I'm now 76 years old and I'm slowing down. I won't be adding anything more to this page but I'll continue to answer all emails and to add any records that you care to send me to the Surnames Indexes. It's something that I do each day and enjoy the work I'm doing .
A big thank you to all the people who have sent their research over the years.
The most poignant message came from a man who told me that he'd been researching his family for many years but would soon die. Neither his wife nor family were interested in what he'd found and he knew that when he died , it would all go into the bin. By sending it to me , he knew that it would live on under our banner- It all helps, someone, somewhere, sometime .
I have left instructions with my children that the website domain fees be paid each year andt hat the website is not to be sold nor a fee charged. My daughter is intersted in continuing our personal family research but neither are interested in answering any emails about research and nothing will be added after my death . Hopefully, it will still benefit people from all over the world for many years to come.
Best wishes to you all.

Happy New year to you all. Raphael McKenna has kindly sent a Table of ancient Irish land measurements.
Announcement from PRONI- The Public Record Office of Northern Ireland (PRONI) has recently added a number of free resources to its website. These are tithe applotment books, 1823–37; school grant-aid application forms, 1832–89; Hansard Official Reports of the Northern Ireland Assembly, 1998–2016 and photographs by A.R. Hogg for Belfast Corporation, 1912–15. Due to the lack of nineteenth century census returns in Ireland, land and valuation records have become hugely important in family history research. Griffith’s Valuation is the most well-known dating from the late 1840s to the mid 1860s – this is available online on askaboutireland.ie. Peg has kindly sent information of her Bettridge family of Warrenpoint.
Horace Reid has kindly sent me a link to new resources to be made available soon by National Archives of England including Wills, 1384-1858 , British Army medal index cards, 1914-1920 & British Army war diaries, 1914-1922 -searchable by regiment and battalion. Raphael McKenna has kindly sent an extract from the Belfast News 6/8/1847 about a murder in Ballyclander where Patrick Millar shot Francis Trusdale. Floremce Dickson Chambers has kindly sent me a list of burial in 2nd Annaghclone Presbyterian graceyard. (stull indexing) . Bob Oliphant has kindly sent information on Moneygore School, Drumballyroney. Michelle Butler has kindly sent more information on her McMaster family in Greyabbey. Sandra Gilpin has lindly sent more information on her Finlay family from Newtownards area. Matt Bankhead has kindly sent more information of hos Prenter and Bankhead families. Linda Revie has kindly sent a list of Place Names with the name of the proprietor in 1795. Keith Hanna has kindly sent the names on Kilkeel War Memorial 1st World War & a list of Rectors for Kilkeel Church of Ireland 1317- 2001 & the Will Abstract of John Newell 7 Jul 1769 . Florence McKee has klindly sent the fly leaf from a faamily bible of Robert McKee & Eliza Little of Poagsburn, Killany. Roderick Dyke has kindly sent a list of subscribers to Major Gen . Robert Ross' monument in Rostrevor in 1814.

Good news. The Irish records thought lost during the Dublin Fire of 1922 are being restored. Many were copied from other libraries around the world .- https://www.irishcentral.com/roots/history/lost-irish-archive-beyond-2022?fbclid=IwAR11-sUP2_kamV6NPIP9nJrIiIJP1bE_A1LqfcKxop4JHquoDgnQSpyf_kE#.X7SEsSJKwIY.facebook

Colin McKendrick has kindly send information on his McKendry/ McKendrick family of Killinchy & Newtownards. David Patton has kindly sent information on his Patton family of Bangor & Holywood. Debbie Fernando has kindly sent information on her Nelson/ Magee familt of Newtownards & England. Alison Denvir has kindly sent an old school photo c. 1900 of Ballyphilip National School , Portaferry. Thanks to Eamon McMullan who kindly gave me access to his King & McMullan family files from Castlewellan area. Thanks to Marie Brannigan who kindly gave me old newspaper articles. Debbie Fernando has kindly sent Wills from the Bowman family of Newtownards. Eloine Patton Chesnut has kindly sent a copy of her book "Patton Fsmily of Co. Down, Ireland and Vevay, Indiana". The Patton family came from Ballybogilbow, Greyabbey and I will index the names into my Surname section. Debbie Fernando has kindly sent some Wills of the Galway family of Carrickmannon. Dermot Balson has kindly sent more excerpts from Irish Gleanings for Co. Down families. Colum O'Hare has kindly send a school photo of Dechomet School of 1964.

Happy Christmas to all my researchers and my 2020 be a breakthrough year for you.

I have been waiting since December for rootsweb. Ancestry.com to fix up their internal problem and get my website back online. I have had much help and encouragement everyone , especially from Stan Megraw who runs the IGP Co. Down website. My son has set up a website to be called www.rosdavies.com and we have transferred the website over to this URL . Thank you for your patience.

A big thank you to the person who archieved my website. Please contact me and let me know how you did it or just continue to do updates every 6 months. It's been a lifesaver for many people .

