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My maternal grandmother Edith Barry born 1872 was married twice
first to Francis Watson 1898 Second Marriage to Dougald McPhail 1907. My line is from the second marriage.
I have both marriage certificates her father William Barry was, on
the second marriage shown 'deceased' Sergeant in the ? regiment
its looks like Colchestershire.
I have a very extensive family tree but can find very little about her
the only clues I have I think Irish ancestry is one
Any help would be appreciated

Do you have any clue as to where Edith was born?

There is an Edith Watson c1872 Aldershot on the 1901 census in St Giles Northampton with a son Leslie c1900.

On the 1881 census there was an Edith Barry c1872 Aldershot an adopted daughter of the Bird family.

From freeBMD:

Births Sep 1871 Farnham 2a 95

Barry Edith

Aldershot is an Army town.

In 1871 in Aldershot there was:

William Barry c1836 Ireland Private, 2nd Battalion 17th Regiment and Depot 1st Battalion
Margaret Barry c1837 Canada?

Deaths Dec 1871 Farnham 2a 49

Barry Margaret aged 34

Coincidentally the wife of John Bird on the 1881 census says her place of birth is North America.

Ediths first marriage was in Northampton.

Thanks David you are on the money she had a son called Leslie and a Daughter will now look at the other possibilities
Tony

I think it could be Ireland but not sure

Tony -- here we are.

From the info you sent by PM, this is Edith in 1881. (You had completely confused me and I was looking in Canada!))


Name: Edith Barry
Age: 10
Estimated Birth Year: abt 1871
Relation: Adapted Child (Child)
Gender: Female
Where born: Aldershot, Hampshire, England

Civil Parish: Northampton Priory St Andrew
County/Island: Northamptonshire
Country: England

Street address: 73 Private House
Occupation: Scholar

Registration district: Northampton
Sub registration district: St Giles
ED, institution, or vessel: 29

Edith Barry 10
Ann Bird 47
John Bird 42
Anne Smith 2
Margarite Smith 6
Maude Smith 3
Minnie Smith 24


So ... you said:

I have my grandmothers wedding Cert. showing William Barry as the father (deceased) in the 1971 census shows he was married to Margaret born in Canada.


Name: Margaret Barry
Age: 34
Estimated Birth Year: abt 1837
Relation: Wife
Gender: Female
Where born: Canada
Civil Parish: Aldershot
County/Island: Hampshire
Country: England

Name: William Barry
Age: 35
Estimated Birth Year: abt 1836
Relation: Soldier
Gender: Male
Where born: Ireland
Civil Parish: Aldershot
County/Island: Hampshire
Country: England

Registration district: Farnham
Sub registration district: Frimley
ED, institution, or vessel: 2nd Battalion 17th Regiment and Depot 1st Battalion 17th Regiment
Household schedule number: 1


for ref.

Ann Bird, adoptive mother of Margaret Barry, in 1881:


Name: Ann Bird
Age: 47
Estimated Birth Year: abt 1834
Relation: Wife
Spouse's Name: John
Gender: Female
>>> Where born: Canada


I wouldn't be surprised if she were Margaret's sister.


edit -- oops -- I see David said:

"Coincidentally the wife of John Bird on the 1881 census says her place of birth is North America."

And yes, the image actually says "British North America" (as in the British North America Act, 1867, our original constitution), which Ancestry has transcribed as "Canada".

Sorry Kath been working the genealogy in Britain for so long and as I said its the first time I've been out of the country, I also thought they might sisters I will get a copy of the Bird marriage certificate and see is their names are the same
Tony

More from the 1881 household:


Name: Minnie Smith
[Minnie Bird]
Age: 24
Estimated Birth Year: abt 1857
Relation: Daughter
Father's Name: John
Mother's Name: Ann
Gender: Female
Where born: Canada


Minnie's first child was born in Ireland and second in East Indies.

John Bird and Ann must have married in Canada.

Have you found the Bird marriage in England Tony??

The picture I'm getting is that William Barry and John Bird were in the military in Canada and married the two sisters, Margaret and Ann.


Aha. Here's John Bird in 1871, same place as the Barrys:

Name: John Bird
Age: 33
Estimated Birth Year: abt 1838
Relation: Soldier
Gender: Male
Where born: Lowick, Northamptonshire, England
Civil Parish: Aldershot
County/Island: Hampshire
Country: England

View Image
Registration district: Farnham
Sub registration district: Frimley
ED, institution, or vessel: 2nd Battalion 17th Regiment and Depot 1st Battalion 17th Regiment


Aha! His wife in 1871:


Name: Hannah Bird
Age: 34
Estimated Birth Year: abt 1837
Relation: Wife
Spouse's Name: James
Gender: Female
Where born: Ns
Civil Parish: Aldershot
County/Island: Hampshire
Country: England

It says NOVA SCOTIA for pity's sake. There's very little point in putting "Ns" as a birthplace in the *English* census.

