Ros Feb 2013
Ros Davies' Co. Down, Northern Ireland Family History Research Site
What's New!
an update of additions to my web site

I update the date each month at the bottom of most web pages if you want to see if anything new has been added to your surname interest page.

As at...... New Information
2023

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.

2022 Beth Golden has kindly send excerpts of Ruling Elders of Co. Down 1697- 1717 . Frank Kohler has kindly sent information of his McHarg family. Brian Cull has kindly sent information on Roger Cull of Clonallan
2021 Sandra Gilmore has kindly sent a photo of Carricknaveagh , Killany School children 1933/34 . Invaluable Irish archives burnt during 1922 civil war are being Good news- retrieved. Once thought lost forever have been successfully recreated and will be available online by 2022. Dave Barry has kindly sent information on his Fegan family of the Rathfriland area & Annaclone Catholic baptisms. Gwen Hogg has kindly sent her Hogg file - Banbridge to Quebec . Ronald V. Gilmore has kindly sent his research on his Gilmore family of Banbridge & Ballynahinch. Hilary Price has solved an 8 year mystery about a school photo that Nancy Schaalje sent years ago . It's indeed Raffrey School and her great grandparents were teachers there.Yvonne Allen has kindky sent photos of Nunsquarter House. Michelle Kelly has kindly sent old school photos of Teconnaught & Raleagh School. David McCormick has kindly sent information of his Moderate family (and related families) from Donaghadee area and many other families from Greyabbey & Newtownards . Tim McCulla has kindly sent a page from Newry Presbyterian marriage 1838-1839. He also reminded that there are still researchers using the old freepages website . Please switch over to www.rosdavies.com Howard Blair has kindly sent information on his Blair family. Peter Donnelly has kindly sent information of his Moffatt family of Barnemaghery, Killinchy.
2020

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

2019

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.

Sept,- Dec 2018 John Paul McMahon has kind extracted information about soldiers who were born in Co. Down who died in the 1st World War. The men were serving with , Australian (finished) , New Zealand ( finished) & South African (finished) & Canadian (finished) regiments & those serving in Irish regimentrs (finished ) . Parents names & birth places mentioned - some wives names . Michelle Kelly has kindly sent her research on licencees of Annacloy (Inch parish) pubs from 1896 . Richard Crowe has kindly sent me his map showing the location of the churches in Tullylish parish. Helen Shimek has kindly sent copies of early Wills of the Stephensons of Donaghadee, Comber & Kilmood . deborah Fernando has kinmdly sent death certificates for the Alexander family of Newtownards. John Balmer has kindly sent information of John & Catherine McGarry of Ballynanny, Clonduff. Colm Morgan has kindly sent photos of the Hilltown Church of Ireland graveyard before the site is redeveloped. Paul Simpson kindly sent information of the McNeight/Tibbs family of Newtownards who died in a house fire.
May , June, July 2018

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

Mar 2018 It's been a poor start to the year. On 20th December 2017, Ancestry.com took down all rootsweb sites for maintenance/ security check. Thank you to all my readers who were concerned that my website was unreachable. I've still been able to type in many new records at this end but I just can't upload them. Hopefully it won't last much longer.
Florence Chambers has kindly sent me a link with the 1914 Directory for Newry area. Lots of names- http://www.bagenalscastle.com/documents/1914%20Directory.pdf
Jul, Sept , Oct 2017 Heather Steele has kindly sent a link to her new website dealing with North Down- http://www.northdownroots.co.uk/index.html Kathleen Springer has kindly sent Newry civil death registrations Sept - Oct 1915 to Jan 1916. Raphael McKenna has kindly sent some baptisms from Saul/ Ballee Catholic registers. Vernon Moore kindly sent a photo of the children & building of Castle Garden School c. 1920s. No names. Jenni Gay has kindly sent information on her Lennon & Magee families of the Ballyphilip area Sandy Wanaker has kindly sent newspaper clippings of Co. Down people living in Connecticut USA. Simon Canning has kindly sent information on his Bowman/ Hay family from Killinchy.
Apr , May, June 2017 Karen Mathers has kindly sent information on the Greyabbey Presbyterian churches . John Eldridge has kindly sent the auction details of lands in Ballyedock / Carstown , Ballywarren & Ballygallum owned by Harriet Robinson nee Wombwell dated 1881. Many thanks to an anonymous donor for giving me A History of the Parish of Magheradroll (Catholic) & The Diocese of Dromore Past & Present (Catholic) and BDMs from Clonduff & Clonallan Catholic parishes. Thanks to Marie Brannigan for a copy of North Irish Roots 2010 & A History of Teconnaught School and for collecting many other interesting resources. Irene Cunningham has kindly sent information on Ballynahinch Technical Intermediate School opened 1950 . David Cassels has kindly sent more information on his Skelly family of Saintfield pariash
Jan,Feb , Mar 2017

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.

Sept , Oct , Nov, Dec 2016

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.

Aug 2016 My internet portal provider began more maintenance at the beginning of July and still hasn't finished so I'm unable to upload any files. I'm still busy here at my end though. Sandra Wanawaker has kindly sent newspaper BDMs on Co. Down people who emigrated to NSW, Australia . Dermot Balson has kindly sent BDMs & other information from newspapers for people in Kilkeel parish. ) P. Johns has kindly sent information on land leases early 1800s for Dorian & McGraw . Keith Hanna has kinmdly sent some Registry of Deeds entries for Kilkeel families. Brian Morgan has kindly sent a photo of Ballymoney, Kilcoo Elementary School children of 1938. P. Johns has kindly send old leases for McGrath/McGraw & Dorrian from Ardkeen area. Maree Devitt has kindly sent Dundonald Presbyterian baptism for 1837.
Good news for all those people who have kindly sent information for the website. Ancestry.com have finished their 5 week maintenance of the rootsweb freepages accounts and I jhave just been abble to upload 260 files with lots of information.,
June,July 2016 I have been having a lot of trouble with the website since upgrading to Windows 10. We have sorted out the problem with the program crashing with all work lost and have recovered some missing files but still haven't sorted out the problem of files that are accessible at my end but not accessible online. I have rechecked all the links but found nothing out of place.. All fixed now . Please let me know if you find anything amiss.
April , May 2016

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

March 2016

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.

