The Children of Willis Creighton Williams and Kate O'Neill

The Children of Willis Creighton Williams and Kate O'Neill. Births Death Marriages etc...(and this is one of those posts that I'll add information to as I get my hands on it.)

http://alison-stewart.blogspot.ie/2011/09/willis-creighton-williams-and-kate.html

1)Willis Creighton Williams II, born in Liverpool circa 1875. Willis Creighton Williams worked in the Bank of Ireland in Limerick and then in Dublin, as did so many members of the Williams family. (My grandfather Richard Williams also worked for the bank as did his brothers John, David Creighton and Gerald O'Moore. On the 1911 census, they describe themselves as 'gentlemen' bank officials.) He was an enthusiastic musician and taught music; it is said he used a dummy piano to practice on.  In 1901 he was a boarder at 16 McMahon Street and, interestingly, gave his religion as Church of Ireland - the rest of his immediate family were Plymouth Brethren baptists. He died, aged 25, on 26th September 1901 in the Adelaide Hospital, Dublin, of typhoid fever and is buried in Mount Jerome Cemetery.
From The Irish Times:  '1901 - Williams, September 26, Willis Creighton, eldest son of Willis Creighton and Kate Williams of 50 Park Avenue, Sandymount.  Funeral private. No flowers.'

2) David Creighton Williams, born Everton, Liverpool on 31st May 1882 and was named after his uncle.  His father, Willis, was working as a house agent/tea dealer in Liverpool at the time of David's birth;  the family lived at 53 Clarence Grove, Everton.
On 10th August 1923, David Creighton Williams married Mary Jane Creaven (28/9/1888 - 27/12/1960) and had Jane Williams, who did much of the initial research into our Williams family, on 28th March 1925.  
At the time of his marriage to Mary Jane, David was living at 38 Grosvenor Square in Rathmines, while Mary Jane Creaven lived at 28 Merrion Square - her father, William Creaven, was described as a gentleman, as was David's father, Willis Creighton Williams.
David was a bank official like his brother Richard.  The wedding was witnessed by Rebecca Creaven, George Willis Williams (David's brother) and Sophie Williams who was the groom's paternal aunt and who must have been visiting from London where she worked in one of the Barnardo girls' homes.  This wedding took place in the Mariners' Church in Dunlaoghaire.

David Creighton Williams was a member of the Masonic order.

David Creighton Williams, his wife Mary Jane Creaven, and - later - daughter Jane Williams, lived at 10 Garville Road, Rathgar.


3) Eveline Nina (Dolly), born June 1883.  She worked for the post office. The records of the British Postal Service - this being prior to Irish independence  show her to have been appointed in 1917 as an assistant postal clerk in Rathmines, Dublin; by 1919 she was working as a female sorting clerk and telegraphist.

Eveline/Dolly died on 25th December 1965 in The Royal City of Dublin Hospital;  her address at the time was 16 Cambridge Road, Rathmines - the electoral lists for Dublin list her living alone at this address from 1939 until her death. She was buried in Mount Jerome.

4)  Gerald O'Moore Williams, born at 47 Strand Road, Sandymount, on 1st January 1885.

On September 17th 1914, Gerald O'Moore Williams married Emily Caroline Quinn, in Christ Church, Leeson Park. He was an accountant and was living at 2 Upper Leeson Street, and at 'Ellerslie', Park Avenue, Sandymount, the second address being his parents' house.  Emily lived at 1, Albany Terrace, Ranelagh, and was the daughter of John Monserrat Quinn, a bookkeeper and J.P.  (Emily had been born in South Dublin on 12th August 1883.) The witnesses to the wedding were Gerald's brother, D.C. Williams, Meta Dowse, and J. Monsarratt Quinn.

Gerald O'Moore Williams died on 30th July 1945 at 117 Phibsboro Road, and his wife, Emily Caroline Williams died on 9th October 1956 - both were buried in Deansgrange, Co. Dublin.

Their children were:
 a) Gerald Willis Williams, known as Sonnie, was born on 10th March 1916 (just in time for the Easter Rising in Dublin), but he died, aged 12, on November 11th 1928, at Marlboro Road, Dunlaoghaire from lung disease.  His mother, Emily C. Williams, was present at his death there.
b) John O'Moore Williams, born 26th June 1917.  On June 9th 1953 in Rathgar, Dublin, John Williams married Kathleen Bancroft, a widow, the daughter of a farmer, Redmond Geary. Her address was 7 Richmond Street, Dublin.  John Williams, a radio mechanic, lived in Coolmine, Rathcoole;  his father, Gerald O'Moore Williams, was dead by this time.
c)  Emily Geraldine Williams was born on 4th January 1919, and would later marry Cyril George Day on 15th August 1953 - her sister, Dorothy Williams, was the bridesmaid.   Cyril George Day had been born in Stroud, UK, in 1915 to George Richard Day and Annie E. Nelmes. Cyril's parents had married in Gloucestershire in 1912. George Richard Day (born circa 1889) was the son of railway engine driver Charles William Albert Day (son of Charles Day and Dinah Ann Taylor) of Bristol and of his wife Ellen.
d)  Dorothy Elizabeth Williams was born 25th January 1924, and died on 14th August 2007.

