WARD, Bridget ²

   Cause of her death was asthma, emphysema, cardiac disease and dropsy over 10 years.

   Other names for Bridget were FISHER, Bridget, FISHER, Mary, QUIGLEY, Bridget, QUIGLEY, Mary, QUIGLY, Mary, TWEDELY, Mary ³ and WARD, Mary.

  General Notes:

A woman called Mary Quigly aged 34 years was recorded by the 1851 census in the parish of Beith in Ayrshire. The two other 'Quiglys' recorded at Beith were George aged 32 years and Joseph aged 2 years.

This woman seems to have operated under two first names, but it seems fairly certain we are dealing with the same person.

The 1861 census recorded 'Mary Twedely' living at Beith in Ayrshire with her husband George and four sons. Her age was noted as 47 years and she was born in Ireland.

Her first husband, we are told, was surnamed 'Fisher'. From the date of her marriage to George Quigley and the ages of her children, it may be that George and Mary/Bridget had an ongonig relationship though perhaps she was not free to marry until 1862.

'Mary' was recorded as aged 60 years when she died in 1876, leaving her second husband, George, a widower. Both of her parents were already deceased. In that certificate she was called 'Mary Ward, married to George Quigley, ironwork labourer, previously married to Charles Fishes farm labourer'.

'Bridget' was deceased in 1885 when her son Thomas married. In his marriage certificate she was named as 'Bridget Quigley, previously Fisher, MS Ward'. ³

  Research Notes:

PROBLEMS

There are serious difficulties about the data available for this woman, her husband and their children. The main sources drawn on are:
1862 Marriage certificate of George Quigley and Bridget Ward
1875 marriage certificate of George Quigley junior
1876 Death certificate of Mary Ward
1876 Death certificate of George Quigley
1885 Marriage certificate of Thomas Quigley
1917 Death certificate of George Quigley junior

The main difficulties are:
Was this woman called both Mary and Bridget Ward?
Why are there two different sets of parents offered for George Quigley?
Or to put it another way, was there one or two George Quigley(s) married to a woman named Ward in Kilbirnie at that time?

The convincing pieces of evidence that Mary and Bridget were the same person are:

1
in her 1876 death certificate she is designated as follows
'Mary Quigley MS Ward, married to George Quigley ironwork labourer, previously to Charles Fisher farm labourer'
and
2
in Thomas Quigley's marriage of 1885 registered and certificate dated 1886, his parents are designated as follows
'George Quigley ironwork labourer deceased and Bridget Quigley previously Fisher M(aiden) S(urname) Ward'

  Medical Notes:

Dr R. Ferguson certified the cause of 'Mary's' death.

Her widower, George, who had been present where the death occurred, notified William Allan, the registrar, at Kilbirnie on 11 April 1876 of Mary's death and made his X mark.

Bridget married George QUIGLEY, son of Patrick QUIGGLEY and Rose MUNDY, on 7 October 1862 in Kilbirnie, Ayrshire, Scotland.¹ (George QUIGLEY was born about 1820 in Ireland and died 24 April 1876 at 8.00 pm in Glengarnock, Kilbirnie, Ayrshire, Scotland.). The cause of his death was apoplexy from bursting of cerebral vessel ending in extensive effusion of blood.

  Marriage Notes:

TIn his marriage certificate the groom, George, was aged 40 years, single, and worked as a farm labourer. Bridget was 42 years old, a widow, and worked as a washerwoman. Both gave their address as Burnswynd, Beith. Both made their X mark.

Their wedding took place according to the rites of the Roman Catholic Church. Thomas P. Lee was the Catholic clergyman who performed the ceremony and the witnesses were Felix Friel and Ellen Maguire who made their X mark. ⁵