Sarah Ann Taggart was the eldest child of James Taggart and Margaret Martin; she was born on the 2nd of April, 1864, in a clachan known as The Poole in the townland of Ballyoglagh and parish of Billy.
Her siblings were Nancy/Agnes, Elizabeth, Eliza Jane, Martha, twins James and John, Daniel and Margaret Ellen and half-siblings Mary Ann and Bethia.
I've found a baptism record for Elizabeth but not a registration. The presence of Eliza Jane would suggest that Elizabeth might have died soon after birth. [Edit. I found her 1868 birth registration and her accidental death eleven months later]
Eliza Jane's 1920 death record names the surviving siblings and she's named Lizzie on her 1893 marriage record; there's no mention of an Elizabeth. The newspaper obituary notes that Sarah is living in Ireland.
I think I've found Sarah Ann but I can't be certain. A Sarah Ann Devenney nee Taggart died at Railway Road, Coleraine, on the 12th of February, 1927, aged 62 years. This indicates 1864 or 1865 as a probable year of birth. She had a son called James Marshall Devenney, born in 1896, and Eliza Jane's husband was called James Marshall.
Sarah Ann Devenney's bridesmaid in 1888 was called Agnes Taggart and this fits with Nancy/Agnes above and her father was called James Taggart. She was living in Coleraine at the time of her marriage but the record doesn't show place of birth.
The 1901 census gives County Antrim as her county of birth and there was only one Sarah Ann Taggart in County Antrim or County Londonderry with a father called James who was born in the 1864-1868 time frame.
Thomas and Sarah Ann Devenney had the following children in Coleraine [Railway Road, Bankhead Terrace and James Street]: David, Thomas, Margaret*, William*, William, James Marshall, Andrew Reid*, Andrew Reid, John* and Ellen [*died as infants].
If anyone can add a piece to this family jig-saw please email NALIL blog.