About the family of Emily Caroline Quinn:   Emily's grandfather was the letter carrier/printer, John Adolphus Quinn Junior, who had been born in Bansha, Co. Tipperary, in about 1828 to John Adolphus Quinn Senior (born circa 1777) and to Anne Monsarratt of Co. Waterford. (This earlier couple also had a daughter, Sarah Elizabeth Quinn.)
John Adolphus Quinn Junior - Emily's grandfather - moved to Dublin;  his wife was a woman named Margaret Louisa, and the Irish Genealogy website records the birth of their children....

a) John Monsarratt Quinn, the father of Emily Caroline Quinn, was born on 6th October 1855, at 39 Upper Erne Street,
b) Mark Walter Quinn, born at 39 Upper Erne Street on 26th August 1857.  A stationer, he later married, on 11th September 1882, Gertrude Keon, the daughter of a tutor, Gerald Keon.
c)  Caroline Teresa Quinn, born at 5 Wentwick Place on 30th March 1859.
d)  William David Quinn, born at 32 Denzille Street, on 30th November 1860. On 31st March 1884, he married Mary Elizabeth Elle Schomberg, the daughter of a retired soldier, Bernard Schomberg. William David Quinn was a dentist.
e)  Charles Henry Quinn, born at 6 Great Clarence Street on 6th July 1863.
f)  Emily Margaret Quinn, born at 6 Great Clarence Street in July 1864.
g)  Sarah Elizabeth Quinn, born at 6 Great Clarence Street on 10th March 1866.
h) Thomas Richard Quinn, born at 6 great Clarence Street on 9th May 1869.

Emily Caroline Quinn's father, John Monsarratt Quinn (1855 - 5th September 1913) was a stationer/letter carrier.  He married Eliza Dowse, the daughter of a builder, William Dowse, on 10th April 1879.  Eliza Dowse had been born at 22 Lower Mount Street on 16th July 1856 to William and Jane Dowse.  The builder, William Dowse, had been born in Leixlip, Co. Kildare, to the farmer, William Dowse, and he married Emily's grandmother, Jane Bell, the daughter of a land steward, James Bell, in Dublin on 17th August 1850.

Emily Caroline Quinn was born to John Monsarratt Quinn and Eliza Dowse at 8 Sandford Avenue in 1883.

Gerald O'Moore Williams and Emily Caroline Williams separated in 1932.

Emily Caroline Williams died on 9th September 1956 in South Dublin.
Gerald O'Moore Williams died at 117 Phibsboro Road on 30th July 1945, and was buried in Deansgrange.

5) Jessie Muriel, born 24th April 1886 at 50 Park Avenue, Sandymount; she died of whooping cough 25 days later at the family home, 50 Park Avenue, Sandymount, and was buried in the family plot in Mount Jerome.

6) Kathleen Willis Williams, born at 50 Park Avenue, Sandymount, on 15th November 1887.  She died in June 1957.

7) Richard, born 30th May 1889, died 9th March 1977. (Our maternal grandfather, who was named after his own paternal grandfather, Richard of Eden Quay and Dundrum.)
Richard Williams, bank official, married our grandmother, Vera Dickson, on September 28th 1927.  From The Irish Times: 'Williams and Dickson - September 28 1927 at Merrion Hall, Lower Merrion Street, Dublin, by Mr. William T. Biller.  Richard, son of Willis Creighton Williams, 38 Grosvenor Square, Rathmines, to Vera Antoinette, daughter of the late Joseph E. Dickson., Carisbrook House, Pembroke Road.

The witnesses to their wedding were Vera's sister, Eveleen Emily Dickson and a friend, Reginald Vincent Squire.

Richard Williams and Vera Dickson lived at 43 Anglesea Road, Ballsbridge until later in life when they moved to Mount Merrion.