Jan , Feb 2016 Sandra Wanamaker has kindly sent many BDMs from assorted newspapers. Thank you to all those researchers sending Catholic records. I've nearly finishes Clonduff & Drumgath parishes. The Ulster Historical Foundation has released 51,000 Catholics BDMs . Those inCo. Down include Dundrum & Ballykinler, Baptisms 1894-1930 & Marriages 1894-1929. Most seem to be Belfast parishes. Many thanks to all those people who have been sending little snippts of information. It all helps someone, somewhere.
Sept,Oct , Nov, Dec 2015 Ken Crockard has kindly send his research on the Crockard & related families of the Killinchy area . Shirley Walsh has kindly sent information of the Carleton family of Newry. Virginia Peterson has kindly sent information on her Mateer family of Annahilt. Sharyn Ambrey has kindly sent old postcards of Killyleagh. Linda Hanks has kimdly sent more Dromara Presbyterian baptisms. This time 1830-1832 . John Leach has kindly sent a lisy of investors of Portaferry & Strangford Steamboat Co. 1835. Linda Hanks has kindly sent more Dromara Presbyterian baptisms. We're now up to 1837. ancestry.co.uk have released the names, dates , places of Irish Freemasons. I have finished transcribing & nearly finished indesing into my Surnames Indexes the Bright Catholic marriages 1856-1865 & baptisms 1856-1864 ; Brynsford Catholic mrries 1845-1846; Downpatrick burials 1851-1864 & marriages 1853- 1864 & baptisms 1851-1864; Loughinisland burials 1806-1813 & baptisms 1806- 1808 & marriages 1806- 1864 & started on Ballyculter/Ballee marriages 1843-1862. Fiona Lewis has indly sent Report of Commissioners into Poorer Classes in Ireland- Civil Bill Ejectments 1827- 1833 which includes landlords' names, tenant's names, rent and reason for evictment. . Happy Christmas & health 2016 to all my readers.
Alison Aldersea has kindly sent a class photos of Elemenary school aged children from the East Belfast area. She knows that the girl who is 4th left, second row from front is Sarah Stewart ( her great aunt) and she lived in Saunders St off the Newtownards Rd East Belfast, so likely school there. She was born June 1910 so I put this photo circa 1917/18. If you know this area, please look at the photo and let us know which school it is.
July, August 2015 The National Library of Ireland, Dublin have placed the original microfilmed Catholic parishes free online at http://registers.nli.ie/ You need to know the parish name. Jackie Coleman has kindly sent information on Hamilton family of Gransha, Comber & related lines dating from 1500s. Raphael McKenna has kindly sent some extracts from the new online Catholic records . They are Marner & McGeean from Saintfield/Carrickmannon Catholic records. Is they anyone else out there who has accessed the new website (mentioned above) and has transcribed some of the records and is willing to share? I'm happy to post any of these records into the Surnames section of my website. It all helps someone, somewhere, sometime.

I have transcribed the marriages & some deaths 1(1806-1813) from Loughinisland Catholic records from the new nli.ie website. A lot are illegibe and there are many pages that are just too feint.. I haven't copied the witneses names so if you do find a couple you're interested in, then you'll have the date and can zoom in yourself and check out the additional wording. Pregnant women were stated. Most father's names & townlands given.
Maurice McKee has kindly sent a photo of the children of Saintfield Academy c. 1970s. Linda Hanks has kindly sent pages from Dromara Presbyterian records baptisms 1817-1829 . Thanks to Marie Brannigan for sending historical articles from Mourne Observer & Kilcoo Outlook. Mike Fitzpatrick has kindly sent some pages from Kilkeel Catholic records 1840s. Mary Robinson has kindly sent postcards c. 1907 of 1st Holywood Presbyterian Church from Geddes family.
May 2015 The National Library of Ireland have announced that they will be making 400,000 Catholic records freely available from 8 Jul 2015 - http://www.nli.ie/en/list/latest-news.aspx?article=2345487b-12cb-4de2-91dc-f43bed57a577
Shirley Walsh has kindly sent Wills for the Huston family c. 1725 & some Registry of Deeds entries . Thanks to Hugh O'Neill for some snippets from Cosslet of Annadorn's Journal c. 1795 . Briege Stitt has kindly sent some articles from Down Recorder neewspaper 1924 . A researcher is asking people to help with information about Katesbridge School building . Before renovations , were there two entrances? Email lynnemckerr ' at ' hotmail.com . Colum O'Hare has kindly sent a photo of Finnis Primary school children from 1927, 1931 &1948 . Brian Morgan has kindly sent a photo of Tullyree Primary Class of 1927
Jan,Feb, March , April 2015 We've been away a lot during the beginning of this year visting family interstate and overseas but I've attempted to keep up with the email inquries. Kate Glancy has kindly sent information on her Glancy family from Newry & Warrenpoint. Noel Lavery has kindly sent more inmformation of his Canmore & Winter families of Knockbreda. Karen Mather has kindly sent more informatioon on her Rogan family . Eamon McMullan has kindly given me access to the Annesley Estate Rent Ledgers 1835- 1843) & the Annesley Gate House Visitor's Book 1890- 1920s . An anonymous researcher has kindly sent Ballynahinch Catholic Church records - baptisms and marriages 1826-1910 and the church history booklet. Many thanks to James & Claire McKibben for once again sending the Inverbrena magazine (Strangford stories) and Margaret Brannigan for giving me access to her newspaper file on the Tollymore Estate (MO 1983) and Marie Brannigan for collecting Mourne Observer & Down Recorder historical newspaper articles. Bernard Macklin has kindly sent a list of residents of Donaghmore parish in 1849 . Noel Lavery has kindly sent old postcards from c. 1905 of Donaghadee, Bangor ,Newtownards, Newcastle, Ballyhalbert. Mary Stewart has kindly sent a copy of her book History of the First presbyterian (Non Subscribing) Church in Downpatrick
December 2014 Wishing all my readers a very happy and healthy Christmas and may 2015 be kind to you. David Mullin has kimdly sent information on his Mullen family of Waringstown. Alex B. has kindly sebt marriage certificates for John McNeill & Eliza Lenaghan od Downpatrick. Marie Brannigan has kindly sent copies of Mourne Observer newspaper articles which detail 1st World War soldiers from Co. Down.
November 2014 Eddie Mullan has kindly sent Mullan baptisms & marriages from Saintfield/Carrickmannan Catholic Church. Alex from New Zealand has kindly sent death certificates for William Strain of Drumcaw & Samuel Hagan from Drumnaquoile & Doherty family from Kilmegan parish. Noel Lavery has kindly sent more Marshal & Douglas marriages. Alex from New Zealand has kindly sent Patterson/Teer ( formerly of Inch/Down) death certificate from New Zealand . Mary Lou Dunan has kindly sent a lease dated 1790 for the Duncan family of Drumgooland.
October 2014

