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Research in Other Countries => Europe => Topic started by: BillW on Wednesday 08 May 13 00:07 BST (UK)
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Two or three instances of this name, HALPIN, have popped up in France in relation to my research into an IRISH family. Halpin and its variant spellings is an Irish surname but many have settled in Britain over long periods of time. However, I should think it is a very rare name in France.
In the 1840s, A. Halpin (possibly R. Halpin) of the Kingdom of France witnessed a document in Dublin, Ireland.
A shipping record shows the ship Undine arrived in Dover from Calais on 22 August 1851. The captain declared his "alien" passengers to customs including Halpin (no forename or initials), Gentleman, and France as his place of residence.
Might there have been further shipping records for such a routine crossing at the time?
I am afraid that my school days French does not get me far in trying to access French online records. I would really appreciate help as to how I might go about this search.
Bill
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There is no national databases for bmds in France, so you have to know a location or hope something comes up on one of the partial indexes that have been constructed by various groups.
However, there was a brief mention on geneanet.org for a birth of a Michel Halpin, b. 1850, "Granville, Eure", which turned out to be (seeing as there is no place called Granville in the Eure department), Granville-l'Heure, now part of Le Havre in Seine Maritime and these records are on http://recherche.archivesdepartementales76.net
25 8bre 1850 (25th October 1850) (image 217 in the 1850 births, act number 428 - I can't link directly) - presentation of a male infant born at the house of his parents, the previous day in this town, rue catinat (not sure on street name), son of John Halpin, 37, railway employee, and Ann O'Connell, 25, who were married at Rouen 5 June 1846; given the name of Michel. (witnesses are not relatives).
I can't see the marriage in Rouen (could be lots of reasons; I might have misread the date on the original document, or "Rouen" might have been somewhere nearby, or they might not have registered with the French authorities in the first place).
There is in the English 1871 census also a Robert Halpin b. 1821 France with wife Eleanor (b. Ireland), sister in law Margaret Wallace, and a bunch of kids (most b. Ireland, youngest b. England).
https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/VRJW-R5L
Do either of these strike you as a possibility? I'd imagine that any trace will come back to members of an Irish family settled temporarily or permanently in France.
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Hi,
Another child born in France
Mary Ann HALPIN - Graville-l'Heure (Seine-Maritime) - 12/JAN/1849. Born the day before. Parents : John HALPHIN, 35, employé au chemin de fer, and Anne O'CONNEL, 25, sans profession. Same date and place given for their marriage : Rouen 05/JUN/1846
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Thanks for the feedback on the French Halpins. It's greatly appreciated. The family we're interested in spent most of the 18th and 19th centuries in Ireland and England, with forays into France around the time of the revolution in 1789, with the actor John Edmund Halpin being among a number of English pow's and detainees held at Fontainebleu and Verdun in May of 1803.
The Robert Halpin you've uncovered was the Rev Robert Crawford Halpin (1815 - 1889), who married Eleanora Wallace in 1847. Robert's father was William Halpin (1777 - 1862), who fought in the Napoleonic wars on the British side, which explains Robert's birth in France.
Thanks again for the feedback.
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Halpin in France 1673 - so what makes people think it is an Irish surname ?
http://en.geneanet.org/fonds/individus/?size=10&sourcename=&nom=halpin&ignore_each_patronyme=&prenom=&prenom_operateur=or&ignore_each_prenom=&place__0__=&zonegeo__0__=France&country__0__=FRA®ion__0__=&subregion__0__=&place__1__=&zonegeo__1__=&country__1__=®ion__1__=&subregion__1__=&place__2__=&zonegeo__2__=&country__2__=®ion__2__=&subregion__2__=&place__3__=&zonegeo__3__=&country__3__=®ion__3__=&subregion__3__=&place__4__=&zonegeo__4__=&country__4__=®ion__4__=&subregion__4__=&from=&to=&exact_month=&exact_day=&exact_year=&go=1
added - apologies - Christophe Halpin b 1673 - son of Nicolas Halpin born 1650 DUBLIN,IRELAND ...just had a little laugh at myself .... :-[ :-[ :-[
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Christophe is a terrific find - can't thank you enough for this discovery. Nicholas is one of the earliest names on our family tree, and your information raises the possibility that the Halpin family's link to France began much earlier than previously thought and may have involved factors other than war and commercial and political adventurism. Brilliant contribution. Many thanks.
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and theres me thinking I had made an Ass of myself saying what makes you think it is Irish ...lol...glad you find that record of value .... :)
ADDED- Just a thought - Nicolas b 1650 was born during the English Civil War and in 1688 William of Orange deposed Charles 2nd - he also fought in Ireland so I presume around 1680 period - was Nicolas in your family Catholic or Protestant - because many Irish went and fought in the Anglo Dutch War which started on 6th April 1672 - English and French troops joined forces against the Dutch .
I wonder were your rellies Fighting Army Men ??
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There were also a lot of Irishmen who followed James II into exile in France. The parish register of St Germain-en-Laye has a number of records of the time with some interesting interpretations of Irish surnames by the parish priest! In case it is of interest to anyone "Jacobite extracts from the parochial registers of St Germain-en-Laye" can be found on the Internet Archive.
