Halpin family of Wicklow - Part 1

[creme egg]

Ann doesnt have any photos of Edwin and Marianne as she never knew who they were until now, only that her grandparents were William Halpin and Matilda Henry. I am slowly finding out info but cant access the 1901 census so I will wait until you send it to me. Was Bridget Edwin and Marianne's daughter? Whatever info you have  I will be most grateful for and dont mind the delay. Thanks

[markenfield]

Dear Raymond,  Thought I'd say hullo from Perth Western Australia. Your information on the Halpins is terrific! I noticed your note on the brothers Nicholas and John 's separate lines. I descend from George Halpin  snr and his son Jnr , civil engineers and lighthouse commissioners. George  Halpin Jnr's son another George  Halpin migrated to Australia. I've a photo of  the youngest George and  his family taken in the 1870's in the USA. They seemed to travel a lot! His daughter Mary Halpin married Alfred Mettam. They are my great grand parents. My great Aunt Fran visited the family  in Ireland just after the first world war and spoke of a lovely  family house in Dublin. As children we had been told of Captain Halpin's achievements and other Halpin relatives had also worked on the Great Eastern to provide trusted services in the cable laying itself as there had been concerns about possible sabotage previously. I was never clear on where we actually linked to captain Robert Halpin. Your info seems to be clearing the haze if I'm reading right John Edmund Halpin is the father of George Halpin Snr and James Halpin.
My email is  (*) kind regards Kim mettam.

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[markenfield]

Dear Raymond,  Thought I'd say hullo from Perth Western Australia. Your information on the Halpins is terrific! I noticed your note on the brothers Nicholas and John 's separate lines. I descend from George Halpin  snr and his son Jnr , civil engineers and lighthouse commissioners. George  Halpin Jnr's son another George  Halpin migrated to Australia. I've a photo of  the youngest George and  his family taken in the 1870's in the USA. They seemed to travel a lot! His daughter Mary Halpin married Alfred Mettam. They are my great grand parents. My great Aunt Fran visited the family  in Ireland just after the first world war and spoke of a lovely  family house in Dublin. As children we had been told of Captain Halpin's achievements and other Halpin relatives had also worked on the Great Eastern to provide trusted services in the cable laying itself as there had been concerns about possible sabotage previously. I was never clear on where we actually linked to captain Robert Halpin. Your info seems to be clearing the haze if I'm reading right John Edmund Halpin is the father of George Halpin Snr and James Halpin.
My email is  (*) kind regards Kim mettam.
more info Commissioner for lighthouses advised the followingThe following is all we know about the Halpins—

George Halpin was appointed as Inspector of Works to the Corporation for Preserving and Improving the Port of Dublin in 1800. This was the Port Authority for Dublin, also known as the Ballast Board.

Halpin was a builder by trade, with no academic engineering qualifications. He was responsible for supervising various engineering works around Dublin Port, from Sutton on the north side of Dublin Bay to Bullock Harbour on the south.

In 1810 the Ballast Board was made responsible for the lighthouses around the coast of Ireland, and the Board extended Halpin’s responsibilities by appointing him Inspector of Lighthouses as well as Inspector of Works.

Halpin was an administrator of exceptional ability. Under his direction the Ballast Board established an effective management structure for the lighthouse service, standardised the level of service provided, and regularised the employment of lighthouse keepers. Gradually during the early nineteenth century a proper marine aids to navigation infrastructure was put in place.

George Halpin died suddenly in July 1954 while carrying out lighthouse inspections. His date of birth is unknown. However, his headstone in Mount Jerome Cemetry, Dublin, gives his age at the time of death as 75 years.

When the Ballast Board took over responsibility for the Irish Lighthouses in 1810 there were only 14 lighthouses around the Irish Coast. By 1867, when responsibility was transferred to the Commissioners of Irish Lights, there were 72. George Halpin directed the construction of most of the 58 additional lighthouses, and of a number of others subsequently discontinued because their location proved ineffective. He also oversaw the modernisation and re-equipping of the previously existing lighthouses. This was in addition to supervising the construction of new docks, bridges and other projects for the expanding Dublin port - a remarkable achievement.

So far as I am aware, virtually nothing is known of his family history. The Ballast Board kept very few records of their employees and certainly did not record private details of their personal lives. In any case there are almost no records extant prior to 1900. We do know, however, that his son, also George, who was a qualified civil engineer, was employed by the Board as assistant Inspector of Works and assistant Inspector of Lighthouses from 1830 and when George Halpen senior died George Halpin junior was promoted to the post of Inspector of Works & Superintendent of Lighthouses.

