Nicholl Ancestors

Hello everyone,

I live in Australia and born in Malta. I have Nicholl ancestors from Belfast Ireland but I can't seem to really trace the line or get any concrete information on the line. I was send some links to Irish records, but I can't seem to get my head around them, although I did manage to find some info on a James Nicholl, I am now more confused.

What I have so far is, my great great grandfather was Nicholl, possibly James. I believe James and was born around 1847 in Belfast, Ireland. I am still not sure if my great great grandmother was from Ireland too or was born in Malta, but it is leaning to Malta. I don't know if they were married in Ireland or Malta but it is pointing to Malta. I did have a possible name of Giuseppa (Josephine) for my great great grandmother and then found Margaret as a possible name, but that was from someone's tree and may not be correct. I managed to find a branch of a descendant other than my branch, but the couple of the third cousin's I've contacted have not got back to me about their Nicholl ancestors, other than their grandfather Tony Nicholl who was quite well known in Malta. He was a soccer legend. I have found a fair bit on him over the years but seems family have not responded to my attempts to contact them unfortunately. When we lived in Malta, apparently my dad mentioned that Tony Nicholl is his cousin and his grandmother was Carmela aka Carmena aka Carmen Nicholl. Carmela married a Calcedonio Caruana. They had my grandmother Maria Assunta who was a Casualty of War Air raid CWD (Civilian War Dead) Jun 12 1940 in Malta.

I really would appreciate any assistance anyone would be able to provide regarding my great great grandparents Nicholl.

Kind regards,
Mariza

Hi Mariza,

It’s great to hear that you are tracing your Irish Family History!

Before 1864 records were kept in the form of church and parish records, all the surviving records have been sorted into county-based genealogical centers. After doing some research, the oldest record for the birth of a James Nichol I can find is on 1867. There are some other records but of more recent dates so they might not be the record of your great-great-grandfather. However, it is very probable he was born in Belfast as this is the place with the highest number of Nicholl births. 

Also, I did find a marriage record between James Nicholl and Margaret Thompson in 1878, which you could be interested in. 

Hopefully, our members can help you more with finding out about your ancestry. (Brian, are you there? )

David

Hi Mariza

Unless someone in wider family history community knows birth details of James Nicholl you will have to rely on church baptismal registers, as David says, to confirm birth details of James Nicholl born c. 1847 in Belfast. Public Record Office of Northern Ireland's Guide to Church Records shows that there are/were 124 churches, of all denominations, in Belfast city!