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A great question, garstonite. All of the Halpin's we're interested in were Protestant, but some of them had confusing sympathies for and attachments to Catholics. They themselves say they came from county Louth, in the north east corner of Ireland, and many of them used the surnames Halpin and Halfpenny interchangeably, placing them among the large mix of Catholic and Protestant Halpins and Halfpennys found in Louth. A developing theory of my own is that they were what Irish historians call 'Old English' - that is, they settled in Ireland as colonizers before the English reformation and the conversion of England to Protestantism. Thereafter, over the course of a few generations and in response to events in Ireland and abroad, more and more of them converted, with the last of the conversions occurring between the Cromwellite wars and the Glorious Revolution of 1688. If there were any Catholics left in the Halpin family after that point, they probably converted in response to the Penal Laws, introduced to deprive the native Irish of the remainder of their lands and properties. This seems to me to be the most likely course of events.
Nicholas's line of descendants settled in Portarlington, Queen's County, some time before the 1760s, where they were associated with the education of the Ascendancy's children. I've been trying to link a certain Christopher Halpin, who was a distiller in Dublin in 1798, to the rest of the Halpin clan, and your discovery of a 'Christophe', son of Nicholas, has given me the best indication yet that I might be on the right track. Hence my gratitude and excitement.
So your speculations as to the possible participation of the Halpins in the events surrounding the Glorious Revolution in 1688 and the Anglo Dutch War are certainly not wild. They fit with a trend and a pattern that was repeated in the 18th and 19th centuries. Many of the Halpins were indeed 'fighting men'.
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There were also a lot of Irishmen who followed James II into exile in France. The parish register of St Germain-en-Laye has a number of records of the time with some interesting interpretations of Irish surnames by the parish priest! In case it is of interest to anyone "Jacobite extracts from the parochial registers of St Germain-en-Laye" can be found on the Internet Archive.
Excellent advice jayaygee - I'll certainly follow up on your suggestion.
Incidentally - one of Nicholas Halpin's descendants was a young man by the name of Lieutenant William Halpin-Sweeny, who fought in the Battle of Trafalgar and stood guard over Napoleon as the defeated Emperor was being transported into exile for the last time. The two men became friendly during the voyage, and in the course of one of many conversations Napoleon became convinced that he had met the Lieutenant before, during the battle of Waterloo. But it turned out that Napoleon had actually interrogated the Lieutenant's brother, who had been captured during the fighting. Upon realizing his mistake, Napoleon is reputed to have said: ''Ahh. Your brother was once my prisoner. Now I am yours.''
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Evidently O'Connell family there from 1746 as well - did you know that ?
http://en.geneanet.org/fonds/individus/?exact_day=&exact_month=&exact_year=&ignore_each_patronyme=&ignore_each_prenom=&size=10&sourcename=&nom=oconnell&prenom=&prenom_operateur=or&place__0__=&zonegeo__0__=France&country__0__=FRA®ion__0__=&subregion__0__=&place__1__=&zonegeo__1__=&country__1__=®ion__1__=&subregion__1__=&place__2__=&zonegeo__2__=&country__2__=®ion__2__=&subregion__2__=&place__3__=&zonegeo__3__=&country__3__=®ion__3__=&subregion__3__=&place__4__=&zonegeo__4__=&country__4__=®ion__4__=&subregion__4__=&from=&to=&go=1
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marriage in 1746 of Andre Cognacq to Audrey O'Connell aged 24 - born Les Portes-en-Ré,,17286 - mother Jeanne O'Connell - so It looks like O'Connell family were there 1718 - probably earlier ... :)
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Evidently O'Connell family there from 1746 as well - did you know that ?
http://en.geneanet.org/fonds/individus/?exact_day=&exact_month=&exact_year=&ignore_each_patronyme=&ignore_each_prenom=&size=10&sourcename=&nom=oconnell&prenom=&prenom_operateur=or&place__0__=&zonegeo__0__=France&country__0__=FRA®ion__0__=&subregion__0__=&place__1__=&zonegeo__1__=&country__1__=®ion__1__=&subregion__1__=&place__2__=&zonegeo__2__=&country__2__=®ion__2__=&subregion__2__=&place__3__=&zonegeo__3__=&country__3__=®ion__3__=&subregion__3__=&place__4__=&zonegeo__4__=&country__4__=®ion__4__=&subregion__4__=&from=&to=&go=1
I knew Daniel O'Connell was educated there by a rich uncle, but I've never found a link between his family and mine. Not until the 1840s, when the Reverend Nicholas John Halpin was editing an ultra-Loyalist newspaper called the Dublin Evening Mail and seeking a personal favour from O'Connell - his political nemesis.
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marriage in 1746 of Andre Cognacq to Audrey O'Connell aged 24 - born Les Portes-en-Ré,,17286 - mother Jeanne O'Connell - so It looks like O'Connell family were there 1718 - probably earlier ... :)
It's all fascinating stuff, garstonite. I'm sure we'll be mulling over your discoveries for months to come. Many thanks.
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Hello
La Flotte, burial of François CAHELL in 1753 (01/0JAN/1753) at the age of 56.
http://www.archinoe.net/v2/ad17/visualiseur/registre.html?id=170027260
Frame 34
He was a merchant.
His wife Jeanne OCONNELL is alive
Among the witnesses : Jacques François CAHELL, his son, and Jacques COGNAC, his son in law
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Marriage record of Marie Jeanne CAHELL, 25 years old. Her parents live "paroisse des Portes"
Les Portes en Ré I guess https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Les_Portes-en-R%C3%A9
http://www.archinoe.net/v2/ad17/visualiseur/registre.html?id=170027258
Frame 83