James Watson + Mary Ann Hargan

The following information contributed by Alan + Tina Bennet.....

James Watson was born about 1831 in Lear, Claudy Co Derry. It is believed he died about 1886 in Strabane.

Mary Anne Hargan was born in 1835 in Co Derry. She died in 1912 in Strabane. 

Mary Anne Watson (nee Hargan) was she was recorded on the 1911 census when she was present at 16 Bridge St Strabane, living with Maria Millar and family, and described as ‘grandmother’. Maria’s father is recorded as being James Watson of Lear, a townland of the Learmount Parish near Claudy Co Derry, as recorded on the wedding certificate of Joseph and Maria in 1876. 

Alan and Tina wanted to know where Mary Anne was in the 1901 census.

Some research shows that there was a Mary Anne Watson, a widower, living on her own at 5 Derryraghan, The Sandholes, Cookstown ,Co Tyrone. She was 66 years old which fits in with the 1911 census age data. She is recorded as being born in Co Tyrone. The Mary Anne Watson in our family was born in Co Derry. However, when you study the actual 1901 record two things are noted - She could not write, only read. Furthermore the form was filled in by the Enumerator, a Constable John Flanagan. She signed it by making her mark. It is then possible that he had made an error of judgment and perhaps assumed and recorded her as being born in Co Tyrone. However whether this is her or not, there is no doubt that she was present at 16 Bridge St Strabane in 1911 and was 76 years old.

A ‘Mary Ann Watson’ is recorded as dying in Strabane in 1912 and registered between April - June 1912. (Source: Civil Registrations Indexes, dig folder 4201709 Family search website). It is assumed that this is the correct Mary Anne Watson (nee Hargan).

We do not have an exact date of Maria’s death. 

Maria Watson’s father was recorded on the wedding certificate was James Watson, a farmer of Lear Co Derry.

A further search has revealed that a James Watson married a Mary Anne Hargan on the 9^th March 1853 at Cumber Upper Church of Ireland Co Derry. (source Emerald Ancestors ) Cumber Upper is a parish partly in barony of Strabane but chiefly in Tirkeeran, containing Claudy. 

(c) Kenneth Allen

It is believed that this ‘James Watson’ is Maria’s father and that Hargan is the maiden name of Mary Anne Watson. Note:- the marriage was conducted in the Uniting Church of England and Ireland. This subsequently, after the Irish Church Act of 1869, became the Church of Ireland. This marriage was recorded in the Civil Registrations Indexes (Source Family Search website, Ireland Marriages, index project M70208-7 Origin Ireland-VR film no 101348). 

There is another entry in the Indexes of the death of a James Watson recorded in Strabane between January and March 1886. He was recorded as 55 years old. His birth date would have been approximately 1831. Could this to be THE James Watson, married to Mary Anne Hargan?

However if Mary Anne Watson (nee Hargan) was living at Sandholes, Cookstown it would suggest that James Watson died there, prior to 1901. It could be that Mary Anne Watson was living in the Strabane to Claudy area in 1901 but not showing on the census as such - Reason unknown.

End note: The Millers, Watsons and Hargans may have originally been planted from England. Further genealogy research is required!!......