There are many broken links associated with the change over to the new URL. We are trying to sort this problem out. If you have any difficulty accessing a page please use the archieved version on https://web.archive.org/web/20170312145901/http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~rosdavies/

Helen Shimch has kindly sent some pages from the register of Kircubbin Presbyterian Church 1820, 1822, 1825 & 1828. Deirdre McEvoy has kindly sent Dispensation of Marriage Banns 1819-1850 for Newry Catholic parish and surrounding parishes ; Sandra Gilpin has kindly sent me more information and photos of Newtownards & Comber Presbyterian churches. Aileen McFarlane has kindly sent information on her Brady family of Downpatrick

Angela Gracey has kindly sent more old photos from Downpatrick- primary school Catholic children 1930 & St. Michael's Orphan children 1878.
Registry of Deeds, Dublin (early land & wills records) are now on line - https://familysearch.org/search/catalog/185720?availability=Family%20History%20Library
Charles Stewart has kindly sent his extensive family tree of the Stewarts of Bright. I have finished inmdexing the 2016 Lecale Review magazine.

Irish Genealogy.ie have added free access to civil BDMS indexes on http://goo.gl/GQFi93; From 15 September 2016, you can access six major new record series on http://www.genealogy.nationalarchives.ie/: Prerogative and diocesan copies of some wills and indexes to others, 1596 – 1858; Diocesan and Prerogative Marriage Licence Bonds Indexes, 1623 – 1866; Catholic qualification & convert rolls, 1700 – 1845; Valuation Office house, field, tenure and quarto books 1824 – 1856; Shipping agreements and crew lists, 1863 – 1921; Will Registers 1858 – 1900. Cece Quin has kindly sent information on her McNerney & McManus family from Newey area. I have received my copy of Aynsworth Pilson's 'Notable Inhabitants of Downpatrick'. This is a transcript with editor's notes of Aynsworh's personal diaries where he comments on prominent/trades people living in town in the early 1800s with their family tree. A good read particularly when he comments on their personality and habits. Available through www.lecalehistory.co.uk Karen Mathers has kindly sent information on her Nevin family of Grey Abbey. Briege Stitt has kindly sent Memorial Cards re deceased people in the Saintfield/ Killinchy area 1900-1923
wishing all my readers and contributors a very happy Christmas & good health in 2017.

I recently upgraded to Windows 10 then noticed that many of the files for my website on Dreamweaver were doubled. I'm trying to sort it out at this end but please let me know if you have trouble accessing any of the pages.
Martina Dempsey Toner has kindly sent her file on the Dempsey/ Campbell families of Ballymacarrett. Raphael McKenna has kindly sent information on Patrick Flynn who fought at the Battle of Waterloo in 1815. A researcher has kindly alerted me to a broken link. After running a sitewide link search, I discovered 2334 broken links- all since I upgraded to Windows 10. Not happy. All of the links codes were corrupted so trying hard to recode them all. Raphael McKenna has kindly sent another obscure website for British soldiers c. 1820- http://rwir.angelfire.com/62RWIRrevised.htm & information on James Branagan & Mary Marner's family from Kilclief area. Marian Knox has kiondly sent information on Harret Jane Millar (nee Hill) of Ballyedock & Patrick Marner. Does anyone have any interest or experience with the Irish Famine Ophans shipped to Adelaide, Australia c. 1848? Please contact me if you can help with sources of information. Thomas Hern has kindly sent information about the Moore family of Ballyskeagh , Newtownards from 1720s after arriving from Ayrshire, Scotland

There has been a problem with my internet portal provider ancestry.com . Aparently their rootsweb hardware system crashed ( so, I along with all other freepages users) have not been able to upload any information nor has anyone been able to access the websites online since mid February . Their site www.rootsweb.ancestry.com says they should have everything fixed by 15th March. Sorry for the inconvenience and thanks for all those emails of concern.

Thanks to Rosemary Doherty for sending information on her Curoe/Mageean & Marner families of Kilmore parish. Rob Whaite has kindly sent certificates for his Boyd family of Newtownards and then Thomas Boyd's family from Ballyculter & Boyds of Loughinisland . Fiona Lewis has kindly send a link to gravestones photos. None for Co. Down yet but you may be researching in counties Carlow, Clare, Cork, Kerry, Kildare, Kilkenny, Laois, Limerick, Offaly, Roscommon, Tipperary and Wicklow http://www.from-ireland.net/free-gravestone-photographs/ Ken Stacey has kindly sent information on his McClure familyof Ballylenaghan & Annahilt. John T. Fountain has kindly sent more information of his Carey family of Newry.