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

September 2014 Noel Lavery has kindly sent information on his Leathem & Oliver families of Blaris & Belfast. Jim Dickson has kindly sent school class photos from Ballyvicknakelly & Tullymacarette Primary School, Dromore c. 1932 & 1936. Any names? I've had a request for school class photos of Carricknaveagh Primary anyone? Martina Dempsey Toner has kindly sent informatuon on her Dempsey/ Nolan family of Knockbreda. Raphael McKenna has kindly sent some very early baptisms from Downpatrick Church of Ireland. Liz Barnett has kindly sent baptisms, marriages & burials from Downpatrick Catholic Church 1862-1865
August 2014 Noel Lavery has kindly sent some Boyd deaths from Knockbeda/Belfast area. I've been busy this month transcribing original church records sent anonymously . I'm happy to accept these donations as they all help someone, somewhere, and I can understand the need for anonymity. Peter Gibson has kindly sent more information on his Morrow & Robinson families of Greyabbey ; Noel Lavery has kindly sent more information on his Leathem( of Blaris) & Ramsay (of Newtownards) families . Shannon Leengkeek has kindly sent information about Sketrick Island & her Montgomery family who lived there 1911. Raphael McKenna has alerted me to the Trinity College, Dublin website- http://www.1641.tcd.ie/ where you can search through the 1641 Depositions for rebel activites- 187 people for Co. Down
July 2014 Aiden Campbell has kindly sent two more of his lovely pictorial history books on the east Belfast areas of Sydenham (in Holywood parish) & Gilnahirk (in Knockbreda parish). I'm still having difficulties uploading recent files and information.
June 2014 Heber MacWilliams has kindly sent information on his McCallum family of Drumhirk. Noel Lavery has kindly sent information on his Canmore/Kenmore families of Kilmood & Knockbreda areas. John Leach has kindly sent information on his Dalzell family from Ards area and lots of information of Portaferry ship owners. .Ancestry has started a project to copy all BDMs from Belfast Newsletter starting c. 1737. My website has been down for a few days as my portal Ancestry.com had a DOSS problems. I haven't been able to upload either.
May 2014

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.

April 2014 We returned to Australia earlier than expected because of the sudden death of my son-in-law Brad Munro, from a clot aged 39. Caroline is left with three children, the youngest is 5 months old. So sad. Please hug your family. Brad
March 2014

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.

February 2014 Sandra Gilpin has kindly sent a list of schools under the Hibernian Society in 1819 the number of pupils attending. Sandra Wanamaker has kindly sent more snippets from Registry of Deeds Dublin c. 1820. Roy Irwin has kindly sent Hamilton gravestones from Greuyabbey & Ballywalter. I have finally finished indexing Fiona Doyle Jones' book on Aughnaloopy townland in Kilkeel parish which detailed all of the families who lived there & those who married in. If you wish to buy a copy try https://www.createspace.com/3885331 Ian Metcalfe has kindly sent information on his John Forbes Keir from Newtownards.
January 2014

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.

December 2013 Wishing all my readers a very happy Christmas surrounded by family and friends. Good luck with your research in 2014.
November 2013 I'm proud to announce the arrival of my third grandchild in Western Australia. Mother & baby doing well. We'll be flying over for Christmas & New Year to visit them all.
Jeanne Forbes has kindly sent information on her William Hatch & Jane Heenan from Newry area c. 1805 C. L. Stevens has kindly sent gravestone photos and information from her Cairns & Bell families in Knockbreda Cemetery. Thanks once again to Sandra Gilpin for helping me sort out the Presbyterian Churches in Comber.
October 2013 Ray's nephew and his wife are visiting from Co Down for two weeks so my answering the emails is going to be very slow. Helen Orchard has kindly sent the marriage certificate of Robert Welsh & Eliza Jane Sutton of Belfast 1868. Jenny Duguid has kindly sent class photos of Portaferry Primary 1947 – 1950 & 1952 – 1953 and is sending some of the names underneath. She has also kindly sent information on her Gibson family of Donaghadee. The Heritage Lottery Fund is funding a Trace your Mourne Roots project run by Kilkeel Development Association & an exhibition in the Nautius Centre, Kilkeel . If you have any old photos for display contact Lauren Newell mourneroots@gmail.com Liz Barnett has kindly sent Murnins of Kilcoo land leases c. 1808
September 2013

