James is another child of whom we know nothing. 



Ruth Brown
Ruth was born on 13 Nov. 1859 and baptised 9 Dec. following. Her name does not appear on any 
other records.



Elizabeth Brown
Elizabeth was the only one in the family born within civil registration. Her birth was 
registered as 29 Jan. 1865 and her mother's maiden surname confirmed as Hall. Elizabeth 
was also baptised in Milltown church.



Of the above eight children, family information and official documentation seems to be 
available on only three - Robert, Jane and Thomas. It therefore seems likely that he either 
died young, or perhaps even moved away.



Robert Joseph Brown (b.1884, son of Thomas and Ann Jane Brown)

We can as yet trace only a record of the marriage of Robert Joseph Brown and Margaret Gates 
but not records of births of any children to the couple. It may be that they were born later 
than might be expected and we will have to extend the search for some extra years. 
Robert Joseph and Margaret Jane like all their relatives were married in Milltown Church, 
on 20 April 1910.

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