Judith Watson has kindly sent all Watsons extracted from 1st Killyleagh Presbyterian church records 1698--1756 baptisms & marriages . Raphael McKenna has kindly sent some baptisms & marriages & burials from Downpatrick Church of Ireland 1838- 1854 . Briege Stitt has kindly sent a list of elders for 2nd Boardmills Presbyterian Church 1853-1962. Noel Lavery has kindly sent more Canmore/ Kenmare , Marshall & Miller data. If you are researching in Newtownards, check out this website- http://www.newtownards.info/index.htm Judith Watson has kindly sent a map of Killyleagh 1625 with holdings of John Ross, Thoma Watson, Dunkan Reed, John Paddington, Widow Creer, John Stuard, Rober Hogg, Andrew Hardy, M. Boyle & Robert Hamelton shown. Lynnemarie Dixon has kindly sent marriages from Gransha Presbyterian ,Comber & some from Gilnahirk & Braniel Presbyterian. Surnames include McDowell, McKibbin, Bole, Morrow,Allen, Hoy, McRoberts, Jamison . Marie Brannigan has kindly sent articles from the Mourne Observer & Down Recorder newspapers. Sandra Raine has kindly sent certificates for her O'Hare, Magorrian & Campbell family from Loughinisland who emigrated to Canada early 1900s. Raphael McKenna has kindly sent some baptism from Ballynahinch Catholic records 1866-1879. Kevin Lonie has kindly sent old postcards showing the interir of Newry Cathedral, Newry Dominican Church, Castlewellan Catholic Church, Castlewellan Square & Main Street, Lourdes Ghotto at Leitrim Catholic Church, N+Bangor/ Ballyholme, Mourne Mountains from Newcastle & Trassey Bridge. If you're researching in Ballynahinch, Newtownards, Annalong or Kilkeel then consider buying books of old photos from Stenlake Publishing - http://stenlake.co.uk/books/category.php?section=Ireland

Thank you to all the researchers who sent their condolences. It's appreciated.

Sandra Stoddart has kindly sent school hotos from Lurganville National School in Moira parish dated 1911 & 1913 . Boyle children are named but if you can supply other names , it would be great. Aidan Campbell has kindly sent a copy of his book 'Cherryvalley' , East Belfast, an illustrated history. This is a great book for anyone with ancestors from this area of Belfast around the Knock, Sandown & Gilnahirk Roads, also railway enthusiasts . He has other titles for Beaconsfield, Knock, Gilnahirk, Castlereagh, Cregagh, Stormont, Sydenham and Belmont. £10 each plus postage. Try Aiden on eastbelfasthistory ' at ' gmail.com Procedes go to charity.
I have a request from Des Farry whose Grand Uncle Patrick J Coll was a publican at 75 Rathfriland Street Banbridge in 1901. He'd love to know the name of the pub and whether it still exists . Vernon Moore has kindly sent a photo of Rev. G. Graham McElroy (rector of Castlewellan in 1907) Does anyone have any more information about him? I need help to contact Edward Chitham, author of several books on the Brontes. His emails are being bumped back. I've tried the UK white pages but need a subscription. Can anyone in the UK get a phone number for me please? I think he may live in Lancashire. Marie Brannigan has kindly sent a book Ballynahinch- Island Town which is full of old photos of the town c1930s. Horace Reid has kindly alerted me to the fact that part of my website is now listed in the Public Records catalogue. Many years ago Julian Armstrong found some of church records in his attic. He offered them to Public Records but was turned down so offered them to me. It's the Historical Accounts of the Presbyterian Congregations of Ballynahinch, Dromara, Kilmore and Drumcaw now Clough, all in the County of Down, Ireland, with a transcript from the original Registers of the Congregation of Ballynahinch from the 21st August 1696 to 1734. These records are now being cited in University publications so power to the little people. Thanks to all those researchers, like Julian, who believe in the work that I'm doing to make records freely available. Noel Lavery has kindly sent more informatioon on his Murdock family of Lisburn area, the Murtagh family who came to Co. Down from Co Cavan & the Boyd family from Ballywalter. Lena McVea has kindly sent more information on her Greer family . Noel Lavery has kindly sent a photo of old Blaris graveyard.

Kevin Langley has kindly sent the Army Records of his Langley family from Waringstown c. 1820. Daphne Morgan has kindly sent two old school photos from St. Patrick's Primary School, Ballynahinch 1950s- names needed please. Brian Linden has kindly supplied the names to the 1953/4 photo and Jimmy Hanvey has sent some for the older photo. Debbie Jones has kindly sent more information on her Jones family of Dromara .Fiona Lewis has kindly sent this interesting link http://www.ancestry.com/cs/us/irish?cj=1&netid=cj&o_xid=0001029688&o_lid=0001029688&o_sch=Affiliate+External Heather Crowther has kindly sent information on her Campbell and Calvert family of Crossgar & Killinchy & also a lovely old photo of their thatched cottage in Killyleagh St, Crossgar. We're heading over to Ireland for a family wedding and will be away until May. Apologies for not being able to answer your emails until them. Please see the Links section of my website to assist you with your research. New website https://geni.nidirect.gov.uk/ for ordering birth, death & marriage certificates . Martin McComiskey has kindly sent copies of the Clonduff Post.

