Ballymoney Genealogical Gathering

DO YOU HAVE ROOTS IN ‘THE ROUTE’?

If you have ancestors in North Antrim, then the Route Back Home 2014 is the place to find out more about your family history!

 

The exciting conference gives genealogists from across the world the opportunity to enjoy a unique series of lectures & research trips focusing on Ballymoney and district.

 

The Route Back Home will run from 24-27 September and will be based in Ballymoney Town Hall.  It has been developed to assist people who are specifically researching their ancestry in Ballymoney, Co. Antrim.  The conference is an opportunity to meet other people who share an interest in North Antrim, a region traditionally known as "the Route”.

 

The Route Back Home is run by Ballymoney Museum.  It is supported by the Coleraine Branch of the North of Ireland Family History Society (www. http://colerainefhs.org.uk/) and their members will be available to help delegates and provide advice throughout the conference.

 

HOW DO I BOOK MY PLACE?

Delegates must pay the full booking fee of £180 to be allocated a place at the conference.  Only 20 places are available and bookings cannot be confirmed until receipt of a completed booking form and full payment.  The conference fee includes:

• Lectures on how to research your ancestry in North Antrim
• Daily lunch and regular refreshments
• Conference dinner and drinks reception
• Research trips to Belfast and Ballymena

 

Please contact me at this email address if you require further information and I look forward to hopefully seeing you in September.

Regards,

 

Keith Beattie

Museum Manager

The Laggan Army 1640s

James McKeane, above, believed to be the grandfather of James McKeen of the 1718 fleet fame

One valuable primary source for Scots-Irish family historians is the 1642/43 muster rolls for the Laggan Army. This muster roll includes the many Scottish families settled in east Donegal from Lifford, north into Inis Eogháin.  The list reflects the makeup of the Scottish settlement and there are surnames from the Scottish Highlands, primarily from mid Argyll and Lennox and from the Lowlands, primarily from Ayrshire, Lanarkshire, and Gallowaysrhire.

Ulster and West Highland Clan names

Many people with Gaelic origin surnames are interested in researching their clan connections. This is cannot be done by assuming one’s last name is also a clan surname.  Many Gaelic surnames are not clan surnames and do not relate to historical clans.  They are surnames created from Gaelic patronymic naming customs.  Many Gaelic surnames were not fixed in until very late, circa 1500s into the 1600s.  Even then the use of clan surnames was not universal and was often a form only found on legal documents written by government officials, rather than the surname a family actually used in their community.[1]  Clan surnames were used more by older sons of landed families. In other cases families related to a historical clan via marriage, via legal contracts such a manrents (military obligations to a lord), tacsmen (land managers) or just allies, would take the surname of the clan to which they were associated.  The best way to  research one’s clan connections is through Y chromosome DNA testing (Y-DNA) and a study of the history of a district that the family originated.

Y Chromosome DNA (Y-DNA) testing usually provides a kinship group of surnames with the same paternal kinship.   Often the non-surname matches are as important as the surname matches when trying ascertain clan connections.  Many Gaelic clans had groups of surnames associated with them. There are many examples of this that have turned up in DNA results.

If you have tested your Y-DNA at the 67 or 111 and a definite kinship group has appeared the surnames in the group usually give important data relevant to past clan connections.  A good first step is to have research done on the etymology and history of those particular surnames.  Sometimes this alone reveals a family past clan connections.  For example, the common Ulster and west Highland surname of Campbell, most times this is the anglicised form of Caimbeul from the well-known Argyll family.   But some Campbell families have a kinship group that includes the surname Caulfield which an Ulster Heritage researcher knew to be anglicised form of the name Mac Cathmhaoil, a county Tyrone Irish Gaelic family and that this family used both Caulfield and Campbell as anglicised forms of their surname.  This gave this particular Campbell family their real history and geographic location to conduct further research.  This type of breakthrough happens often in the Ulster Heritage Project.

If one of your research goals is to explore your clan connections and you have reached a brick wall with your paternal kinship group matches it might help to have an expert look at the group and do an analysis of them.  This involves etymology, history, and geographic analysis of the kinship group and an examination of any primary sources.  It is complex work often working with Gaelic language sources, but can provide valuable insight into a family’s clan connections.   If you have reached a point that you would like your kinship group analyzed please contact Ulster Heritage.

Donagheady Parish County Donegal

If you have ancestors from County Tyrone, Three centuries of life in a Tyrone parish. A history of Donagheady from 1600 to 1900, by Dr William Roulston is an excellent book for not only family history and genealogy research, but also to better understand life in that part of Ulster. This book is highly recommended.


This book tells the story of the parish of Donagheady and its families over three centuries. Donagheady occupies the most northerly portion of County Tyrone. It is a large parish, stretching from the River Foyle to the Sperrins. In the period covered by this study Donagheady experienced massive changes with the result that the parish in 1900 was a very different place from the one it had been in 1600. Through the Plantation and subsequent waves of migration in the seventeenth century, especially from Scotland, the character of much of the parish was transformed.

