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