James McMillan has kindly sent a photo of Ardmillan Schoolhouse in Tullynakill parish. Colum O'Hare has kindly sent a list of tenants for Dree in Dromara parish in 1797 to go with the map on my website H. Adair has kindly sent information on his Adair family from Banbridge area. Margaret O'Donnell has kindly sent a page from John St, Downpatrick Catholic School enrolment 1892. Christine Robson has kindly sent information on her Patton family of Newtownards. Briege McComiskey has kindly sent two articles from Belfast Newsletter dated 1738 mentioning Patrick Dougherty of Magheradrool & John Killen of Listooder. The Ulster Historical Foundation ( http://www.ancestryireland.com/ ) & http://www.rootsireland.ie have added some Church of Ireland baptisms to their pay-per-view websites for Killinchy, Blaris, Magheralin, Ballywalter , Down, Donaghadee, Comber, Drumballyroney, Kilcoo, Kilmore & Ardkeen parishes Also St. Patrick's Catholic Church, Belfast bpt 1900-1921 & 1924- 1931 & marr. 1921-1933 . Roy Irwin has kindly sent information on William & James Hamilton from Greyabbey parish. James owned Grove Cottage after 1911. Does anyone have a photo of Grove Cottage? Trish Cole has kindly sent information on her Frackleton family of Drumballyroney & McCulla family of Kilkeel & several sheets of civil registratioms for 1875 & Kilkeel Presbyterian church records for 1875 & Killinchy Presbyterian baptism 1836 -1838 . Liz Christmas has kindly sent information on Narcreiza G.M. Johnston b. 1881 Newtownards . Robert Ewins has kindly sent a photo of girls at St. Nicholas Primary School, Ardglass c. 1925 . Vernon Moore has kindly sent an old photo of Children's Fete at Ballycran Catholic Church-Mount St. Joseph's- in 1909 & several old postcards of Newcastle, King's Castle Ardglass & Clandeboye Schoolhouse & class of boys c. 1890. If anyone has expertise dating old photo from the style of dress, please contact me. Colum O'Hare has kindly sent an olf map of 1793 showing the tenants of Lord Dungannon in Gransha townland, Dromara. Names supplied . Theresa Shepard has kindly sent information on her Reid family of Crobane.

Sandy Wanamaker has kindly sent entries about Irish famine girls and has been given permission to extract Co Down people from the Irish Gleanings project in USA . She has also started extracting Co Down from the Regisry of Deeds, Dublin. These are records with early dates c. 1800 so good value. These teenage girls were sent to Australia to help build the colony in 1840s after one or both parents had died. Florence Chambers has kindly sent information on her Pollock family of Dromore. I have finally started to index Fiona Doyle's book on the townland of Aughnalloopy in Kilkeel parish. Fiona died last year and the book is a wonderful testament to her research and writing skills . Connie McKenzie has contacted me about the Gillespie DNA project- if you'd like to be part of this project, contact Connie on lairdkinna ' at ' yahoo.com- see http://www.familytreedna.com/public/GillespieDNAProject/default.aspx?section=yresults Sandra Gilpin has kindly sent old class photos for Killinchy Elementary School dated 1936, 1938 & 1939 & 1940. Hewr mother features in all the photos and could amazingly remember most of the names. Many children evacuated from Belfast during 2nd World War feature. Linda McGuigan has kindly sent information on her Beattie family of Newtownards. Mike Fitzpatrick has kindly sent all Fitzpatricks extracted from the Kilmorey estate (Kilkeel & Newry areas) papers in PRONI. He recommends Heather Flanders from Ulster Ancestors who did the research for him. Patrick McDermott has kindly sent information about his McKermott/McKernan family from Lecale area. Jane Morrison has kindly sent more information on her McCreight & McIlree family of Dundrum area.

I've had an email from a researcher who paid 220 euros to Michael Walsh of IrishConnections in Co. Mayo to help with her family tree before 1830. The family were Catholic but Michael didn't inform her about the Irish Penal Laws in force until 1828 and the information , photos and maps that he sent were lifted straight from my website. He should have been honest with her ." © 2001 Permission granted to reprint research for non-profit use only" is at the top of all my pages.
The General Records Office in Roscommon http://www.groireland.ie will now email BDM certificates for research rather than snail mail. Ireland's Roll of Honour 1914-1921 is now on pay-per-view site http://www.findmypast.ie (15000 military records of war dead)

Wendy Lorimer has kindly sent information about Capt. John Waring Maxwell Hughes from Ardglass/Ballee. Gerit Whitmore has kindly sent some Marner extrasts fron the Dublin area. (my surnme interest). Lena McVea has kindly sent more Greer nformation from the Ballyhalbert area. Steve Edgar has kindly sent some early maps and early Edgar/Agar Newry marriages. Sandy Wanamaker has kindly sent more Wallace & Williamson information from Killyleagh area. Brenda Shout has kindly sent details of her Harvey family from Newtownards & Belfast. Joan ... has kindly send details of 3 daughters of William Polly & Isabella Fitzsimons of Churchwall, Ballee who all became nuns. George Woods has kindly sent information on Scrabo Hill. Lynne Boyd has kindly sent information on her Henderson & Clarke families from Newtownards. Bobby Magill has kindly sent information on his coastguard family, Betts, from Ballyhalbert. Craig Moore has kindly sent more information on his Alexander Moore family of Ardglass & Downpatrick. Calum O'Hare has kindly sent a photo of Assumption Grammar School girls , Ballynahinch class of 1934. Sandy Wanamaker has kindly sent deaths & marriages in old Belfast newspapers. PRONI has placed the Griffiths Valuations Revisitations 1864 to 1933 online. You can search by townland name only then look down the list to find your surname. http://www.proni.gov.uk/index/search_the_archives/val12b.htm