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)

August 2013 Douglas Hewson has kindly sent information on the Downes family of Newtownards. Julie Robson has kindly sent information on her Dunwoody & Simpson families of Killaney. Tom O'Hare has kindly sent a class photo from Bonecastle National School dated 1913 & Magheralaggan Pipe Band c. 1950s outside Ballykilbeg Catholic Church. G. Mark Donald has kindly sent photos of Copeland Island old graveyard & 2nd Killyleagh Presbyterian National School & 2nd Killyleagh Presbyterian Church. David Stewart has kindly sent more information on his Stewart & Hill families of Knockbreda .
July 2013 Thank to all the kind folk who inquired after my health. My medication was changed so all is well now. Marian Knox has kindly sent certificates for her Dickson/Herald family of Belfast (formerly of Magheradrool) & Linton/Conolly family of Ballyclander. Cahill Hamill has kindly sent a class photo of his grandfather Patrick Hamill c. 1912/15 taken at a Saul school. We not too sure which Saul school nor do we have names. If you're familiar with this area please view the photo and get back to me. Linda Hanks has kindly sent Bryansford Church of Ireland baptisms 1786-1828 & the ministers notes for several families who attended Killaney Presbyterian Church 1700s but written 1939 . Sandra Wanamaker continues to send everything she can find in her family search. There are several stalwarts like Sandy and I appreciate them sharing their work.
June 2013 I haven't been too well this month so a bit slow with everyting. Aoife FitzGerald has kindly sent for files for Hewitt, O'Neill, Woods, McAllister & O'Keenan families of Dromore area . Briege Stitt has kindly sent a story written by F. J. Bigger about Quoile bridge near Downpatrick c. 1910 . Joan Magee has kindly sent photos of John Ellsmere b. 1825 Downpatrick & Michael Molloy died 1914. The grandchildren are staying with us for 10 days of the school holidays so I probably won't have much time for the computer.
May 2013 Mark Donald has kindly sent a photo of the class of 1937 at Ballygally/Scaddy National School in Inch parish. Names needed please. Maree Devitt has kindly sent information on her Robb family of Downpatrick & Lisnabreeny with associated families- McDonald, McCready, Morrison Quail . Jo Sunbeam has kindly sent information on her Sloan family of Ballyrush . Heather Curry has kindly sent information on her Bunting/Armstrong family from Donaghcloney . Alan Williams has kindly sent information on his Munce family of Drumreagh. . Louise Lynch has kindly sent a photo of Mrs. Margaret O'Flaherty who was the midwife in Newcastle in early 1900s. Lindsay Young has kindly sent information on James G. Allen of Comber. Marian Knox has kindly sent information on her Dobbin, Fitzsimons, McKeating & Fitzpatrick families of the Tryella area. Trinity College , Dublin have put old parish/ townland maps c. 1657 from the Down Survey online . You can see who the landlord was- http://downsurvey.tcd.ie/ The Ulster Historical Foundation is compiling a nook about families who left Ireland because of the United Irishmen Rebellion of 1798. If your family qualifies please email: enquiry@uhf.org.uk including 'Presbyterian Exiles of 1798' in the subject box. Adrian Hanna has added many lovely old photos and old postcards of Comber to the Comber website- try http://www.comberhistory.com/chsphoto1.htm There will be a family reunion in Ballynahinch in June for descendents of John Rodgers from Hillhead, Crossgar. Karen McCarthy has put together a website with all her McCarthy & variants research in Down & Antrim- try http://mccarthynorthernireland.webs.com/index.html
April 2013 Colin O'Prey has kindly sent information on Rossglass/ St. John's Point Lifeboat Station. Trish Cole has kindly sent Killinchy Presbyterian births 1835-1838 & several other civil registration deaths (Frackleton ) . Jo Sunbeam has kindly sent a copy of Charles Sloan's Will of Kilkeel dated 1814. Alison Aldersea has kindly sent her research on Inkerman Brown of Bangor.
The Genealogy Roadshow is coming to Derry's Lumen Christi College Saturday the 20th of April. All are welcome. It is a recording of a television show and a free information day for the public. Derek Mooney and the team will be uncovering the mysteries and secrets of Derry City, county and beyond! It is a fantastic FREE day out for all so be sure not to miss it! They have spaces left for audience but they are filling up fast so contact Seán on 02830 834049 or 07791574463 to secure your place now! They have audience spaces at 1.30pm, 3.30pm and 4pm but book now to avoid being disappointed!
March 2013 Griffiths Valuations Revisitations 1864 to 1933- search by townland name only.
February 2013