Their children were:
a)  Maurice Willis Creighton Williams, born Dublin 14th September 1928. Maurice, an engineer, married Marguerite (Daisy) Henderson in 1952 and the couple moved permanently to Edinburgh, Scotland. Daisy Williams died in Edinburgh on 25th October 2012.
b)  Raymond Dickson Williams, born in Dublin on 28th March 1930.  He married in 1964 Ruth Musgrave Harris - both were doctors and spent their entire working lives running a teaching hospital in Zaire, before retiring to England.
c)  Trevor Willis Williams, born in Dublin on 19th March 1932.  A doctor, he emigrated in 1957 to Canada where he married Elizabeth Rose Drover (Betty) in 1960.  Trevor settled first in St. John's, Newfoundland, where he worked with the Department of Public Health, before practising as a pediatrician in Winnipeg, then moving into research, working in the Cadham Provincial Lab as Assistant Director of Microbiology and Virology. He was the Director of Lab and X-Ray Services for over 20 years and was Director of Cadham Lab for the final 5 years of his career, retiring in 2000. He died in Winnipeg on 16th January 2001.
d)  Alan O'Moore Williams, an engineer, born on 1st May 1934. He stayed here in Dublin, Ireland and never married, dying on 5th October 2014.
e)  Ruth Dickson Williams, my mother, a teacher, born in 1937.  She married our dad,  Paul Cuthbert Stewart, in Dublin on 31st March 1960.  She died on 14th February 2023.
f)  Edward Dickson Williams, an engineer, born on 23rd April 1942;  in 1970, he married Mary Elizabeth Percy (known as Elizabeth), a teacher who worked with my mother Ruth in Rathgar Junior School. They moved to England.  Edward passed away in England on 11th July 2020.

Richard Williams and Vera Dickson, our grandparents, were buried in Mount Jerome:  'In loving memory of my dear husband, Richard Williams, who died 9th March 1977 - And also his dear wife Veera A. Williams, who died 25th August 1982 aged 76.'


8) Eliza Willis (Lil), born 9th July 1890 at 50 Park Avenue.
   Lil owned a few shares in the City of Dublin Steam Packet Company.  When the company was being finally wound up in Dublin in 1931, the records of the ordinary shareholders show that Miss Elizabeth Willis Williams, of Royal Bank of Ireland, Terenure Branch, Rathmines, held £20 of shares.

9) Muriel, born 11th September 1891.  In 1918 Muriel married Thomas Elwood.  Earlier, in 1911, the Irish census reveals Thomas living in a boarding house in Mountjoy Square, Dublin - he was a 17-yr-old 'boy clerk' working in the Irish Land Commission and the census states that he'd been born in England - his parents were the bricklayer, James Elwood, and Charlotte White of Belfast, Co. Antrim.
Their children were:
a)  Dr.Willis John Elwood, born 24th May 1920. (Willis worked with my uncle Alan Williams, and with my mother's cousin, Jane Williams, on the family tree.)
b)  James Stanley Elwood, born 5th November 1922.
c)  Thomas Neville Elwood, born 28th Augusts 1928.
d) Peter Creighton Elwood, born 23rd August 1930.
e)  Philip Earle Elwood, born 12th March 1932.


10) John, born 30th December 1892 at 50 Park Avenue.  Died in the trenches in France in 1918.
   http://alison-stewart.blogspot.ie/2011/10/john-williams-189293-1918.html

11) George Willis, born 9th February 1900 at 50 Park Avenue. He married Eileen Elizabeth Webb on 25th March 1925 in Merrion Hall, Dublin.  He was a bank clerk living at 38 Grosvenor Square, Rathmines.  Eileen lived at 4 Victoria Avenue, Donnybrook - her father, Charles Webb, a gentleman, was deceased.  George's brother (our grandfather), Richard, was a witness at the wedding, as was his sister, Eliza Willis Williams.

Eileen Elizabeth Webb was born 27th December 1902 to a navy man, Charles Webb, who had been born in England in 1858, and to his wife, Elizabeth T. Webb of Galway.
In 1901 this family were living at 47 Albert Rd., Glasthule, Dunlaoghaire. Eileen's father, Charles Webb, was chief writer with the Royal Navy.  Their two children had been born in Co. Down - Jemima Webb, 19, and Charles Webb, 17, who was a clerk in an insurance office.  The family were Wesleyan Methodist.  (Charles Webb married Jemima Elizabeth Wills in Belfast in 1878.)

In 1911 they were living at 48 Albert Rd, Dunlaoghaire, along with Elizabeth T. Webb's widowed mother,  Frances Wills, who had been born in England in about 1840.

George Willis Williams and Eileen Elizabeth had two daughters, Eileen Willis Williams (23rd July 1928 - 26th October 1999) and Muriel Willis Williams who was born in 1934 and who was listed at the family home on the electoral lists, the family home being 12 Grosvenor Place, Rathmines.

George Willis Williams was buried in Mount Jerome cemetery in February 1968.