There is a Genealogy Roadshow to be held in Lumen Christi College, Bishop Street, Derry/Londonderry BT48 6UJ on Saturday, 23rd of March 2013 . Admission is free and all are welcome. But we would ask people who are thinking of attending to get in touch because we will be filming twice – at 12.30pm and again at 2.30pm on the day. You can come along for the whole event or the time of your choice. Call Ciara (from Derry) on 028 308 34046 or (from Donegal) on 048 308 34046 Or drop her an email to genealogy@bigmountainproductions.com

Kay Cairns has kindly sent photos of Old Bann National School, Lawrencetown & the class of 1932 with names underneath. Lena McVea has kindly sent more information on her Young & Thompson families of Ballyhalbert area. Doug Bullick has kindly sent information on his Bullick family of Moira. Lea McVea hasd kindly sent more information on her Clint & Greer families of the Ards. Maran Know has kindly send information on her Keown & Hanna family of Lecale. David Robinson has kinly sent information on his Mark family of Drumballyroney.Heather Cunningham has kindly sent information on her Clements family of Carrowdore. Kay Cairns has kindly sent information on Waringstown School. Craig Moore has kindly sent old postcards of Denvir's Hotel, Downpatrick, Moore's Castle Hotel, Ardglass as well of the family history for Alexander Moore who was the proprietor of the hotels. I have purchased a copy of Fiona Jones' book 'A Mourne Townland- the History & People of Aughnaloopy'. A must- buy for researchers of this townland & surrounding areas. Available from https://www.createspace.com/3885331 My computer had internal electrical problems and crashed. Luckily, I have an external hard drive and my clever son was able to move all files over to a new computer. Please let me know if you find an thing missing or disjoined. Greg Ferguson has kindly sent information on the Lemon family of Ballyblack. Heber MacWilliams has kindly sent information on his McWilliams family of Newtownards area. Alison has kindly sent information on her Martin family of Dromore.

Bill Haggan has kindly sent a photo of Greenwell Street, Newtownards Presbyterian Church. Philip Dinsmore ( now deceased 2014) has kindly sent a photo of Ist Banbridge Presbyterian /Unitarian church and Dunbar school both in Downshire Road Banbridge. Allan Johnston has kindly sent a photo of Kilmood Parish Church. Karen Mather has kindly sent Rogan BDMs from Loughinisland area. C.J. Woods has kindly sent information on Protestants who were delegates to the Catholic Convention in Dublin 1792. Kevin Crangle has kindly sent information on the curate/priests in Ardglass.Fiona Lewis has kindly alerted me to a recent announcement which states that General Records Office, Belfast are seriously considering setting up a website similiar to the wonderful www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk . It will be pay-per-view for BDMs so hopefully it will be cheaper and easier to use than the UHF site.

Paul Gibson has kindly extracted his McClurg & Croskery families from Inch Church of Ireland & Kilmore Church of Ireland & Lissara Presbyterian Church & Kilmore Presbyterian & Killyleagh Church of Ireland & 1st & 2nd Presbyterian Churches & Robinson , Morrow & Filson families from Greyabbey Presbyterian & Carrowdore Presbyterian & Gibsons & Robinsons from Ballyblack Presbyterian . Bill Haggan has kindly sent a photo of Scarva Church of Ireland & Scarva village & Loughbrickland & Kilclief Church of Ireland & castle & Hillsborough, so I'll cross that off February's list. Brian McCleary is organising a photo of Moira Church of Ireland so another one gone from the list. Nancy Schaalje has kindly sent some old postcards of Cross Road, Killinchy, Crossgar, Lissara Presbyterian Church & Killinchy Unitarian Church & another of what she was told was Killinchy Woods National School but it doesn't tie up with other photos. An enlargement of the photo indicates it could be Raffrey NS. Could any one with local knowledge please take a look and confirm or deny please. Peter Meaney has kindly sent a photo of Newcastle Main Street & Eileen from Killyleagh has kindly sent photos of Ardglass, so another two off the list. Marian Knox has kindly sent a photo of St. Nicholas' Catholic Church, Ardglass & Bill Haggan has kindly sent street views of Hillsborough,, Saintfield, Rathfriland& Rostrevor Church of Ireland . Fiona Lewis has alerted me to some interesting websites - the Chief Secretary, Dublin Castle, letters & petitions c. 1820 http://www.csorp.nationalarchives.ie/search/index.php & The Montgomery Manuscripts, reminiscences of William Montgomery of Rosemount, Greyabbey in 1600s. http://archive.org/details/montgomerymanusc00montuoft
Steve Edgar has kindly sent details of people convicted in Co Down Assisizes & transported to Australia 1800-1855 . Indexed throughout Surname Lists. Kerry Wendt has kindly sent information on her Austin family from Bangor. Alan Williams has kindly sent information on his Munce family of Killinchy .