The creation and disintegration of the estate system in Donagheady is also charted in this volume and the fate and fortunes of the landowning families and their tenants is explored. The histories of the main religious denominations are covered, as well as the nature of rural society itself. Other chapters in this book examine the impact of the Great Famine on the parish, the development of the village of Dunnamanagh, attempts to improve educational provision, the rise and decline of rural industries, and the relationship between Donagheady and the wider world.

William Roulston is from the townland of Gortavea in the parish of Donagheady, and was raised on a farm that has been in his family’s possession since 1830. He is the Research Director of the Ulster Historical Foundation. His other books include The parishes of Leckpatrick and Dunnalong: their place in history (2000), Researching Scots-Irish Ancestors (2005), and Restoration Strabane, 1660-1714 (2007).

Link to purchase Ebook format:  Three Centuries of Life in a Tyrone Parish. A History of Donagheady from 100 to 1900.

Strabane & West Ulster In the 1800s Ebook

Strabane & West Ulster In The 1800s
History From The Broadsheets
Selections from The Strabane Morning Post 1812 – 1837

Strabane & West Ulster in the 1800s, is an in-depth look at the lives and time of people of all classes and creeds in the early decades of the 19th century. The information is extracted from the pages of the weekly newspaper, The Strabane Morning Post, and much previously unavailable material has now been brought into the public domain. Descriptions of floods, fevers and famines provide insights into the problems of everyday life, while advertisements demonstrate the extent of economic activity and the range of products available to those who could afford to pay. The copious coverage of court cases sheds light on the extent of lawlessness and the severity of law enforcement while regional and parliamentary affairs are also highlighted.
This compilation is therefore both an entertaining examination of the foibles of a past age and a comprehensive source base for further analysis of key events and responses. It is a must for anyone interested in the everyday responses of ordinary people in their own environment to a rapidly changing world and a major addition for researchers and genealogists in unraveling an era in which evidential material has been difficult to locate. This limited edition publication should take pride of place among a range of local materials from West Ulster and provide endless hours of pleasurable engagement in the concerns of another age. Click for Full Index

This e-book is every-word-searchable. Includes Introduction, Dedication, Preface, Appendix, Index. 428 pages: Instantly Downloadable - Only $16.95

Link:   Ulster Heritage Books

County Tyrone history now available as an Ebook

Three centuries of life in a Tyrone parish.
A history of Donagheady from 1600 to 1900

This book tells the story of the parish of Donagheady and its families over three centuries. Donagheady occupies the most northerly portion of County Tyrone. It is a large parish, stretching from the River Foyle to the Sperrins. In the period covered by this study Donagheady experienced massive changes with the result that the parish in 1900 was a very different place from the one it had been in 1600. Through the Plantation and subsequent waves of migration in the seventeenth century, especially from Scotland, the character of much of the parish was transformed.

The creation and disintegration of the estate system in Donagheady is also charted in this volume and the fate and fortunes of the landowning families and their tenants is explored. The histories of the main religious denominations are covered, as well as the nature of rural society itself. Other chapters in this book examine the impact of the Great Famine on the parish, the development of the village of Dunnamanagh, attempts to improve educational provision, the rise and decline of rural industries, and the relationship between Donagheady and the wider world.

William Roulston is from the townland of Gortavea in the parish of Donagheady, and was raised on a farm that has been in his family’s possession since 1830. He is the Research Director of the Ulster Historical Foundation. His other books include The parishes of Leckpatrick and Dunnalong: their place in history (2000), Researching Scots-Irish Ancestors (2005), and Restoration Strabane, 1660-1714 (2007).
 
This e-book is every-word-searchable and includes Griffiths Valuation for the Parish. 390 pages

To Purchase use this link:  Ulster Heritage Ebooks

Donagheady Family History Book

This book tells the story of the parish of Donagheady and its families over three centuries. Donagheady occupies the most northerly portion of County Tyrone. It is a large parish, stretching from the River Foyle to the Sperrins. In the period covered by this study Donagheady experienced massive changes with the result that the parish in 1900 was a very different place from the one it had been in 1600. Through the Plantation and subsequent waves of migration in the seventeenth century, especially from Scotland, the character of much of the parish was transformed.

The creation and disintegration of the estate system in Donagheady is also charted in this volume and the fate and fortunes of the landowning families and their tenants is explored. The histories of the main religious denominations are covered, as well as the nature of rural society itself. Other chapters in this book examine the impact of the Great Famine on the parish, the development of the village of Dunnamanagh, attempts to improve educational provision, the rise and decline of rural industries, and the relationship between Donagheady and the wider world.

William Roulston is from the townland of Gortavea in the parish of Donagheady, and was raised on a farm that has been in his family’s possession since 1830. He is the Research Director of the Ulster Historical Foundation. His other books include The parishes of Leckpatrick and Dunnalong: their place in history (2000), Researching Scots-Irish Ancestors (2005), and Restoration Strabane, 1660-1714 (2007).

This work is highly recommended by The Scots-Irish blog.

It can be ordered online from: The Ulster Heritage Book Shop