A History of The Port of Dublin by H.A. Gilligan (published by Gill & Macmillen Ltd, Goldenbridge, Dublin 8; 1988; ISBN 0-7171-1578-X) gives an excellent overview of the achievements of the two George Halpins.

There was also a Robert Halpin who was chief officer and later master of the Great Eastern, originally a passenger paddle steamer which was later converted to a cable layer and which laid the first transatlantic submarine cable from Valentia Island, Co Kerry, to New York. We have no information to indicate whether Robert Halpin was a relative of the George Halpins

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[markenfield]

Re George Halpin Snr and Jnr.  The note from the Irish Lighthouse Commissioners cited  a date which was incorrect instead of  July 1954 it should read July 1854.

I will also include the letter sent to the Irish Lighthouse Commissioners. Other records havindicated George Halpin Snr died as a result of an accident whilst inspecting one of the lighthouses in his Department.

Hullo from Perth Western Australia!

 

 George Halpin senior was my x2great  grandfather   and I noticed Frank Pelly had written a very good short historical summary of George’s career in 2006.

 

George’s grandson came to Australia in the 1880s. Very little history of the family or records seems to be available. I’ve one or two photos of  grandson also a George Halpin. (George’s eldest daughter Mary Halpin married Alfred Mettam)

 

As a small boy I was told of George Halpin Snr and George Jnr, and also of a Halpin family link to the ship the Great Eastern.  I.e. that a member of the family was the Captain and other family members served on the ship laying the transatlantic cable.

 
Captain Robert Halpin was the commander of the Great Eastern and I have managed to obtain a copy of the book on his life.

 
Capt Robert was also involved in harbor and marine structures I think at Wicklow.

 
I suspect he was a cousin or nephew of George Halpin senior and am endeavoring to find out as much as possible about these early Halpins and whether anyone can confirm a link between the two famous Halpins.

 
 They were certainly high achievers and I’m very proud of their competence and contribution.

 

I wondered if you might have some archive material on George Halpin senior and his family. I would also welcome any suggestions, or persons you would recommend I contact.

 

[markenfield]

photos of George Halpin snr grave Mt Jerome Cemetry Dublin

[Cara]

Hi Cara,

Bestall and Johne don't appear with a Halpin in the same parish, nor do they appear in the Valuation, but Halpin / Holohan, Halpin / Kennedy, Halpin / Saunders and Halpin / Wheatley households are recorded in the same parish in the Primary Valuation property survey of 1848-64.. One of the counties
in which four of the surnames on your list appeared was Wicklow.

Christopher


Christopher it would have helped if Ihad of typed in the correct name JONES  not Johne now you should have known what I was trying to type .....fingers get a little busy and miss keys and all that I apologise for this

This is a dedication within the Church of Holy Trinity Castlemacadam Co Wicklow Ireland
179 - Transcribed Cara-Links taken  from my own book
Erected by ROBERT C HALPIN  F.R.O.S.
The Officers and Crew of the Steamship
"Great Eastern"
In affectionate Remembrance of their much
Regretted
Brother Officer
Robert Jones L.R.C.S.I.
Assistant Surgeon of that ship on the
Submarine Telegraph Expedition
When England was Brought
Into Direct Communication With
India, China, and Australia
Who died February 10th 1876
Aged 25 Years.


I leave this here for you Christopher as I see you are an avid reader of this link and site.
Regards
Cara

Hi i have just found out that i have Halpin's that come from Wicklow,how would i go about finding him there.

thanks nina

Hello Nina,

When did your Halpin ancestors live in Wicklow?

There was a photograph in the Mourne Observer, "Man About Town" page, at the end of April last year , of Herbert Halpin's Entertainers at Newcastle, Co. Down, Ireland during the summer season 1909. There were twelve of them including one lady.

Christopher


Hi Christopher,

Halpin family married into these families:_
1- Bestall
2-Wheatly/Wheatley
3- Saunders
4-Johne
5- Wholohan
6-Kennedy
See a connection then cotact me I do have more on them

Cheers
Cara

[BillW]

My attention has been brought to this discussion by Cara, so my thanks to her. 

