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Ireland (Historical Counties) => Ireland => Antrim => Topic started by: paulcrewe on Thursday 01 March 07 21:53 GMT (UK)
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Good morning everyone,
Being totally new to Irish family history research and living in Australia, I was hoping that someone may be able to point me in the right direction.
My gg Grandfather, James Whiteford, said that he was born in Ireland about 1816 on the 1841, 1851, 1861, 1871 Scotland Censuses. He was living in the village of Drumlemble near Campbeltown in Argyll during those censuses and was married there on 17 Jun 1834 to Mary Mann. In 1881 and 1891 he was living with his daughter and her family in Lanarkshire until he died in 1898 aged 82.
On his death certificate, his parents are listed as John Whiteford, labourer and Jane McBryde.
I have also found two brothers of his in Campbeltown who also say on the Scotland Censuses they were born in Ireland, one of which says he was born in County Antrim on the 1851 census. Their details are -
John Whiteford b c1807 m Agnes McMillan in Campbeltown 27 May 1851
Alexander Whiteford b c1805 m Mary Scally in Campbeltown 30 Nov 1826.
All three death certificates show their father as John Whiteford (a labourer, a county workman, and a miller) and their mother variously as Jane McBryde, Jean McBride and Jane McBride.
I suspect that they may have all come to Campbeltown at the same time with their parents (as James was only 10 when his brother Alexander married), but the parents never appear on any censuses so must have died prior to 1841 (if my assumption is correct).
A number of posts I have seen on various mailing lists say that Whiteford is a name that is most common in county Antrim (born out by the Griffith's Primary Valuation 1848 - 1864), and that Carrickfergus, Balleaston, Ballynure and Raloo are likely areas to start looking.
Please forgive me if this is a stupid question, but do Parish Registers (or their equivalent) exist for these areas in the period 1800-1820 where I could check for births, deaths and marriages of my Whitefords, and what is the best way to get access to them? Am I best to get a professional researcher to look into this given that I live in Australia?
I would be particularly looking for a marriage for John Whiteford to Jean/Jane McBride/McBryde around 1800ish, and births of Alexander about 1805, John about 1807 and James about 1816 and any other children to the couple.
Any general information on these Whiteford families and/or their place of origin would be very much appreciated.
Thank you very much,
Paul Crewe
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Hello Paul,
J. Whiteford captained the East Antrim Hockey Club in the 1930s. www.eastantrim.co.uk/members.php?member=j-whiteford If you use www.192.com to search for Whiteford you should find a few. I entered Carrickfergus and three appeared ... two with businesses in Larne and one in Straid.
I'd suggest posting messages to the Editors of the Belfast Telegraph (scroll down the list of contacts till you see "writeback") www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/contact and the East Antrim Times www.larnetimes.co.uk/contactus.aspx telling them about your search. The Telegraph regulary posts genealogy queries.
Christopher
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... do Parish Registers (or their equivalent) exist for these areas in the period 1800-1820 where I could check for births, deaths and marriages of my Whitefords, and what is the best way to get access to them? Am I best to get a professional researcher to look into this given that I live in Australia?
I would be particularly looking for a marriage for John Whiteford to Jean/Jane McBride/McBryde around 1800ish, and births of Alexander about 1805, John about 1807 and James about 1816 and any other children to the couple.
To locate church records (if they exist) in Ireland you need to know what religion the family was and where they lived (parish if not actual townland).
PRONI (Public Records Office of Northern Ireland) do have microfilmed copies of many church registers. LDS also have many- check their catalogue online at www.familysearch.org. If LDS have microfilmed the records you need they can be ordered from your local LDS library for a small fee to be viewed there.
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I really appreciate your replies to my query thank you very much.
I will post messages to the editors of those papers, so thank you for those links.
I checked the LDS Catalog and none of the parishes I have pinpointed with Whitefords at some stage in the past have had their registers filmed by the LDS, so unfortunately that isn't an option for me.
If I don't get any response from the letters to the editors, I will approach PRONI for their assistance.
Thank you both again very much.
Paul
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You haven't said what religion the family were but the following records are in LDS catalogue:
I checked the LDS Catalog and none of the parishes I have pinpointed with Whitefords at some stage in the past have had their registers filmed by the LDS, so unfortunately that isn't an option for me.
Ballyeaston, Ballycor Parish, Ireland - Presbyterian Church records:
baptisms 1814-1821
marriages 1813-21, 1824, 1828, 1830, 1832, 1837, 1843, 1845
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Thank you for that aghadowey, I missed it as I only checked for actual parishes, not individual towns. I'll order that film and hope that if they were there then there were some records in that time period.
Paul
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Were the family Presbyterian then?
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I had a look at the 1912 Ulster Covenant ... thirty Whitefords are listed ... twenty nine were from East Antrim and one from Belfast. The family is probably Presbyterian.
Christopher
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I would have thought they were probably Presbyterian as well, as I suspect the Whitefords originally went to Ireland from Scotland (maybe sometime in the 1700s) and my branch returned to Campbeltown in the early 1800s (maybe for work?).