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

January 2013 Debbie Jones has kindly sent a photo of Banbridge Road Presbyterian Church, Dromore. A kind soul has sent some baptism & marriages from the Newtownards area. Many of these families were from surrounding parishes like Donaghadee, Bangor, Greyabbey, Inisharghy & Comber so if you're missing some data , check out my Surnames section again. Noelene Williams has kindly sent her file on convicts sent from Co . Down to Australia before 1850 . Many thanks to James & Clare McKibbin for sending the Inverbrena magazine (Strangford area) . Many thanks to Nan Brennan for sending some newspaper articles. Paddy Todd has kindly sent a photo of Ballykinler National Schoolhouse.
December 2012 I'd like to wish all my readers a Happy Christmas and good genealogy hunting in 2013. Many thanks to all the researchers who have contributed to this 'free information' website. I've finished indexing Journal of Upper Ards Histoircal Society 2011 & 2012 & Down Survey of 2008. Thanks to Keith Hanna for passing on a list of Mourne Presbyterian , Kilkeel early church elders.
November 2012 Christy Kreidler has kindly sent an old b/w photo of main street, Ballynahinch. Doug Grey has kindly sent another Grey marriage certificate. I'm off to Kalgoorlie in Western Australia for the grand children's birthdays. They'll be 9 & 7. The 7 year old is dancing at the Highland Games in Perth so we'll be having a lovely weekend in Perth first.
October 2012 We had a lovely holiday and I'm now attempting to catch up on my emails. Let me know if you haven't heard from me by 12th.Brian Lennon has kindly sent class photos of Aughlisnafin Primary School 1927 which includes his mother. Thanks to Terry McComiskey for sending the Clonduff Post newsletters & Marie Brannigan for sending the Down Recorders & Mourne Observer newspapers & James & Claire McKibbin for the Inverbrena magazines . Robert Snowden has kindly sent hinformation on his Snodden/ Snowden family of Comber. Kathy McCourt Vacek has kindly sent information on her Callaghan family of Banbridge.

Fiona Jones, who set up the Yahoo Co. Down group and recently published a book on Aughnaloopy townland in Kilkeel parish , has sadly passed away. This is the second stalwart of Co. Down genealogy that we have lost this year . She was diagnosed with an aggressive cancer but died of a heart attack aged 47.
September 2012 Ray and I will be on holidays until mid October. I will attempt to check emails but will not be available for detailed responses. Please see the Links section of my website to assist you further with your research.
August 2012

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.

July 2012 I've had a busy month. I got shingles in the head just before the grandchildren arrived for the school holidays. Commiserations to all those who've also had shingles. The pain & scabs are finally going away. Geraldine Herdman-Grant has kindly sent me some information about St Collumcille's Catholic Church in Ballyhackamore & Julia Kable has kindly sent some information on the Moira Presbyterian churches. Brenda Orr-Berwick has kindly sent information on her Orr family of Lecale. Gail Ross has kindly sent information of her Mulholland family of Kilbroney & McHenry/ Caulll family of Ballybannon. James Rea has kindly sent details of his Rea family of Newtownards & Johnston family of Bangor parishes.
June 2012

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.

May 2012 Rosemary Johnston has kindly sent information on her Johnston & Shaw families of Saintfield then Belfast. Marian Knox has kindly sentr informatio n on her Crangle & Rogan families of Saul area. Michael Taggart has kindly sent a lovely old postcard of Sketrick Castle on Sketrick Island in Strangford Lough & his grandfather Capt. William Iliff. . Steven Edgar has kindly sent more information on his Edgar family. Rosemary Johnston has kindly sent the marriage certificate of James A. Miller & Martha Vance 1887 in St Ann's Belfast. John Fleming Cooper has kindly sent information on his Fleming family of Newry. Lena McVea has kindly sent information on her Greer family of Ballyhalbert. Philip Dinsmore has kindly sent of photo of Fourtowns Presbyterian Church, Donaghmore. Bob Macoubrie has kindly sent the first few chapters of a book on Capt. David John Bell of Ballynahinch written c. 1965 which looks at the Bell family from Ballylone & includes the names of soldiers from the county who served in 1st World War in 13th Battalian Royal Irish Rifles which I'll index into the Surname lists. Does anyone have a photo of Greenwell Street Presbyterian Church, Newtownards that I could use on the website? Jim Bolger has kindly sent an old photo of Shanrod School. Duane Fitzsimons has kindly sent information on his Smyth family of Dunsford.
April 2012 Tom Watson has kindly sent the newspaper accounts of the death of Thomas Watson in Comber 1906. Bill Haggan has kindly sent photos of Dundrum & Hillsborough , so I'll cross those off February's list & Dundonald Water Mill. Tom Watson has kindly sent information on his Dugan & Nelson families of Comber. Doug Bullick has kindly sent a certificate for Bullick family of Moira. . Brian Cull has kindly sent information on his McNulty family of Magheralin. My computer crashed on 13th April but my genius son was able to recover most of the data from my external hard drive. Please let me know if I didn''t respond to your email or information from the database has gone missing. Karen Mather has kindly sent BDMs for Rogan & Rice extraced from Loughinisland Catholic records 1821-1863. Marian Knox has kindly sent information on her West family of Ballee/Ballyculter area. Peter Gibson has kindly sent Reas extracted from Kilmore Presbyterian records. Trish Hewitt has kindly sent some old photos of Newry. Irene Watson has kindly sent photos of Ballytrim National School class of 1934/35 & Shrigley Cricket Team of c. 1925. Peter Dornan has kindly sent details from the headstone of Rose Ann Doran, wife of Richard Dornan of Shrigley who died 1891 aged 60. Mysteriously this stone doesn't appear in RSJ Clarke's published gravestones. David Hollinger has kindly sent the names to the photos of Movilla School c. 1940s & sent another photo of Movilla School dated 1945 . Philip Dinsmore has kindly sent photos of Donaghmore Presbyterian Church & Donaghmore School.
March 2012

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 .

February 2012

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 .

January 2012

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.

December 2011

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.