Paul E. Kelly has kindly sent BDMs for his Curlett family of Inch. . Tom Watson has kindly sent information on his Rutherford family of Co. Down & Scotland. Sandy Wanamaker has kindly sent information about Co. Down folk mentioned in Australian newspapers c. 1860s. David Lindley is setting up a Co. Down page on www.genuki.co.uk and we have been liaising on the information about the churches.Marian Morgan has kindly sent information on the descendents of James Savage of Clonallan parish. Marian Knox has kindly sent information on her Blaney family of Killough. Mary Boyle has kindly sent information of her Scott family of Newtownards.

I have a big request. Does anyone have any photos that they've taken, that are copyright free, that I can use on my website ? I need main street scenes of Gilford , Donaghcloney village, Waringstown & Warrenpoint; Carryduff Presbyterian; Drumbo Reformed Presbyterian in Knockbracken; Banbridge 1st Unitarian/ Non Subscribing Presbyterian in Downshire Road, Banbridge; 2nd Unitarian/ Seceding Presbyterian in Church Square, Banbridge . I'll acknowledge your contribution beside the photo.

Bill Haggan has kindly sent some lovely photos of Hillsborough Church of Ireland & Killough town & Strangford , so I've crossed those off the above list. Owen McCaughan has kindly sent some old photos of Craigdarragh House, Helens Bay, Bangor. I've had a few prople emailing me lately about email addresses on the Contacts' page which don't work anymore. I know it's a ' big ask' but could you please let me know if you change yours .

Sheila Philips of Ballymartin, Kilkeel died on the 12th in Leicester UK, surrounding by her loving family. Many of you have been touched by Sheila's generous spirit and will mourn as well. She freely gave her time to help family historians from around the world. Your brickwalls were her challenges. She met many of you when you came to Co Down and showed you around, helped you navigate the halls of PRONI and put you in touch with local people who may have been related. A sad day.

Anne Forbes has kindly sent more of her McBlain research. Marion Morgan has kindly sent information about her Swales family from Ballyculter associated with Alexander Edgar from Derryleckagh, Newry. Keith Hanna was kindly sent some early records from PRONI files with regard to Kikeel families. Sandy Wanamaker has kindly sent obits., marriages extracted from New Zealand newspapers of people born in Co. Down. Byron Marshall has kindly sent details of his Marshall & Roseman & Orr families of the Knockbreda area. Peter Gibson has kindly sent his research into the Gibson family of Newtownards & the McClurgs of the Killyleagh area . Steve Edgar has kindly sent transportation records of people from Co Down sent to Australia 1800-1851.

I've just added a list of the various counties in Ireland- Genealogy & Heritage centres kindly sent by Marie Brannigan. Marie has also kindly sent Warrenpoint Historical Group Magazine 2011 with local reminiscences & 2 booklets from Down County Museum- Walk about Ballynahinch & Walk about Saintfield (walking guides to these two historical towns) David Robinson has kindly sent me a copy of his book ' Always Turn the Page' which is about the Corkey family in Northern Ireland. If you have connection with this family ,contact me. Rev. Angus McCormick has kindly sent his father's school photo c. 1915. He thinks it's Ballydorn National School near Ardmillan (Killinchy) but would like confirmation of this. Please email me if you know any names in the photo or can confirmation the school. My computer crashed after Windows automatically updated 13 security patches. Luckily I had bought a 2TB external hard drive a few weeks before in Kalgoorlie and organised a weekly backup of the system. My son, Peter, was able to recover my files using this back up . Always back up your precious family history files. You can buy 4GB external memory sticks in the supermarket now. Very easy to use. Please let me know if you see any data missing. I'm now backing up daily. Sallyann Pyle has kindly sent information about her Johnston family of Largymore, Blais. For those of you researching Ulster-Scots families from north Down & Ards try this great website- http://www.northdowntourism.com/Things-to-see---do/Heritage---Culture-no-links/Historic-Sites-%281%29/Ulster-Scots-genealogy.aspx

Wishing all my readers a very happy Christmas surrounded by family & friends. Hopefully you'll get to talk to them all about your latest research. Good hunting in 2012 & Happy New Year.

Nancy Lowden has kindly sent information on her Morrow family of Newtownards. David Stewart has kindly sent information on his Stewart family of Belfast & Kilmore .

