The Reid Family of County Antrim, Ireland

Mary Brady's mother, Margaret Reid, was born in Belfast, County Antrim, Ireland to parents Alexander Reid and Margaret McCaughan. Alexander Reid and Margaret McCaughan were married in the Registrar's Office at Ballymoney, in County Antrim, on 12th July 1849. Alexander Reid was a farmer in the parish of Finvoy at the time of his marriage. The Reids lived at Mullans in the parish of Finvoy not far from the town of Ballymoney. Their first child, James Reid, was born there in 1850. There doesn't appear to be any more baptism records for the family from the Ballymoney area. There is a baptism record for Robert Reid who was born in Belfast in 1856 but not for any of the other children. According to census records four other children were born in Belfast: Alexander, Thomas, Patrick and Margaret. The Reid family came to England in the early 1860s and eventually settled in the Great Howard Street area. Three more children were born in Liverpool in the 1860s: Henry, Andrew and Mary. Robert Reid probably died in Liverpool in 1862. Another son who was called Robert Reid was born in Liverpool in 1870. He was baptised at St. Matthias church in Great Howard Street. He died aged 4 months in Liverpool.

Alexander Reid married Margaret McCaughan at Ballymoney, County Antrim, Ireland on 12th July 1849

Alexander's father Patrick was a cooper in Ballymoney

Andrew McCaughan appears on Griffith's Valuation of Ballymoney

James Reid - Baptism 1850

The Reid family moved from Mullans in the parish of Finvoy near Ballymoney to Belfast in the 1850s

Robert Reid - Baptism 1856

A map of Belfast from 1861 showing St. Anne's Church of Ireland in Donegall Street

A Belfast News-Letter advertisement for ships between Belfast and Liverpool

Belfast News-Letter 1st July 1862

Andrew Reid's birth certificate from 1864 has one of many different spellings of the McCaughan surname 

Andrew McCaughan died in Ballymoney, County Antrim, Ireland on 16th May 1867 aged 85 years

Robert Reid baptism at St. Matthias church in Great Howard Street Liverpool on 29th May 1870 

James Reid married Elizabeth Smith at St. Peter's church Liverpool on 13th October 1870

Alexander & Margaret Reid with their children at 29 Sherwood Street Liverpool on the 1871 Census

Alexander & Margaret Reid with their children at House 1 in Court 1 in Cotton Street on the 1881 Census

Alexander Reid living with his nephew Samuel Reid & his family at 6 Slade Street on the 1891 Census

Alexander Reid was ill in Liverpool Workhouse before he returned to Belfast where he died in 1893

Margaret Reid died in Liverpool Workhouse and was buried in Anfield Cemetery, Liverpool in 1904

All census information for England on this website is Crown Copyright from National Archives