November 2011 Meryle Maxwell has kindly sent letters dated 1849 & 1850 from her McGiffert ancestors in Portaferry & Loughdoo to family who emigrated to USA. I'm off to Western Australia again for the grandchildren's birthdays. They're 8 and 6 now. Sorry if I don't answer your emails promptly. Bill Hanna has kindly notified me that the Links on the Irwin page weren't working. Hopefully I've sorted this out. None of the Links in surname I section of the website were working. I think I may have been hyjacked. Please let me know if you notice anything that doesn't work. Disclaimer: I turned 65 on 26th so I apologise for any typos or other silly errors . Please let me know if you find any.
October 2011 Erla Angell has kindly sent information on her Carlisle family from Boardmills. Marian Knox has kindly sent information on her Killen & Crangle families from Lecale area. Ronald Carter has kindly sent a photo of Derryboy (Killyleagh) National School Cookery Class of 1920. Debra Gowlett has kindly sent information on her Larmour family from Dundonald parish. There is an Uprichard Reunion in New Zealand in May 2012 so try http://www.upritchard.com/ for details. David Adams has kindly sent information on his McConnell family of Ballyblack. Ronald Carter has kindly sent a school photo from Killyleagh Primary 1949/50
September 2011 Maree Devitt has kindly sent a photo of the class of c. 1887 at Ballyrogan School, Newtownards parish. Sue McClory has kindly sent photos of Loughbrickland school children 1900 & Peter & Rose McClorey outside their hotel McClorys Lake Hotel c. 1900. Erwin Matthews has kindly sent more photos of Banbridge. David Robinson has kindly sent his research into Frank Robinson of Lancashire & Holywood. Glenda Renallo has kindly sent some old letters 1856-1883 from Thomas McKee & Samuel Patterson of Kilkeel to relatives in USA. Patricia Evers has kindly sent church records of her Mulholland family of Tullylish.
August 2011 Kevin Lonie has kindly sent information & photos on Hugh Gorman (school master of Cabra) & his wife Alice Barr & family & the Mark family of Drumballyroney. Lorraine Fisher has kindly sent a copy of 'Down Town' 120 years of Downpatrick's shops in photographs. Tracey Aaron has kinmdly sent a photo of Drumreagh Bridge built 1804. Florence Chambers has kindly sent class photos of Skeogh School, Dromore 1925 & 1931. Angela Gracey haskindly sent three letters from Thomas McKee of Kilkeel 1873 & 1883 & from Samuel Patterson of Grange dated 1856.
July 2011

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)

June 2011 Sheila Philips of Kilkeel who has helped so many people with their research is very ill and needs yours prayers. Karen McCarthy has kindly sent more McCarthy marriage certificates. Fiona Lewis has kindly sent information on her Delacherois family of Comber. Marian Knox has kindly sent more information of her Fee family of Ardglass. Noel Dempster has kindly sent information on his Dempster family of Comber/Newtownards.
May 2011 John Ward has kindly sent a copy of an address to Rev. Major Frederick Chessnutt- Chesney, rector of St. Patrick's Ballymacarrett. Annesong has kindly sent marriage certificates for her Acheson family of Tullylish & Belfast. Margaret Muller has kindly sent Will information for 2 William McKees. Jim McDonald has kindly sent more information about his Ronan family of Kilcoo. Patrick J. White has kindly sent more information on his Small, Grant & Fegan families of Mayobridge area. A big thank you to all those people who sent their research but prefered to remain anonymous.
April 2011 The 1911 Scottish census is now online at www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk .Marian Knox has kindly sent marriage certificates for her Fee family of Ardglass. The commercial arm of Trinity College , Dublin http://www.eneclann.ie will digitise & put online throughout the year - Irish Registry of Deeds 1707-1929; landed estate court records from mid 19th centry & 6 million 19th century Irish prison records & 15 million cases from Irish Petty session from 1821-1910. This has been a popular month for the Message Board & the Claim a Relative Scheme but it relies on people remembering to tell me if they've changed their email address. Michael Cooper has kindly sent information about Corpl. William Valentine Cooper .
March 2011 Kristiina Musson has kindly sent BDMs of her Musson family. Dennis Boyd has kindly sent the marriage certificate of James Boyd & Eliza Skillen in Newtownards 1871. I have finished indexing the records of Lower Mourne Catholic Church (Ballymartin & Glassdrumman) baptisms & marriages from 1830s to 1870s ,kindly sent by Sheila Philips. View throughout Surname lists. Florence Dickson has kindly sent information about the McKee family of Annahilt & Killaney . Karen McCarthy has kindly sent for certificates for her McCarthy family of Moira area.
February 2011 Pat McMillan has kindly sent some Killough strays from 1871 Scottish census. John Clarke has kindly sent information on his Clarke family from Magheralin area. Keith Hanna has kindly sent religious census names from Kilbroney 1740 & 1766 . Michael Watt has kindly send information on his Crothers family of Annahilt.
January 2011 Ray and I are off on holidays again so more apologies for late replies to emails. Alan McKnight has kindly sent some marriage certificates from his Murphy (Banbridge) & McBride (Knockbreda families . Fiona Lewis has kindly sent information on people born Co. Down but living in Co. Antrim in 1851 per the 1851 Census fragments. . Kevin Langley has kindly sent his research on the Langley family of Tullylish . Sandy Wanamakewr has kindly sent many deeds for Wallace families from Registry of Deeds, Dublin & information about her Hassan family. Karen McCarthhy has kindly sent marriage records for her Graham family of Boardmills. Patrick J. White & Terry McConville have kindly sent details of his Butterworth & McConville families of Clonallan.
December 2010 Wishing all my readers & researchers a very happy Christmas and may 2011 be a good year for you all.

