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I wonder if anyone can help? I'm looking for a Sea Captain called John Smith who married an Ann Bailie in Portaferry on 23/1/1866. His age is stated as "full", his wife was born in 1842 Portaferry. His address is stated as "of ship Westwood at Liverpool". They were married in Ballyphilip Church of Ireland, Portaferry.

Does this mean he lived on board and had no other abode and was his ship in Liverpool or perhaps only temporarily moored in Portaferry? Or had he perhaps been born in Liverpool? His father is recorded as William Smith a "cabinet maker". I have no birth or death records for him.

for ref:-
Name: John Smith
Gender: Male
Marital status: Single
Marriage Date: 23 Jan 1866
Marriage Place: Portaferry, Down, Ireland
Father: William Smith
Spouse: Ann Bailie
Father: Nicholas Bailie
FHL Film Number: 101487
Reference ID: bk1866 p637

.........................
possible

Child: Catherine Louisa Smith

Name: Catherine Louisa Smith
Gender: Female
Birth Date: 7 Dec 1868
Birth Place: Down, Ireland
Father: John Smith
Mother: Ann Bailie
FHL Film Number: 101175

The marriage cert originally had "Portaferry" as his address, then that's crossed out, and "of ship Westwood at Liverpool" written in instead.

It sounds as if he was temporarily in Portaferry, but his address was usually the ship, based at Liverpool .

The child Catherine Louisa is definitely theirs.
The birth cert says John Smith was a Sailor.

Related to these threads

https://www.genesreunited.co.uk/boards/board/ancestors/thread/1375330

https://www.genesreunited.co.uk/boards/board/genealogy_chat/thread/1379730

Just a possibility for the child Catherine's death - though it's a common name, and I can't see the image to find father's name:

SR District/Reg Area - Downpatrick
Death of CATHERINE SMITH in 1869
Name CATHERINE SMITH
Date of Death 1869
Group Registration ID N/R
SR District/Reg Area Downpatrick
Deceased Age at Death 0
Returns Year 1869
Returns Quarter 2
Returns Volume No 6
Returns Page No 413

You need to follow up the advice given on your Rootschat thread:

https://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php?topic=823855.0



"There was only one British ship with the name WESTWOOD sailing in 1866. She was registered in Liverpool and owned by C W and R Shand of 4 Old Church Street, Liverpool. Her Official Number was 29166.
Her 1866 Logbooks and Crew Agreements are available at a cost from here.

https://www.mun.ca/mha/holdings/viewcombinedcrews.php?Official_No=29166

These documents should record if your man was on board. Just ask for the pages covering the date 23/Jan/1866. He might have been between ships. So say between 1/Dec/1865 and 1/March/1866. Her 1865 Crew Agreements are stored At NMM Greenwich.

https://www.rmg.co.uk/national-maritime-museum/caird-library/crew-lists-agreements-official-logs-request-form "

Possibly a painting of the ship??

https://tinyurl.com/ucdut9j

Possible death of John?

In view of the other threads posted by GG, the family continued to live in Portaferry after the marriage, and the name was sometimes Smith and sometimes Smyth.

SR District/Reg Area - Downpatrick
Death of JOHN SMYTH in 1896
Name JOHN SMYTH
Date of Death 1896
Group Registration ID 3690951
SR District/Reg Area Downpatrick
Deceased Age at Death 74

6 June 1896, at Portaferry.
Occupation: sailor.
Cause of death: Cirrhosis of liver, 2 years. Haematemesis, 3 days.
Informant: Margaret Dodds, niece, present at death.