Kim Mettem in Perth, we are cousins and I would like you to get in touch.  If you google "julia villiers", you should be able to find a thread at another forum that includes my address.

I have never heard any reference (other than speculation) to our George Halpins being connected to Captain Robert Halpin or to a Nicholas or John Halpin, or to Wicklow but I am always willing to learn.  I would be most interested to learn more of Raymond's information and sources on this if he would care to do so.  George Halpin senior, born circa 1779, wife Elizabeth, is as far back as I have been able to go.  If, as Raymond suggests, George was secretive about his relations, that may explain why.

It may also explain why, if these were his family, there is absolutely no history of their names John, Nicholas, Robert, Edmund, etc in the descendants of George Halpin.

But George does appear to have had a son named Oswald and I would like to know where that relates to - possibly his wife's family.

Bill Webster
Sydney

[BillW]

I would like to respond to Raymand C Halpin's post of 24 March partly about the divided families of Nicholas and John Halpin.

After some news about Nicholas's descendants, Raymond, you come I presume to John's and state:

"George Halpin, civil engineer and son of John, actually raised by aunts and uncles and who was secretive about his origins on account of the damage they might do to his prospects..." 

If you are referring to George Halpin (Senior) who became Inspector of Works and Inspector of Lighthouses in Dublin, born c. 1779, died 1854, this is my ancestor.

I would be most grateful if you could give us how you know his father was John, and the other marvellous details above, who were his aunts and uncles and who were their parents.

I am sorry if somehow I have missed this in the extensive material that you have already given.

As George and his family essentially became Dubliners and the details may not concern the Wicklow list or if for any other reason you may wish to send me family news, you may pick up my email address from another source by googling "julia villiers".

Thanks and best wishes

Bill Webster
Sydney

[Shanachai]

Thankyou, Bill, for inviting me to return to a subject I left 'hanging in the air', as it were.  And my apologies to you and the other readers of this site for what must have been a frustrating wait.  Like a lot of people in Ireland at the moment (and elsewhere of course) I've just been laid off.  It didn't come as a total shock, but when it did come it left me gutted, naturally, with a lot to do and, for reasons that I hope are obvious, getting back to everybody here was not an immediate priority.  If I'm reading you right you'd like me to be a little less 'breathless' with the anecdotes and much more substantive.  That's a fair request and it was remiss of me not to be clearer about exactly what I've been able to establish as fact amid all the family lore. 
     The strongest factual line I've been able to establish leads from my immediate family back in time through the Wicklow Halpins and, from there, through Dr Stopford Halpin to Dr Charles Halpin, of Cavan town, who passed away in 1859.  This line came down to me through family stories that I've been able to substantiate to my own satisfaction, by virtue of obituaries and death notices published in various contemporary newspapers, and by a maddening trawl through the online newspaper archives at our National Library here in Dublin.  I was able to corroborate that part of the family lore that dealt with the relationship between Stopford and Charles when I located a Medical Registry in the Royal College of Surgeon's library in Kildare St., Dublin, which listed the two as working from the same surgery in Cavan in the 1840s.  From there I moved through links I was able to make with the aid of sources at the Royal Academy of Science (?) in Dawson street, which contains on file a reference to a facinating letter to academy members from Charles about a recent discovery made by "my brother, the Rev Nicholas John Halpin" - he was referring to a substantial stone carving depicting a pagan god which the Rev NJ had found while riding through the Cavan countryside.  I won't go any further into the history of my research into this branch of the Halpin family tree, because I intend to lay it all out here for everyone's benefit over the coming months.  I just want to stress the exact route I take in my research - it isn't from fact to lore, but from lore to fact.  That is, I take the stories I was told about the Halpins and try to flesh them out as best I can with the aid of what I discover in the archives.  It's a slow process and it's an approach I think everyone interested in this subject has to take at some point. 
     This is elementary stuff so far and I'm sure you have no qualms with it.  However, what I failed to do, and what I should have been clear about, is exactly what I've been able to substantiate about the Halpin story and what remains to be 'proven' by me.  That was a mistake I want to apologise for, and I'll try here as best I can to clear up some of the confusion I inadvertently created.
Firstly. here are the html website addresses of two excellent sources of information on George Halpin and extended family – http://www.cil.ie/sh832x4997.html   and http://www.turtlebunbury.com/published/published_books/docklands/heroes/pub_books_docklands_halpin.html
I hope both prove useful to you.