Press Release; Emigrants to be Remembered in Mourne
Returning emigrants and their real life experiences will be the focus of celebrations and remembering during an afternoon programme of entertainment on Sunday 7th August 2011 in the Cnocnafeola Centre in Atticall.
Emigration from the Mourne area has been and still is an ongoing experience for most families with many of the young people seeking better lives elsewhere in the world. Canada and Australia are the common places to go today and it was not that different 50 years ago. Some, who have been to these countries and made life there, will relive their experiences in conversation during a social in the afternoon.
Also in a full programme will be songs and poetry about emigration as well as a workshop on tracing family history. An important input on the day will come from Peter Gray from Queen's University representing the Project team that has developed DIPPAM, an on-line archival web site bringing together many sources of historical documents about Ireland, the Parliament, People and Migration (www.dippam.ac.uk). This central source of information can paint a valuable picture of life both at home and abroad from the 18th Century. Anyone interested in finding out more about the day can contact Brian White on 07719593013 or email btwhite98@hotmail.com (put Emigrant in subject line)

A Kinney Reunion is being held on 1 Aug 2010 in memory of ancestors born in the Atticall area of the Mournes, Co Down.The site of Kinney's cottage in early 1800's has been identified. It was destroyed on the Night of the Big Wind, 1839, and thereafter they scattered, to America and Cleator Moor in Cumbria. Links have been established with the American branches and they will be represented on the day.The day, and socialising, will last all that weekend, finishing with the unveiling of a plaque and picnic on the site on 1 August. Contact Brian White on btwhite98@hotmail.com is you're interested.

Gerry Curran with roots in Clonduff has asked for email support for the following townland marker project (see below) . If you've ever visited Co. Down to see where your ancestors lived and had difficulty finding the right area then please send him an email on curranstein@hotmail.com . He says,"written support of any kind that we are looking for from anyone to put into presentation folder. We want people to express their happiness or pride in the townland name itself that their ancestors came from and the fact that hopefully in the future descendants of the many people who left the parish of Clonduff will be able see exactly where the townlands begin and end and have a memorable photograph taken beside the marker-stones. We want to keep the townland names alive in this fast and ever-changing world."
Last year the Clonduff Gaelic Club in conjunction with other interested individuals such as myself started in motion a project to preserve our wonderful townland names and to keep them on the tongues of the present generation and maintain them for future generations. The whole of the Irish Diaspora such as your good-self spread throughout the world recognises the beauty and charm of these wonderful names and this is very evident from my many contacts over the years.
We are encouraging all locals to keep using the townland names in their addresses even despite the Post Office wishing us to use the road names and BT numbers. The two can go together.The main aim of our Townland Heritage group is to mark the entry and exit points of all the townlands in the parish of Clonduff with an engraved stone and then everyone will know when they pass from one into the other and visitors can then photograph the ones to do with their families.This will cost a lot of money to do but we feel it is a very worthy project. We have applied for funding from various groups and like everyone else we will have to take a chance that it will get the green light sometime.
One rural development group is very interested in it and one of their main criteria is that we most show that there is a need in the community for such a project. The local community is very supportive and indeed some families have already given us the cost of a stone in their townland in memory of their ancestors who lived there . I am contacting the many, many people throughout the world that I have been in contact with over the years whose relatives came from the Clonduff Parish to write us a letter of support outlining how they feel about the project and how they love and feel that the townland names of their ancestors should be honoured and marked in this way.

I'm continuing to add civil registration births. I realise that the indexes are online but they provide scant information. Margaret Mueller has kindly sent photos of the old schoolhouse in Ballyknow Moira & some more Hynds entries. Sheila Phillips has kindly sent Flynn & Magurnahan births & marriages from Ballynahinch Catholic records. The Irish Cultural Ministry has announced the addition of 2 million BDM records for counties Kerry, Cork, Dublin & Carlow on the website http://www.irishgenealogy.ie Margaret Mueller has kindly extracted Brennans & Hinds from Dromore & Moira Catholic records and sent then. Lindsay Holland has kindly sent her Frackleton family tree of the Dromore area.

David McLinton has kindly sent information on his McClinton family of Killyleagh. Sandra Muckle has kindly sent information on her Cromie family of Aghaderg. Beryl Davies has kindly sent information on her Hynes family of Blaris. A researcher has emailed me about the size of my pages and his ability to print them off. I have delved into my manual and think that I have solved the problem of everyone having a different sized screen. It's called Autostretch but it may take me some time to adjust every one of the pages. If you have the same problem then email me and I'll fast track the page you need.

The LDS have put more BDMs into their pilot search section going back to 1619 so try http://fsbeta.familysearch.org/s/collection/list & Scroll down to Ireland . Be vague about Place & only just put Down, Ireland for the best search results. I've had feedback that the are a few problems with the information available i.e. mutiple entries for the same person but with differing information so be wary and try to confirm the entries from other sources. Ardglass researchers now have a local website http://www.ardglass.net/

Margaret Mueller has kindly sent a church booklet for St. Colman's Catholic Church Kilwarlin. Vivien Parry has kindly sent the church booklet for St. Mary's Church of Ireland, Comber. Doug Gray has kindly sent information on his Gray family of Bangor & Newtownards. Richard Steinhilber has kindly sent information on his Smith/Smyth/McKaig family . Sheila Dadson has kindly sent information on her Murray family of Kilmegan area. Fiona Lewis has kindly sent excerpts from the Belfast Weeky News. Thanks to Marie Brannigan who has kindly sent more Down Recorder
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My sister-in-law, Mrs. Mary Catherine (Reene) Marner of Drumaness Co. Down , died 13th March aged 63 after a short illness. As a teenager, she had worked in the Drumaness Linen Mill and like those around her, breathed in the dust & fibres which, 45 years years later, were to kill her in an unrelenting lung cancer. Her husband Stephen died of a heart attack 20 years before and she raised their four children- Katie, Michael, Mark & Stephanie with love and attention. She was loved by all including her grandchildren- Ryan, Taylor & Holly. Rest in peace.