Williams Headstone, Mount Jerome, Dublin:
Family Burial Place of Willis Creighton Williams
    Jessie Muriel Williams (Junr)  died 20th May 1886  (This was the infant daughter of Willis Creighton Williams and Kate O'Neill, who died at 25 days of age.)
    Willis Creighton Williams (Junr)  died 26th September 1901 (This was the son of Willis Creighton Williams and Kate O'Neill; he died young of typhoid.)
    Emily Williams     died 8th October 1914  (This was the daughter of Richard Williams and Geraldine O'Moore Creighton.)
    Kate Williams      died 17th February 1920  (The wife of Richard and Geraldine's son, Willis Creighton Williams.)
    Willis Creighton Williams  died 22nd October 1932  (This was the son of Richard Williams and Geraldine O'Moore Creighton.)
    John Williams     Killed in France   October 1918'  (John was the son of Willis Creighton Williams and Kate O'Neill.)

James M. Orr, Watchmaker, and Jane Stewart, Belfast and Philadelphia

The four daughters of Joseph Stewart and Elizabeth Madine - Emily Jane, Louisa Helen, Mary Elizabeth and Catherine - travelled from Liverpool to Philadelphia aboard the 'Haverford', arriving there in November 1914.
My father always maintained that his four great-aunts were absolutely tiny, and the passenger list confirms this - Emily Jane, aged 52, a dressmaker, was only 4'10".  Her sister, the dressmaker Louisa Helen, 51, was 5'.  The housekeeper, Mary Elizabeth, aged 44, was only 4'8", while the youngest, the dressmaker Catherine, aged 40, was 4'10".
The sisters gave their home address as Greystones, Co. Wicklow, and their next of kin was their brother - our great-grandfather - Robert Stewart.
They were to be met off the boat upon their arrival in the United States by their friend Miss Hilda Purcell of 1615 North 12th Street, Philadelphia.   (Hilda had emigrated from Dublin along with her aunt, Lucy Purcell - both women were dressmakers like the Stewart sisters.)
The Stewarts were travelling to visit their first cousin, Jane Orr who lived at 2824 Sydenham Street, Philadelphia.

Two of the Stewart sisters - Emily Jane and Mary Elizabeth - returned to Ireland aboard the 'Haverford' in February 1915, a dangerous time to sail.  Their sisters, Louisa Helen and Catherine, travelled back on a different ship.
http://alison-stewart.blogspot.ie/2011/07/children-of-joseph-stewart-and.html

http://alison-stewart.blogspot.ie/2011/07/joseph-stewart-and-elizabeth-madine.html

Jane Orr, their first cousin, was Jane Stewart, who had married the Antrim-born watchmaker/jeweller James Malcolm Orr in the Baptist Church, Shankill, Belfast on February 15th 1875.  Jane Stewart, 20 (born 18th December 1854) was working as a machinist in Belfast, and living at 50 New Lodge Road. Her father was named as William Stewart - William's brother was our great-great grandfather, the ironmonger, Joseph Stewart of Crossmacreevy, Co.Down, who married Elizabeth Madine and later moved south to Dublin with his family.

The Parents of Jane Stewart:
Jane Stewart's parents were William A. Stewart (1826 - 1881) and Margaret Burke, who married in Downpatrick Registry Office on 27th December 1851.  William, the son of the Crossnacreevy farmer, Joseph Stewart, was a hosteler living at 29 Prince's Street, Belfast, while Margaret was the daughter of a labourer, John Burke, with an address at the time of her marriage in Downpatrick.  The witnesses were William Lascelles and Agnes Crothers.

William Stewart can be traced through the Belfast street directories.  Up until 1865 he was at 29 Prince's Street - 'William A. Stewart - eating-house and stabling yard.'   In 1870 and 1877 he was noted as a spirit-dealer of 92 Ann Street (Ann St and Prince's St. intersect each other) and, finally, in 1880 he made his last appearance as William A. Stewart at 50 New Lodge Road, which is where his daughter, Jane, was living when she married James M. Orr in 1875;  Ann Street must have been the business address, while New Lodge Road was the family home.  In the 1884 street directory, a publican named Ellen Stewart was listed at 92 Ann Street, so I presume this was one of his daughters or some other member of the same Stewart family;  she disappears after this - she either married and changed her name, emigrated, or died.


The children of William and Margaret were born prior to official registration, but Jane was born circa 1855 in Belfast, and her sister, Margaret was born circa 1859.  There was also a possible sister, Agnes Stewart, who witnessed Jane's wedding to James M. Orr.

