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Hi - part of a long quest re motherwell such that I am sat in a hotel Donegal after touring graveyards with a lady I met off the Internet - which sounds so wrong - but my wife was with me so don't worry

Basically found this on Irish census

Robinson James 50 Male Head of Family Episcopalian Protestant
Robinson Catherine 46 Female Wife Episcopalian Protestant
Robinson William 12 Male Son Episcopalian Protestant
Robinson Rebecca 11 Female Daughter Episcopalian Protestant
Robinson Samuel 9 Male Son Episcopalian Protestant
Robinson Sarah 7 Female Daughter Episcopalian Protestant
Robinson William 75 Male Parent Episcopalian Protestant
Duffy Teressa 20 Female Relative Roman Catholic


The old guy married Sarah who I think is the missing sister (Sarah motherwell) - and I am looking for any footprints from the kids post 1911

Children of William Robinson & Sarah Motherwell born Donegal
James1859
William 1864
Thomas 1867
Rebecca 1869
Samuel 1873
William 1876

Ta - did you use lds - have you a wedding date

what is the date of those in your opening post?

Apols - 1911 Irish census

Couldn't find a marriage but their childrens baptisms are on rootsireland.ie

Hi All

Back on the horse - can anyone give some advice here. i have a family listed above in the thread. i want to see if there is any footprint anywhere as contacting someone who has got links or undertaken research may hold the key to understanding the background of the grandmother (wife of 75 year old william robinson - but deceased in 1911). She is Sarah Motherwell.

as i say - a bit stumped on how i can progress

Have you got Sarah' death certificate?



Ireland, Civil Registration Deaths Index, 1864-1958


Name:Sarah Robinson

Estimated Birth Year:abt 1843

Date of Registration:Jul-Aug-Sep 1906

Death Age:63

Registration District:Londonderry

Death Country:Ireland

Volume:2

Page:123

FHL Film Number:0101603

I hadn't thanks!!

Any idea on the others? My concern is that it such a common name.

and to add it's not like scotland where mothers name is in the marriage certificate

To find links on GR.....look in 'search all trees'

What is your connection?

You must have some current info in order to have worked back to these people.......................

Did you use familysearch at all?

Name: William Robison

Spouse's Name: Sarah Motherwell

Event Date: 31 Mar 1853
Event Place: Taughboyne, Don, Ire
Father's Name: James Robison

Spouse's Father's Name: James Motherwell

Indexing Project (Batch) Number: M70209-1
System Origin: Ireland-VR
GS Film number: 101351
Reference ID: 2:3F2CVH9

Hi Reggie

Long story - and subject of many posts

My GG Grandmother Susan Motherwell (b1841) married Samuel Watson (born in 1831) in 1857 - Parish Church in the Parish of All Saints, Kildrum, County Donegal (Church of Ireland). Got those details and went to the Church this year and surrounding area.

She would have been 16 and he, 26. They moved to Greenock around 1860
Samuel was a farm labourer and his father was also called Samuel a spade finisher, his mother was Catherine (McLaughlin) Her parents were called James and Susan (but working theory is that she was elizabth dowd. Susan died in 1919

Family myth is that they (Susan and her sister) were taken orphaned and taken in by two uncles (presumably called Motherwell – but who knows).

Family story about a will in the 1920s and a lawyer called Balfour from Londonderry putting a notice in the ‘Sketch’ seeking relatives.

Think i found her father - James - he died in Philadelphia in 1850 ish - don't know what was going on there. I then found what may have happened to the his estate - ended up up with James Caldwell Risk in Sonoma County near san Francisco with him dying in 1889. No trace of living relatives of the Mothewells.

My latest working theory is that the sister was sarah motherwell (who may not have gone to America) who married william Robinson - and as such now trying to track down that family to see if any family history has been passed down.

The quest goes on.....

the ironic thing is that my only English line probably is confirmed back to 1540 with some people saying that there are links way back - yet this is complicated beyond belief.

Just found a tree with rebecca 1869 on ancestry - so the moral is never give up

Not sure where we are going with this, it's a little convoluted :-S



Ireland, Civil Registration Marriages Index, 1845-1958

Name:James Caldwell Risk

Date of Registration:1852

Registration District:Londonderry

Volume:7

Page Number:355

FHL Film Number:101244

Records on Page:


Spouse Name

Sarah Anne Stevenson
William Browne
Anna Porter
Sarah Donaghy <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<
David Mullan


US census records show the above man with a wife named Sarah. He is listed as born Ireland in 1824

Added:



Ireland, Births and Baptisms, 1620-1911

Name:Jane Henderson Risk

Gender:Female

Birth Date:12 Jul 1864

Birth Place:Killea, Donegal, Ireland

Father's Name:James C. Risk

Mother's Name:Sarah Donaghy

FHL Film Number:101091

This child of the couple is on the US census

There are several children for James Risk but this one is interesting, with the middle name of Motherwell



Ireland, Births and Baptisms, 1620-1911


Name:Sarah Motherwell Risk

Gender:Female

Birth Date:31 Oct 1867

Birth Place:Killea, Don, Ireland

Baptism Place:Killea, Don, Ireland

Father's Name:James Caldwell Risk

Mother's Name:Sarah Donaghy

FHL Film Number:101156

covuleted - yes


frsutrating yes

Cheers - had some of these - indeed i was also tracking the youngest daughter martha m (motherwell????) risk - who i think was unmarried. she was on the farm in 1930 - do you know how to get death info from the use easily

re the robinsons - is there a way of finding them as they go through history

covuleted - yes


frsutrating yes

Cheers - had some of these - indeed i was also tracking the youngest daughter martha m (motherwell????) risk - who i think was unmarried. she was on the farm in 1930 - do you know how to get death info from the use easily

re the robinsons - is there a way of finding them as they go through history

California, Death Index, 1905-1939


Name:Martha M Risk

Birth Year:abt 1876

Death Date:5 Nov 1938

Age at Death:62

Death Place:Sonoma, California, USA


US States have their own laws on certificates. You could 'Google' to see if you can find info

Final question - have you got world wide records access - if so is it via ancestry - suspect i will have to invest