PRONI have uploaded the original Wills to go with the Will Calendar indexes . A great resource for making family connections. Try http://applications.proni.gov.uk/DCAL_PRONI_WillsCalendar/WillsSearch.aspx
Syl Maguire has kindle sent the marriage details of Richard Roddy & Ellen Johnston 1889 in Ballygalget Catholic Church. I'm indexing a book about the Hanna families of Kilkeel by R. Keith Hanna up to 1798 . It's an excellent read for anyone researching in the Kilkeel area. Brian McCleary has kindly sent photos of 1st World War memorial from Dromore. Shirley Walsh has kindly sent information on the Adair family. James McKibben has kindly sent the 2010 copy of the local history magazine of Strangford called Inverbrena. My copy of the Lecale Review for 2010 has also arrived.
November 2010 Dave Lindley has kindly sent information of his Weldon family near Lisburn. Shirley Walsh has kindly sent more information on her Lambert family. Sheila Phillips has kindly sent more Clough Presbyterian marriages 1822-1841. The National Library of Ireland in Dublin will be putting all Catholic registers online. This is a huge undertaking. They will be in their original form on microfiche so you'll have to still trawl through but will save overseas researchers much expense. Brenda Curry has kindly sent information on my Robinson family of Lancashire UK. . Paul Strain has kindly sent Strain, Speers & Rowan baptisms & marriages from Ballyroney Presbyterian from 1819.I'm flying over to Western Australia for the grandchildren's birthdays. They're now turning 7 and 5 and still excited to see me. Late answering of emails again-sorry. Many thanks to the numerous other people who have sent small snippets of information. It all helps someone somewhere.
October 2010 We had a lovely trip to Ireland with all the people we met being very friendly and kind. Special thanks to our hostess Stephanie Marner. We had lunch with Sheila Phillips at Maud's in Newcastle and I'd like to thank her for once again passing on her hard earned research to share with everyone. This time it's early Killinchy Presbyterian baptism & marriages but mainly Hanna & Stevensons. Thanks to Terry McComiskey for saving the Clonduff Posts newsletters for me to index & Marie Brannigan for more Down Recorder & Mourne Observer newspapers .
September 2010 Ann Allen has kindly sent information on Rev. John Wilson of Rathfriland & Moses Wilson of Kilkeel. Anne Darroch has kindly sent information on James Hutchison & family . Ray and I will be Ireland to visit family & friends for several weeks so again, apologies for the late answering of emails. Unfortunately, I'm unable to help anyone with photos this time.
August 2010 I'm having eye surgery (cataracts x 2 ) early & mid August so indexing & the answering of emails may slow down. Terry Kennedy has kindly sent Thompson births & marriages from Glascar Prebyterian church register. Annie Hutchison has kindly sent information on William Telford of Downpatrick & his family . Steven Edgar has kindly sent information on his Edgar family of Newry. Karen McCarthy has kindly sent a marriage certificate for Andrew McCarthy & Isabella Gregg of Moira 1882. Annie Hutchison has kindly sent a school photo of Fountain St, Downpatrick in 1946. My eye surgery has gone well so thank you to all the people who wrote with good wishes. I don't need glasses anymore for everyday things but will still need then for reading & the computer.
July 2010 We're flying over to Western Australia to stay with the grandchildren during the school holidays so again, apologies for slow service with the research emails. Jim McDonald has kindly sent his research on the Ronan family of Kinghill, Clonduff parish. Doug Gray has kindly sent more Gray marriages from Newtownards.
June 2010

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.

May 2010 Eddie Smyth has kindly sent a photo of Magheraleggan Pipe Band 1953/54 from Loughinisland. Names underneath . I've finished the 1891 Police Census of Killyleagh Parish. Access through Surname lists or full listings . Brian McCleary has kindly sent the names on the Killyleagh War Memorial of those who died 1sr World War. Indexed into Surname Lists . Tom Watson has kindly sent some baptisms from Killinchy Non Subscribing Presbyterian Church for 1819 & 1820. Sheila Phillips has kindly sent BDMS from Newry, Drumbo & Bangor for various dates.
April 2010

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/

March 2010

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.

    Reene Marner
February 2010

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)

January 2010 Wishing you all a successful 2010 with lots of sledgehammers knocking down brickwalls. Anne Forbes has kindly sent information about her McBlain family of Newtownards. Adrian Streather has kindly sent information about Ensign Michael Sparks who fought at the Battle of Saintfield in 1798. Doug Gray has kindly sent more Gray marriages from the Donaghadee area. Richard Hamilton has kindly sent more information about his Hamilton family of Banbridge area. Steve Buchanan has kindly sent marriage details on his Roy family . Pat Anderson has kindly sent more information on her Rogers & Mullan family of Kilkeel.
December 2009

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

November 2009

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

 

October 2009 Before PRONI closes for their big move, they say they will put the 1841 & 1851 Census extracts online. These are the Old Age Pension Claims so don't include all families. Bernice Krechuniak has kindly sent information on her Little family from Magheralin area.Wilma Tomerlin has kindly sent a list of family names that come across to Ulster from Ayrshire in Scotland with James Hamilton & Hugh Montgomery in 1606. This will be indexed throughout the Surname lists. Edward Graham has kindly sent information on his McBride/Tomelty family from Downpatrick. Bernie Kechuniak has kindly sent info on her Little family of Magheralin. Sheila Philips has kindly sent Norwood baptisms from Drumbo Presbyterian records 1827- 1862 (PRONI Mic/1P/291 . Lynettte Sanderson has kindly sent Bailey information from Ballynahinch. Stephen Fitzpatrick has kindly sent Reids of Garvaghy information. Paul Byrne has kindly sent all Byrne marriages & baptisms from Tullylish Catholic registers 1835-1874. David Chisholm has kindly sent information on Henry Magill of Lisleen, Comber & his wife Elizabeth McKeag.
September 2009 The Public Record Office of Northern Ireland {PRONI} has just announced that it will close all public access to the archives for a period of 9 months from September 2010 to May 2011 to facilitate a move across Belfast to newheadquarters presently being built. This means in effect that no genealogical research of any kind can take place in Northern Ireland for almost 1 year.