Thank you to all the people who have sent messages of condolence. It's appreciated.

Ray and I will be on holidays in New Zealand for a few weeks so apologies for the late answering of emails.

We had a wonderful time in New Zealand. Such a beautiful country with friendly people. I'm trying to catch up on all the research emails. The Message Board is proving very popular.

Eileen Patterson & Ann Fee from Killyleagh Library have kindly sent the Police Station Census of Killyleagh & Shrigley 1891-1899. I intend to post these files as a whole but also index them throughout the Surname Lists. May take a while so email me if you need a lookup. Richard Hamilton has kindly sent marriage details of his many Hamilton connections across the county. . I'm continuing to add civil birth registrations; names of police officers c. 1900; members of Downpatrick Church of Ireland ; articles from the Down Recorder newspaper & people who claimed compensation after the 1798 Rebellion (all in Surname Lists) - a continuous project. Brendan Martin has kindly sent information about his Molloy family of Tullylish. Ian Kirk has kindly sent information on his Kirks of Newtownards. Dudley Hinds & Margaret Mueller have kindly sent more information on their Hinds family . Brendan Downey has kindly sent information of his Downey family of Newry area.

The latest on the online 1901 Census is mid year. www.census.nationalarchives.ie (thanks Fi)

Wishing all my readers a very happy Christmas, good health in 2010 and a sledgehammer to break down those brick walls. A big thank you to all those who contributed. Even the smallest piece of information could be a breakthrough for someone else.

Thanks to Jack Geddes for kindly sending in formation of his Geddes family of Killinchy & Margaret Mueller for her tireless efforts to find her McKee . Brennan & Hinds families and kindly sending everything she finds. Larry McClimon has kindly sent some 1868 civil death registrations. Brian Robertson has kindly sent some lovely old B/W photos of Newcastle, Greyabbey, Narrow water House, eviction scenes & an old fisherwoman with cart. Richard Hamilton has kindly sent church records for his Hamilton family of Doughery. Nan Brennan and Marie Brannigan continue to supply me with newspaper articles from Co. Down & USA. Sandra Winegar has kindly sent two old letters dated 1861 from Robert, John & Samuel Nesbitt of Rathfriland and the inn keeper James McMahon to relatives in the USA. Dorothy Partidge has kindly sent marriage details of her John Leckey & Ellen Taylor

Jill Watson has kindly sent information on her Pickering family of Magheralin. Robyn Thomson has kindly sent Fullerton information from Dundonald Bradley Boal has kindly sent Boal ++ baptisms from 2nd Newtownards Presbyterian & Greenwell Street Presbyterian . Donald Morrison Clarke has kindly sent information and a photo of Robert Morrison & family from Killyleagh.

I'm flying over to Western Australia on 17th for the grandchildren's birthdays. They are now 6 and 4. Apologies to those waiting for an email reply.

Jim Hanna has kindly sent a photo of the old Clonduff Presbyterian School house in Ballynagappag townland . Doug Gray has kindly sent more Gray marriage information from Bangor area. Bradley & Susan Boal have kindly sent more Boal marriages and baptisms

Does anyone recognise this house (above) or any of the people attending the wedding?
Euan Douglas found the photo c. 1890 in family papers and thinks it may be Rademon House near Crossgar but needs confirmation.

Terence Bowman , the editor of the Mourne Observer, has kindly said he'll advertise the photo in his newspaper so we'll see how we go. (12/09) Still hoping 11/10

Sandra Wanamaker has kindly sent burial information for Carrolls & Wallaces in Cliftron Street Cemetery Belfast. Brian Evans has kindly sent information on his McGrattan family of Inishargy & Ardrossan. Bill Haggan has sent a lovely photo of Milecross Quaker Meeting House. . Derek Patton has kindly sent a copy of his book 'Settlers by the Sea' about Presbyterians in Ballywalter.

**The LDS have added the births, death & marriage indexes to their website http://search.labs.familysearch.org/recordsearch/start.html#p=2;t=searchable;c=1408347 It's not complete yet but you should be able to view the original entry when they've finished. It's all starting to happen!

Wishing you all a happy & healthy 2009. The Public Records Office in Belfast has now put the Library Catalogue online www.proni.gov.uk Although it doesn't give youaccess to original documents, the indexes are quite comprehensive. **