Surname - Francis

Ealasaid

Hi all,

I'm new on here and am trying to trace my Irish ancestors. I understand that my Grandmother's surname was Francis which seems a rather unusual Irish name. Her first name was very common though - Mary. I have tried various sites but have come up with nothing. She was supposedly from Co. Westmeath. I was wondering if anyone has ever heard of Francis as an Irish surname?

pinkypinky

Hi & Welcome,

A brief look at the census for 1911 shows 469 people with the surname Francis. Only 3 in Westmeath and with different addresses. There's a few more on the 1901. (census.nationalarchives.ie) If you have a read of our sticky, it will point you at the various sites to get started. If you want to give us some more details (eg, approx dates, religion), we can show you how to narrow it all down.

Pinky

Ealasaid

Thanks for your reply, Pinky.

I did read the thread explaining how to do the research but after checknig the sites I still couldn't seem to find any info which might relate to my Grandmother. I don't know much about her but I was once told her birthday was 1st October and I believe that she died in Feb 1977 and was aged 81 then so she would have been born in 1895. I've looked through the census returns for 1901 and 1911 but couldn't find any one with the right name and age there. I'm wondering if she maybe wasn't born in Ireland after all, perhaps just her parents were. I'm very new to geneaology so it could be I'm just not doing the searches correctly or something.

shanew

You need to allow a couple of years either way when calculating year of birth from a death cert.. ages on certs are provided by the informant and not always accurate. There are a few births in Co. Westmeath for the surname Francis around the right time on the civil BMD index - see : http://search.labs.familysearch.org/recordsearch/start.html#p=collectionDetails&c=fs%3A1408347

It might be worth searching for a marriage for your grandmother first as this would show her father's name and occupation and help narrow down census returns and confirm, or rule out, any birth certs


Shane

pinkypinky

I agree with Shane. Try finding the marriage first. If you open two browser windows for the family search site, you can manually cross-reference the names of your grandparents. If you find one that matches in year, quarter, registration district, volume and page number, then you've most likely found the right people (there's a slight chance that each individual would be on the same page married to 2 other people but it's never happened to me). Don't worry about not knowing the registration district, I'd focus on the names and getting everything to match. She may not have married in Westmeath.

Ealasaid

Thanks for your help Shanew. I have found the marriage record for my grandmother on Genes Reunited, she was married in Manchester, England in 1921. How would I find a marriage certificate?

shanew

You can search an England/Wales BMD Index at : http://freebmd.rootsweb.com/

and order Certs online from GRO UK at : https://www.gro.gov.uk/gro/content/certificates/default.asp

there are a few Mary Francis marriages listed in 1921 .. but this one is in the registration district for Manchester

Marriages: Dec Qtr 1921
District :Manchester
volume: 8d
page: 460

Mary Francis (Gill)
John Gill (Francis)

does the husbands name match the details you have ?

p.s. there are a number of Gill/Francis children listed on the index after 1921, including some in Manchester that could be Mary & John's.... might help confirm that it's the correct marriage. Let me know if that's of any interest and I'll pm or post the details..


Shane

Ealasaid

Thanks for all your help Shane, I think I might now be on the right track to finding my Irish ancestors.

jo_gil

Hi Ealasaid

I have just found this thread and wondering if we may share common ancestry ?
I believe it is my grandmother identified in above thread and happy to share any information with you.
Last year I started a wikitree and she is listed as "Francis-1561" this is public record and I can give full access if you are a member !

I was aware that family members in different generations settled in Scotland (and in common with many Irish migrants - others settled in USA / AUS / CAN ) while some remain in Ireland

Mary Francis was married to John Gill in Manchester England, as per this thread
I have little information for Francis family records before she arrived in Manchester circa 1920 but I'm working on several angles and hope it is just a matter of time.

I do have a father (john Francis) and (probable) sister (Anne?) to Mary.

Look forward to hear from you

John Gill