William Stewart died under tragic circumstances on 3rd December 1881 at 50 New Lodge Road;  the newspapers recorded that he died from a head wound inflicted with a hammer.  An inquest concluded that he'd committed suicide by fracturing his skull while in a state of unsound mind.
From 'The Belfast Telegraph' of Dec.5th 1881:  'An inquest was held on Saturday on the body of Wm. Stewart, who was found dead with his head broken, in the yard of his house in New Lodge Road that morning.  Evidence was given that, for the past two months, the deceased talked foolishly.  The Coroner described the case as a most extraordinary one.  The jury returned a verdict of suicide, while in an unsound state of mind.'

http://alison-stewart.blogspot.ie/2013/10/william-stewart-1829-3rd-october-1881.html


Jane Stewart's husband, James M. Orr, had been born in Ballymena, Co.Antrim, on November 26th 1853;  his parents were Thomas Orr, watchmaker, and Mary Osborne.  Thomas Orr was the youngest son of farmer Robert and Elizabeth Orr of Ballynamaddy, while Mary Orsborne was the daughter of the farmer John Osborne of Dowgry.  Along with James Malcolm Orr, Thomas and Mary Orr had Lizzie Orr, Maggie Orr, Jane Orr, Martha Orr and Samuel Orr.

At the time of his marriage to Jane Stewart in 1875, James Malcom Orr was working as a watchmaker with an address at 8 High Street, Antrim.
The witnesses to the wedding were Agnes Stewart (possibly a sister of Jane) and a James McClean.
The couple's eldest son, Thomas Edwin Orr, was born 7 months after the wedding in September 1875.

The children of  James M. Orr and Jane Stewart were:
1)Thomas Edwin Orr, born 6th September 1875 at the Stewart family home of 50 New Lodge Road, Belfast.  His maternal grandmother, Margaret Stewart, present at his birth. Thomas Edwin Orr died in NYC in July 1949.

2) William Stewart Orr, born 17th November 1876 at 34 Shannon Street, Belfast; died 14th November 1922 in Belfast.

3)James Alexander Orr, born 3rd December 1877 at 34 Shannon Street;  died August 1960 in Philadelphia.

4)Walter David Orr, born 8th August 1879 at 34 Shannon Street - this child died of croup in October 1883 in Ballymena.

5) Mary Elizabeth Orr, born 20th July 1880 in Ballymoney Street, Ballymena, but died there of convulsions later the same year.

6) Arthur Francis Orr, born 23rd February 1882 in Church Street, Ballymena, but died in November 1883 of bronchitis.

7) George Chesney Orr, born 4th April 1883 in Church Street, Ballymena, died May 1883 of diarrhoea.

8) Walter Francis/Francey Orr, born 30th October 1887, in Philadelphia;  died August 1969.

In 1877, the Belfast Street Directories show up James Orr, Jeweller, at 34 Shannon Street, and also James Orr, watchmaker, at 14 Lower Barrow Street.  This might be the same man, one address being the business premises, the other being his residence.

James Orr worked as a jeweller and watchmaker in Ballymena, but this business went bankrupt in January 1884.
From The Belfast News Letter of Wednesday 1st October 1884:  'Mr. MONROE, Q.C. (instructed by Messrs. Scanlan) appeared for the assignees, and stated the bankrupt had offered a composition which he had not paid, and he then left the country. After he left some household furniture was removed, and there was an examination of witnesses in reference to this alleged removal. A gentleman named Robinson residing in Ballymena was examined, and stated he bought £7 10s worth of the property. When he did so he was not aware James Orr had left the country. A brother of the bankrupt, Samuel Orr, who was employed in the shop, stated some of the goods were removed by the bankrupt's wife, and he believed she was at present residing with her mother in Belfast. No letter had been received from the bankrupt since he left. There was no evidence as to where the books were. A commercial agent named James S. Orr, resident in Belfast, was also examined, and he disposed that some of the goods were taken to Limestone Road, near the Northern Counties Railway, Belfast. The bankrupt was cousin of witness, and he told him before he left that if his securities did not sign on a certain day, he should "skedaddle". That was the phrase he used.
Judge MILLER said the case was in some respects a painful one, occurring in an important town in the North of Ireland like Ballymena - a by no means insignificant town. The evidence proved the house of the bankrupt had been denuded of property which was the property of the assignees.
Mr. James S. Orr said he had not act in the removal of property. He was in the house by an accident, and he had actually assisted in writing letters to the creditors to let them know of the state of affairs.
Judge MILLER refused the expenses of such of the witnesses as were connected with the removal.'

And from The Belfast News Letter, Wed. 8th October 1884:

'Mr. SCANLAN, for the assignees, examined Mrs. Jane Orr, the wife of the bankrupt, in reference to the alleged removal of property. She stated that she was at present residing with her mother at Limestone Road, Belfast, and she believed her husband was in Philadelphia, but she had no letter from him. The property removed was of very small value. After her husband left there was an auction of some property, and she received in respect of it £7 10s.'