And daughter, who would be Minnie in 1881:

Name: Mary J Bird
Age: 14
Estimated Birth Year: abt 1857
Relation: Daughter
Father's Name: James
Gender: Female
Where born: Ns
Civil Parish: Aldershot
County/Island: Hampshire
Country: England


Now we have somewhere to look.


edit -- note - I have no idea why it says Hannah's husband is James and Mary's father is James in the Ancestry transcription. It's plainly John. (Ann would be a variant of Hannah, in the 1881.)

http://www.gov.ns.ca/nsarm/vitalstats/

https://www.novascotiagenealogy.com/

To get search results, you have to agree to terms & conditions; to view images of records, you have to download a viewer.


Mary/Minnie's birth was unfortunately too early to be in the records.

And I don't see the marriage of a William Barry to a Margaret or of a John Bird to an Ann.

Dang!

Unfortunately I am at work and my records are not with me I will contact you again this evening its 11.20AM here what time do you have
My grandmothers marriage had John and Minnie Bird as witnesses

Heh, it's 9:40 pm here and I'll be going home to make din quite soon.

Anything you leave here, I'll see when I return. You know how to keep track of threads easily, right? -- just click on "my threads" over on the left side. I do it multiple times a day, so I'll never miss you. ;)

The 1851 Cdn census for Nova Scotia lists only heads of household, so no chance of finding your girls. Unfortunate, because I'd opened a window on each monitor and was comparing the Margarets and the Hannahs before I realized NS hadn't recorded the names of family members. :(

Kath
After a good search through BMD I can find no marriage records for John Bird and William Barry taking a guess from the 1871 census we have John Bird 32 & William Barry 35 both in the Army at Aldershot, both with Canadian wives. John was born in England and William born in Ireland I have a suspicion that they were Married in Canada as John Birds daughter was born there. On looking at the others on the census there is no shortage of people from Canada or Nova Scotia maybe it was a Canadian Regiment based in Britain

Kath
Here we go, British Light Infantry (Yahoo) the (Battalion returned from Nova Scotia 1871)
with wives as soldiers do, so married in Canada hence no records in Britain. I would also suspect that it was Ann Birds second marriage
This is a lot more interesting than my other side of the family farm labourers and railway workers
A bit of study on Canadian History required here "is there trouble in Nova Scotia'

Kath
I have just recieved my grandmothers Birth cert.
her mothers name Margaret Barry nee Mullins

Tony -- your grandmother was Maggie Mullins! My favourite show when I was a kid. ;)

I have to get some work done -- I'll get back to this later this evening.



Maggie Mullins -- I can't get a proper link to the Canadian Encyclopedia page, just the google cached version:


Most of the POPULAR LITERATURE read by Canadian children has been written in Britain or the US. There are exceptions. Mary Grannan's Just Mary Stories (1942) and Maggie Mullins and Mr. McGarrity (1952) are collections of humorous fantasy stories based on her long-running CBC radio series. During the 1940s, Leslie McFarlane wrote several volumes of the Hardy Boys series under the pen-name of Fenton W. Dixon. Two recent authors are also significant. In such books as Murder on the Canadian (1976), Terror in Winnipeg (1979) and The Green Gables Detectives (1987), Eric Wilson mixes Canadian settings and current social problems into the adventures of Tom and Liz Austen, youthful detectives. Gordon Korman, who began publishing in his early teens, has created humorous stories about teenagers in This Can't Be Happening at Macdonald Hall! (1978), Go Jump in the Pool (1979) and Macdonald Hall Goes Hollywood (1991).


Do you know that's the only thing I can find on the net -- a popular CBC kids' show in the 50s, and not a trace of its existence.

Theme song to the tune of Hear the Song of the Kerry Dancers, and ending: To say hello to Mr. McGarrity! I'll be singing it all night now.

Ann Bird and Margaret (Mullins) Barry could have been just good friends from Canada -- but with Edith being adopted by the Birds, one does suspect family.

There won't be any records at

http://www.novascotiagenealogy.com

because this is the coverage:

Births 1864-1877

Marriages
Bonds 1763-1864
Registrations 1864-1932

Deaths 1864-1877


and we're looking for events in the mid-late 1850s. They would fall within the range for marriage bonds ... I don't really know what marriage bonds are ... but there's no record of them, anyhow, under Mull*, Barry or Bird.


The 1851 census has no Mullins-s in NS, but does have these:

Mrs Mullens Nova Scotia, Halifax County, Halfax Wards 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5
Wiliam Mullin Nova Scotia, Halifax County, Halifax
James Mullin Nova Scotia, Halifax County, Halifax
Timothy Mullin Nova Scotia, Halifax County, Halifax

They are heads of household, but the records do not include any other family members.