I have a request from one of my readers and myself. If you have left information on the Message Board or have Claimed A Relative, could you please keep your email address current. Brian Robertson has kindly sent a lovely old photo of Connsbrook House in Holywood parish. Margaret Mueller continues to send more BDMs from Moira & Magheralin Catholic records. Eloine Patton Chesnut has kindly sent early information of her William Patton & family from Kircubbin area. If you're planning a visit to PRONI next year be aware that they will be closed for 8 months whilst they are moving to new premises. See their website- http://www.northernireland.gov.uk/news/news-dcal/news-dcal-030909-public-record-office.htm John Bartos has kindly sent some baptisms from Regent St, Newtownards Presbyterian Church for 1840 & 1841. Sheila Philips had kindly sent more baptisms from Mourne Presbyterian Church, Kilkeel 1841- 1851
August 2009 Kevin Crangle has kindly sent class photos of St. Patrick's Boys' High School, Downpatrick 1937; Dunsford National School 1926 (some names) & boys 1931 & girls 1931 (names) ,1935 & 1938; click here for the photos . Sheila Phillips has kindly send the baptism from Mourne Presbyterian, Kilkeel 1839-1841. Trevor Whiteside has kindly sent information on his Cummins family of Rinclare, Donaghmore . David Arathoon has kindly sent a lovely old postcard of Gillhall, Dromore. Giles Stacey has kindly sent Sands records from Tullylish area 1725 - 1854 . Bradley Boal has kindly sent Boals extracterd from Granshaw Presbyterian, Comber . A big thank you hug for Bill Haggan for being a special messanger.
July 2009 My grandchildren are spending the school holidays with me so I won't have much time for the computer so apologies for emails that are slow to be answered this month. William Wilson has kindly sent a photo and information on Warrenpoint Presbyterian Churches. A parishioner has kindly sent baptisms & marriages from 1st Newtownards Presbyterian Church 1833- 1920. This is a large file and will take me a while to index throughout the website. Files like this are very precious to family historians and gladly welcomed. Observations so far - there were a lot of marriages that took place within a few months /days of the first child's birth but very few illegitimate children baptised. Some putative fathers mentioned. You can spot the regular churchgoers with up to 10 children baptised at the one church . Some others families which baptised all the children in a batch . Before 1848, children were baptised within a week/ month of being born but as the years went on the time span lengthened. There were two men, James Skilling & Lucius Crymble who acted as witnesses at hundreds of weddings leading me to believe that there were church officials/members of some sort who took this role when the couples didn't turn up with enough witnesses. Some birth dates don't tie up with the civil registration birth dates. I'm inclined to believe the church date as their were penalties for registration a child's birth late so some parents falsified the date so they didn't have to pay the fine. The record for the longest child bearing range goes to Mary Ann Little Moore, wife of Samuel McCully who bore 14 children over 28 years . There's another couple Thomas Paden & Mary Jane Brown who married in 1855 had their 1st child in 1865 & last in 1908 . (This needs checking out as Brown is a common surname) Marriages before 1840 rarely gave the couple's father's name.
June 2009 Keith Hazzard has kindly send a photo of Mountross House near Portaferry. Ken Stacey has kindly sent a photo and information on Annahilt Presbyterian Church. Sheila Phillips has kindly sent Bennett baptisms from Newry Catholic Church. Dale Heenan has kindly sent Heenan information. Julie has kindly sent details of her Robson / McConnell families from Killaney parish. Another big thank you to Marie Brannigan, Gemma Ward, & Nan Brennan for keeping me supplied with various newspaper articles.
May 2009 Following my mention of redundancy in March, I've had several very kind emails telling me to keep up the good work. It's nice to be appreciated, thanks. Timothy Ferres has kindly sent an old postcard & information on Killynether House, Comber. Lena McVea has sent more information on her Young & Greer families around Ardkeen. Brian McCleery has kindly sent a list of vicars from Drumballyroney parish . Linda Hall has kindly sent more BDMs from Irish Times and Marie Brannigan more Down Recorder articles. Sheila Phillips has kindly sent the workers' pay book for Silcock's Mill, Drumnaconnor 1889 & 1890. Laurel Baty has kindly sent BDMs for Beatty & Copeland families of Magheralin area. Dennis Nicklaus has kindly sent POD information for the towns of Ballywalter & Kircubbin in 1830. Dee Bardes has kindly sent a PRONI file re letters of John Moore land agent for Arthur Annesley estate c. 1785 & details of Mount Panther estate & a lovely old drawing of Downpatrick Cathedral c. 1786 .
April 2009 Wills pre 1858 are starting to come onto the Public Records site www.proni.gov.uk . Marg Hutton has kindly sent marriage information for John Hutton & Elizabeth Douglas 1825 Killinchy. Margaret Mueller has kindly send information on Catney graves from Moira area.. Edward Graham has kindly sent information on his McBride family of Portaferry. Horace Reid has kindly sent a copy of the chuerch booklet of Edengrove Presbyterian Church, Ballynahinch 1774-1974.
March 2009 Lesley Fielder has kindly sent many Gunning marriages 1846-1900. Owen Davy has kindly sent Lord Moira's Rent Roll for Ballynahinch Estate 1783. Giles Stacey has kindly sent births & marriage for his Sands family of Tullylish . I am continuing to add civil registration births & marriages. I realise that my site will soon be redundant with the indexes coming online at the Mornman site www.familysearch.org but it may be a while before the full information is available and , hey, it keeps me busy.
February 2009 Sheila Philips has kindly sent marriages 1841-1843 from St. Matthew's Catholic Church, Ballymacarrett. Neil Irwin has kindly sent more information of his Carson/McClurg/ McConnell families from Kilmore parish . Glynis McHargue Patterson has kindly sent information about some McHargs/ Mehargs.
January 2009

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. **

 

c;lick here for What's New 2002-2008