 Jane Orr, née Stewart, would join her husband in Philadelphia, and sailed from Larne to New York, arriving in the USA on 29th September 1884, accompanied by her sister, Margaret Stewart, and two of her surviving sons, 9-year-old Thomas Orr and 6-year-old James Alexander Orr.  Son William Stewart Orr stayed in Ireland with his widowed paternal grandmother, Mary Orr, who the family had been living with for the previous four years.

James M. Orr lived, firstly,  at 3 Museum Buildings, Troy, New York State, from 1885 till 1887 when he appears in the Philadelphia Street Directories. In 1889, they show James Orr, Jeweler and Watchmaker, at 2031 Germantown Avenue.
James Orr of 2631 Germantown Avenue made a rare astronomical wall regulator clock in the early 1880s, which hung in the booth of Baldwin House Antiques, Strasburg, Pennsylvania.
He was a member of the Philadelphia Horological Society.  In 1922, their annual report mentioned that James Orr of 1011 Chestnut Street had just returned from vacation trip to Chicago and Detroit.
James applied for a US passport in 1920.  He confirmed that he had been born on November 26th 1853 near Belfast to a Thomas Orr, and that he had sailed via Glasgow to the USA, arriving there on 13th September 1884.  He had been naturalized in Philadelphia on 11th September 1894.
 He needed the passport to travel to (something blurred) in London, and to travel home to settle his mother's estate.
James sailed home aboard the 'Carmania' in July 1925, arriving in Liverpool.  He was aged 70, and his destination address in Belfast was 11, Farnham Street, Cromac.

11 Farnham St, Belfast:
The 1901 and 1911 Irish Census shows up the Orr family living here.
In 1901 the head of the family here was the widowed Mary Orr, who was  James Malcolm Orr's widowed mother. She had been born circa 1835 in Co. Antrim.  She was living here with three of her daughters - Margaret Doran, 39, a married seamstress;  Martha Orr, 36, seamstress, and Jane Orr, 38, seamstress.  Margaret Doran's only daughter, Emily Doran, aged 11, was also present.
Margaret/Maggie Orr, the sister of James and Samuel Orr, and daughter of watchmaker Thomas Orr, married watchmaker William James Doran of Coleraine, son of grocer William Doran, in Ballymena in 1888.  The wedding witnesses were Margaret Orr's sister, Jane Orr, and Samuel Doran.
Their daughter, Emily Rebecca Doran was born in Church Street, Ballymena on 26th October 1889.

William James Doran, husband of Maggie Orr, had been born in Cromac, Belfast, in 1866 to the grocer William Doran and Rebecca Beattie. In the 1870s, William and Rebecca Doran lived at 42, then 43 Cromac Street, where William Doran Senior worked as a grocer. As well as William James, they had Samuel Doran in 1867, Thomas John in 1869,  Sarah Emily in 1871 and Joseph in 1874.  The father of the family, the grocer William Doran, died on 13th February 1874, and his wife married again, this time to James A.Currie, a watchmaker of Cromac Street.

Margaret Orr's husband, William James Doran also went bankrupt and emigrated to Philadelphia at some stage, presumably to join his mother, Rebecca, and her second husband James A. Currie who had left Ireland for the US in 1891 aboard the 'Circassia', along with two of Rebecca's children, Sarah Emily Doran and Samuel Doran. Margaret probably went with him but returned home to her own family following his death.
William James Doran, watchmaker, was recorded aboard the 'Anchoria', sailing home to Ireland, from New York in 1894.  His death, however, was recorded as occurring on 28th May 1905 in Philadelphia, (his parents were noted on this as being William Doran and Rebecca Dorn) where he was working as an advertising agent.  Another passenger list listed his mother, Rebecca Currie, and his sister, Sarah Doran, sailing in 1903 to New York, returning home to Rebecca's husband, James A. Currie, at 467 Marshall Street. Philadelphia.
In 1910 Rebecca and James A. Currie were living in Reading, Pennsylvania, where James was working as an optician in a jewellery store.  By 1920  James A. Currie and Rebecca were at North 55th St., Philadelphia, and 39-year-old Sarah Doran, saleslady, had once again joined them there.
Samuel Doran, who had sailed with his mother, Rebecca, and her second husband to America, was living in 1930 in South 52nd St., Philadelphia and working as a watchmaker, surprise surprise.  His wife was a woman named Jennie, who had been born in Philadelphia.  A niece, Daisy Doran, was there too - she had been born in April 1897 in Philadelphia.  Ten years earlier, a Daisy Doran, aged 3, was listed as a boarder in a house in New Jersey, along with a William G. Doran, who had been born in 1867 in Ireland. Was this actually William James Doran who had married to Margaret Orr in Ballymena in 1888?  If this is so, then William James Doran must have married twice, Daisy being the child of this first marriage.  She disappears after this however...

