In the period after the famine the population in Ireland had declined by over 2 million. It continued to fall and it is said that the pattern of marriages changed. People, particularly farmers, married much later or not at all. Using the marriage records for the parish of Ballyrashane, I have tried to see how far this pattern affected this community. The records used are the complete records from both churches. I realise, of course, that there were probably marriages involving people from the parish, taking place in other churches, though unlikely in registry offices at this time. I have removed from the records any marriages where at least one of the partners is not from the townlands of Ballyrashane. This has left me with 364 marriages between the years 1845 and 1969. I have divided the records on the basis that 1911 was the period at which great change in social life began to appear, as stated by Cullen The Formation of the Irish Economy

MARRIAGE - late marriage and reduction in family size

Number of marriages within the parish 1861 - 1911

For the years 1861 - 70 the population was 1056 and for 1871- 1880 the population was 1016. This means that the marriage rate in this parish was well below the national average. This may well be the result of the famine and emigration which resulted also in a drop in the population during the famine years and the decade after it. It is likely that the families leaving the district were young couples with families and this would mean that by the years 1860 - 80 there would be an absence of young people of marriageable age.

In total there were 364 marriages within the parish churches where at least one partner resided in the parish. In 170 cases the male partner was from the parish. 121 male partners before 1912 and 49 after 1912. The breakdown of townlands is:

N.B. Others means cases where the male has stated the parish of Ballyrashane and not the specific townland.

In Ballyvelton there are only 14 marriages recorded of people coming from there getting married. Why is this? In all the time until 1932 there are only 4 recorded cases of men marrying in the local parish churches. It is possible that the population dropped drastically between 1870 and 1911. Around 1911 the labourers' cottages were built and a new population of younger families may have come in, resulting in more marriages from 1932 onwards. Of the three marriages in the 1850s they only appear to have produced one possible child marriage in 1874. One of these 50s marriages was female so she may have moved away too or were they elderly marriages or childless marriages?

In fact, if one looks at the population for Ballyvelton it is possible to see that he population was never very large and it declined severely to just over 20 between 1880 and 1900. This, however, was not unusual. Ballynag shows a similar pattern but there are a high number of marriages from here.

The appearance of the name of Drumadraw from 1911 onwards shows the input which the new housing site had on the parish of Ballyrashane.

Out of the total of 364 marriages, 203 occurred between 1845 and 1911, and 161 between 1911 and 1969.

There were 96 marriages between people of the same parish before 1912 and 33 after 1911. This works out at 47.2% and 20.4%. This would indicate that the population were beginning to marry people from further afield after 1911. In the last twenty years it is very unlikely that people from the same townland or even the same parish, would be marrying each other. The reduction in the population size limits the possibilities for this but in most cases when people marry they move out of the district into new houses of their own. Very few of the young people approaching marriage age are actually working in the countryside. In most cases they will commute to the town or further afield.

In the last century it was very likely that the person you married was one known to you all of your life. There were 49 marriages between people of the same townland. This means you had a 24% chance of marrying someone in your own townland before 1912 and only a 3.1% chance after that.

It was difficult to get an accurate indication about the trends concerning age at marriage. In 352 of the marriages the male was 21 or over. The numbers before 1911 were 203 and after 149. In percentage terms this is 100% and 92.5% so this is an indication that the people of the parish did not marry particularly early. In many cases the couples have not given their exact age, but simply stated over 21 so it is not possible to see exactly at what age they did usually marry. For women the figures are 297 women marrying at age 21 or over, 180 before 1912 and 117 afterwards. (88.6% and 72.6%)

Social classes and marriages

It is often claimed that after the famine the farmers who were beginning to gain some land wealth, were trying to ensure that they would not lose this position, and so only married where they could advance their wealth. In other words, they married women who were likely to bring land or money as a wedding gift, whether or not delayed until the death of a parent. In terms of marriages between social classes the marriage records for the parish suggest that mixed class marriages were fairly common before 1911 and that it is only since the first world war that this has changed.

Out of 49 marriages of men within the parish between 1912 and 1969, 11 were between people of mixed social class, that is 22.4%. These were between the children of farmers and manual workers. In the years 1845 - 1911 there were 121 marriages and 45 of those were between the children of mixed class parents. This is 37.1%. The position of labourers matches that of the above. As would be expected the number of marriages between manual workers goes up after 1911. It almost doubles from 27.4% (33 out of 12) to 55.1% (27 out of 49)

The above figures would suggest that there has actually been less class movement since 1911. In general terms people are marrying more into their own class. the position today would not be so straightforward. While it is rare in this parish for farmers' daughters to marry unskilled manual workers the position is complicated by the emergence of many middle-class white collar occupations. Farmers' sons in the parish generally marry farmers' daughters or people who have some connection with the land.

Despite the smaller population, the numbers of marriages occurring within the churches has not changed much in this century. While the churches can occasionally have a year in which there are up to eight marriages, it is far more common to have about two per year and often there are none. Of these marriages, most of the people are not from the parish at all, but have family connections with the church, from past generations.

The churches continue to have large congregations, but again this is caused by people who have maintained their connection with the parish church, and continue to attend though living further away.

The registry office has had little effect on the number of marriages in Ballyrashane. Very few of its occupants make use of its facilities. Loyalty to the churches remains very strong.

Sadly, the reminders of the past days when the population was larger, can be seen when comparing the number of burials in the Church of Ireland graveyard. Their numbers greatly outweigh the numbers of marriages and baptisms. These people often lived in the parish when they were younger and have claimed the right to rest here.