Thank you for the lookup in the 1912 Ulster Covenant as well Christopher - does it say where in East Antrim?
From the Griffiths Valuation and the Tithe Applotment books, the Parishes I want to look at are -
Layd, Carrickfergus, Skerry, Derryaghy, Dunaghy, Ballycor, Nallynure, Grange of Inispollan, Raloo, Connor, Glynn and Ballyeaston.
Paul
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Hi Paul,
Sorry ... I omitted to post the link so that you can have a look http://applications.proni.gov.uk/UlsterCovenant/Search.aspx
Enter the surname and then click on FIND.
Christopher
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Thank you for that Christopher, that sure is a great resource.
Paul
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Good morning everyone,
A couple of years on and I still haven't answered my question about the origins of my Whitefords in Co Antrim.
However, after a lot of further research, I am now looking at the possibility that my Whitefords came from Cross Townland in the Fair Head area, close to Ballycastle (Culfeightrin Parish).
I know there were Whitefords in that area as early as 1740 when John Whiteford was listed in Culfeightrin in the Protestant Householders' Returns. There is a headstone in the Culfeightrin Church of Ireland Cemetery for Alexander Whiteford of Cross (1745-1821) and another in the Bonamargy Old Friary Cemetery (Culfeightrin) for Archibald Whiteford of Gartalorkan (1760-1809). It is quite likely that Alexander and Archibald are sons of John.
Alexander (1745-1821) was the father of a Robert Whiteford (from the headstone) and also Alexander Whiteford (c1790-1867) who married Isabella Mathers about 1818 (2nd marriage) and migrated with his family to St John's in Newfoundland in 1850. Information I have found about the Newfoundland family says that Alexander (1745-1821) "had been among the first adherents of the Church of Ireland to open their doors to the celebrated Methodist evangelist Gideon Ouseley", and Alexander (1790-1867) "was engaged wholly to the work of the Methodist church in a lay capacity as circuit steward and trustee" and his family was described as a "close-knit Ulster and Wesleyan Methodist family".
There was also a Mary Whiteford (c1775) who married John McBride in the Fair Head area about 1800, and this Mary may have also been a daughter of Alexander (1745-1821). A number of the children of their son John migrated to New Zealand and were all said to be from the Fair Head area.
And then there is "my" John Whiteford who married Jane McBride and I am hoping to connect him to this family as he would have been born about 1775-1780.
My reasoning for this is the names given to my John Whiteford's grandchildren. All three of his sons that I know of (including my GG Grandfather James) seemed to follow the Scottish naming traditions for their children which also suggests that Alexander was my John's father.
Apparently the Whitefords were the landlords of the area in their day, and Alexander (1745-1821) leased about 700 acres of land in the Fair Head area which included 2 villages, and lived in the Big House (as it was known) on Seamus and Theresa McBride’s property. Seamus was a brother of John McBride who married Mary Whiteford and farmed the old family farm, but in a new house next to “the Big House.” The McBride's were Catholic and the Whitefords were originally Church of Ireland.
The 1803 Agricultural Census of Co Antrim lists 5 Whitefords in Culfeightrin - Robert (Ballyreagh), Alexander and John (Cross), Archibald (Knockbrack) and Margaret (Tervillin).
I apologise for the length of this post, but I wanted to lay out everything I know about the Whitefords in this area. Does anyone have any more information that may help me link my John in with these Whitefords, or any suggestions as to where I go from here? Does anyone know of a local historian or genealogist in the Ballycastle area who I could engage to help me?
Thank you for taking the time to read this post.
Paul
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Hi
My gt gt gt grandmother was Elizabeth Whiteford she was married to James Leitch or Leetch, Their daughter Elizabeth married Joseph Harris in Portglenone 1874.
In the eary 1880s they moved to Cambuslang, Elizabeth death certificate states her mother was Elizabeth Whiteford but i have not been able to find much else about the Whitefords.
The Harris family came from the Finkiltagh area and were among a farming community, they have a strong connection with the Kyle family.
I would happy to share any info with you.
regards
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Hi nvb272,
Thank you for getting in touch. I don't think we are going to be able to help each other much as it seems that my WHITEFORDs would have already left Co Antrim by the time your Elizabeth WHITEFORD was born. Also, I have looked at the WHITEFORDs that were from the Ballymena area that I could find, and didn't see anything that made me think mine were from the Ballymena area.
Sorry I couldn't be of more help.
Paul
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Hi Paul, I'm wondering how you got the details of your ancestors buried in Bonamargy Friary Cemetery? My ancestor is buried there and I'm hoping there may be information on his gravestone but haven't been able to find any transcriptions etc online.
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Hi Gramattica,
I bought a transcription of the headstone inscription at Irish World's gravestone index - https://www.irish-world.com/gravestones/index.cfm. Hopefully they will have the one you're looking for.
I then hired a researcher in Ballycastle to get a photo for me.
Both provided me with a very good service. Good luck.
Paul