By 1911 in Belfast, there is no sign of Margaret's mother, the widow of Thomas Orr, Mary Orr. Margaret Doran had been widowed.  Her daughter, Emily Doran, aged 21, was a damask designer. Jane Orr, the daughter of Thomas and Mary Orr, was now a tailor's machinist, while her sister Martha Orr was a confectioner.

Philadelphia:
In 1900,  James Orr, watch repairer, and his family were living at 2057 Diamond St, Philadelphia.  Thomas Edwin Orr, 24, was a journalist;  William Stewart Orr was something illegible, but he was later a watchmaker like his father;  James A.Orr was a drugs clerk;  the youngest son, Walter Francis Orr was 12 years old and a student.
Also living with them was Jane Stewart's younger unmarried sister, Margaret Stewart, who had been born in Northern Ireland in December 1858.

James M. Orr received his American citizenship in Philadelphia on 8th June 1889 - his address at the time being 2057 Germantown Avenue.  His friend, William H. Doebele - another jeweller - vouched for him.

In 1904, the Philadelphia street directory recorded James M.Orr, watches, at 11 South 9th, 1117 Silver, Philadelphia.
In 1917, he was recorded at 1011 Chestnut, Room 629.  These were business addresses.

By 1910 they had moved to 3834 Sydenham Street which is where the four Stewart sisters were heading when they sailed to visit them in 1914.
Margaret Stewart, a dry goods sales lady, was still living with them as were two of the sons - James A. Orr was working as a salesman in 'drugs retail',  while the youngest, Walter Francis Orr, was a fire insurance salesman.

In 1930, James, Jane and the unmarried Margaret Stewart were living together at 724 Lycoming St., Philly.   James was still working as a watchmaker/jeweler while his sister-in-law Margaret was working in a department store as a saleslady.

James M. Orr died in Philadelphia on 15th November 1938.

In 1940 the sisters, Jane Orr and Margaret Stewart were still living together on Lycoming Street.  Jane was 85, her sister 81.

Jane Orr, neé Stewart, of 724 W. Lycoming Street, died on 25th January 1942;  the informant was her son, Walter Orr of 4005 North Darien Street. The death certificate states she had been born in Belfast to William Stewart and Margaret Burke on 18th December 1854.

Jane Orr and her sister Margaret Stewart, Philadelphia. This photo was kindly sent on to me by Roger Orr, a direct descendant of James M. Orr.

The surviving sons of James M. Orr and Jane Stewart:

1) Thomas Edwin Orr was born on 6th September 1875 in Belfast.  He married Lucy Koeberle in Philadelphia in 1901.
Lucie/Louisa Koberle had been born in Philadelphia in May 1879 to a Bavarian-born machinist, John Koberle, and his wife, Sophia who came from Wittenberg.  Early in their marriage, Thomas worked as a superintendant with the railway in Philadelphia. By 1910, the couple had two young children - Arthur Thomas Orr (1903 - 1968) and Allan, born 1907. Ten years later, the family had moved to the Bronx, NYC (address: 2796, Park Avenue) where Thomas E. Orr worked in advertising.  17-year-old Arthur was now working as an office boy in a bookies' office.  The family was still at Park Avenue in 1930;  Allan was gone but Arthur Orr was there, working now in office furniture.  By 1940, they had moved house but were still in the Bronx, now at Parkway North - the father, Thomas Edwin Orr, aged 64, was a publicity man for Sinclair Oil Company, while Arthur T. Orr, his 38-yr-old son, was still in office furniture, although now a proprietor.

2) William Stewart Orr was born to James M. Orr and Jane Stewart on 17th November 1876 at 34 Shannon Street in the centre of Belfast.  Although he lived from time to time with his parents in Philadelphia and was recorded on both the 1900 and 1910 census there, he had originally, as a child in 1884, elected to remain in Ireland with his paternal grandmother, Mary Orr, and, following a brief stay in Philadelphia, he returned home to Belfast.
He must have been coming and going between the two countries - he was recorded returning home aboard the 'Numidian' which arrived in Derry from New York in 1898.  He was a watchmaker like his father. William returned briefly to Philadelphia where he was recorded at home with his family in 1900, before returning at some stage to Belfast where he married Rose Wright in Great Victoria Street Baptist Church on 28th October 1904.  The bride gave her address as 6 Whitehall Gardens, Ballynafeigh, Belfast, while William Stewart Orr stated he was currently living at 11 Farnham Street - this was the address of his widowed paternal grandmother, Mary Orr, and of his three aunts, Margaret Doran,  Martha Orr and Jane Orr.
Rose Wright had been born in Ballymena on 18th August 1879 to James Wright and Ellen Rock.

