Category: Burns Family

This article concerns a series of cases John Stanley was involved with as a solicitor over a number of years from the mid 1840s into the 1850s, though the case was not finally resolved until 1880. I first became interested in the Heaths when I found a newspaper transcript relating to the case of Stanley v Heath on a genealogy newsgroup. 

This case was associated with the breakdown of a marriage between Francis Wilson Heath and his wife Caroline Abigail Archdall Heath nee Cope. The case Heath v Heath was heard by the Consistorial Court, Armagh on Monday, 28^th July 1845. It was not the first case between the couple but because Francis Heath sought a judgement for the restitution of conjugal rights against his wife Caroline it attracted wide interest and coverage in newspapers across Ireland. 

The article Heath v Heath – the Disintegration of a Marriage in Victorian Times appeared in History Armagh 2015 unfortunately this edition of the magazine is not available on the History Armagh website but an exended version of the article is available here

Thomas Henry Davidson (c1848-1911) was the uncle of my great grandfather William James McCann, (pictured here with his wife Mary Ann Taylor and his daughter, my grandmother Eliza McCann).

 Thomas Henry Davidson was better known as Hammerhead and worked as a lighterman. Both the McCann and Taylor families had men who worked as lightermen. Hammerhead: a Glimpse into the Life of a Lighterman appeared in the 2020 edition of History Armagh p34-39 and can be viewed at History Armagh 2020

Links to family tree

William James McCann and family can be found here