This family appeared on the Irish 1911 census living on the Ormeau Rd, Belfast. By this time, William Stewart Orr was a master watchmaker, and the couple had two children - Allan Stewart Orr, born at 6 Whitehall Gardens on 27th April 1905, and Evelyn Mary Orr, born at 20 fernwood Street on 21st March 1908.  (William Stewart Orr's brother, Thomas Edwin Orr, also named a son as Allan Orr.)  There were three 'relations' living there with them. Annie Wright, 45, an unmarried waitress, Elizabeth Wilson Wright, 39, and John Wright, a 32-yr-old electrician.

The following year, on 15th January 1912 at 341 Ormeau Road, William and Rose Orr had their third child, James Edwin Orr, who would go on to become an evangelical baptist preacher and advisor to Billy Graham.  He held dual Irish and American citizenship, thanks to his father, William, who had been naturalised in Philadelphia before returning home to Belfast.

William Stewart Orr and Rose Wright had five children altogether - the eldest, Allan Stewart Orr, died young aged 25.  Following William Stewart Orr's death in 1922, and the death of the youngest daughter the same year (Margaret Louise Orr aged 3), the Orr family experienced financial difficulties, and James Edwin Orr became the primary breadwinner.  His mother, Rose Wright Orr, died in 1942.

James Edwin Orr travelled the world as a baptist preacher, along with his wife, Ivy Muriel Carol Carlson, who he'd met while on a mission to South Africa.  They had married in Durban on 15th January 1937, and the Belfast Newsletter named Ivy as the daughter of Ivor Carlson of Aalesun, Norway.
The couple eventually had four children: Eileen Muriel, who lived three months and died in 1938; Carolyn Astrid born in Toronto in 1939 (later Mrs. Larry D. Booth); Alan Bertran born in Chicago in 1942; and David Arundel born in Oxford in 1946.
James enlisted with the US Air Force in 1942 and saw extensive service during the war, serving with the 13th Air Force in Bismark Archipelago, New Guinea, and being involved in campaigns in Borneo, the south Philippines, Luzon, and China. He earned seven battle stars and finished with the rank of major.  James Edwin Orr died of a heart attack on 22nd April 1987 in North Carolina.

(William Stewart Orr, watchmaker, was recorded in the Belfast street directories at 327 Ormeau Rd., Belfast, Co. Down in 1910 and 1918;  earlier, in 1906, 1907 and 1908, a Samuel Orr, watchmaker, was recorded at the same address - Samuel Orr was the brother of James Malcolm Orr.  He had been born in Co. Antrim in about 1867;  in 1901, he lived at Ava St, Ormeau, with his wife, Mary Orr, née Armstrong, who he'd married in Broughshane, Ballymena  on 26th February 1895.   Samuel was a watchmaker, and the son of the farmer, Thomas Orr;  at the time of his marriage to Mary Jane Armstrong, he was living in Ballymena.  Mary Jane was a farmer of Coreen, Broughshane, and the daughter of the farmer, James Armstrong.  The witnesses were John Armstrong and Annie Johnston McCully.
They had two children - Samuel, aged 1, and James Armstrong Orr, aged 5.   By 1911 this family had moved back to Ballymena - Samuel was still a watchmaker and they had a further three children...William Thomas, Edith Armstrong Orr and Annie Mary.)

3)  James Alexander Orr was born to James M. Orr and Jane Stewart in Belfast in December 1878.  He was living with the family in Philadelphia in 1900, where he worked as a drugs clerk,  He never married.

4) Walter Francis Orr was born 30th October 1887 to James M. Orr and Jane Stewart in Philadelphia.
In 1912, Walter Francis married Nettie Pauline Hartranft who had been born in September 1885 in Pennsylvania to Gottlieb Hartranft and his wife Kate.  Nettie's parents had both been born in Germany - her father was a machinist by profession. The Hartranft family lived next door to the Orr family in Philadelphia on Sydenham Street in 1910.

Walter and Nettie Orr lived on Darien St, Philadelphia; Walter worked as an office clerk.  By 1920 they had two sons - Donald born 1919 and David born 1914.
Walter Orr joined the army for both the first and second World Wars.
By 1940,  Walter's son Donald was still at home with his parents in Darien Street, but David has gone - in 1940 a David Orr was living in Luzerne, Pennsylvania with his wife, Jane, and a newborn son named Donald.

Following the death of James Malcolm Orr and his wife, Jane Orr, Jane's sister, Margaret Stewart, went to live with the famikly of Walter Francis Orr.

More to follow on the Stewart/Orr combination.
Many thanks to Roger Orr and Astrid Booth for their help with the Orr/Stewarts, and for passing on the family photos.