Halpin family of Wicklow - Part 1

[LoneyBones]

Was a bit of a shock seeing a thread by Christopher come up. He's been gone a while now.
Probably sitting up there with all his ancestors and all his questions answered as well. 

Leonie.

[Shanachai]

     Hi Diane, good to have you back on board.  William was a distiller located for a while in Dublin in the run-up to the 1798 rebellion.  He was running a still at one time with his brother James, who also ended up in Wicklow after the rebellion, where he opened an inn and sired 13 children, one of whom was Captain Robert C Halpin.  There was also another brother kicking around at that time - a Richard.  Posting this on the run, so can't go into detail here.  Will be in touch again in a few days.  Cheers, R.

[Shanachai]

1.

Conclusive Evidence of a Familial Link Between George Halpin snr and the Halpins of Portarlington, Queen’s county?     

     One of the reasons we visit a site like this is to find out as much factual information as we can about our ancestors - dates of birth, marriage and death, for example, as well as the names of mothers and fathers, husbands and wives, brothers and sisters, grandparents and great-grandparents. Where possible, we’d also like to find out what we can about who did what for a living, where they were born, where they lived out their lives and where they were laid to rest.  In addition to this crucial information,  we’d also like to know what our ancestors did with their lives – what, if any, historical events they were involved in, what journeys they set out on, where they went to and what they found when they got there.  Much of this sort of information is hard to come by, but descendants of the Halpins have been exceptionally lucky in this regard – some of our ancestors were prominent enough to have left behind an unusually rich trove of artefacts, buildings, written material, newspaper reports and obituaries.  As you know I’ve gone to the archives here in Ireland and retrieved records and compiled summaries of the best of that material.  I’ve then brought that material to this site and shared it around – something a lot of you have thanked me for many times over.  The braver among you, however, have had the gumption to moan about the way I clutter my presentations – don’t overload your sentences, you say; don’t talk about so many different things at once, it’s confusing; stick to one family at a time, and be clear about who they’re related to; create a simple family tree, so people can follow your chatter; and above all, please, say a little less about the lore and a little more about the facts and figures of the story.  Well, I can hardly complain about feedback like that – it’s truthful, after all, and conveyed with the best intentions.  From now on I will try to be clearer and more methodical.  Bill, however, will have to look after the formatting of the family trees – he’s done a fine job so far and, as I’ve told him many times in our private correspondence, I’m very grateful to him for that.  On the matter of the family lore, however, I intend to persist, although not to the same extent.  It was the lore, after all, that prompted me to look into the Halpins in the first place and, for entirely personal reasons, it is the lore I’m anxious to verify.
 
The lore I’m talking about makes two fundamental claims:

     a.  that the Halpins of Wicklow and the Halpins of Portarlington were blood relations, and
     b.  that George Halpin snr, lighthouse builder and public works engineer, was related to both.

Without documentary evidence to back up those claims, many of you expressed doubts about their veracity.  Those doubts are entirely understandable - I’ve had them myself many times.  But I’m delighted to say that a few recent discoveries have made it seem likely that George Halpin snr really was a blood relative of the Portarlington Halpins.  I made Bill Webster aware of those discoveries last weekend, and he was kind enough to acknowledge their importance and congratulate me for making them.  I’ll present the evidence to you the way I presented it to Bill – without clutter but perhaps with a little too much chatter.  Sorry about that:

   

[Shanachai]

2.

1.  William Bigger and George Halpin "gents" paid by Grand Jury Presentment (1807 - 1821) for "road repair".
 
2.  1821 (477) (Ireland) Grand Jury Presentments, Dublin (pp. 43 - 44):
 
To L. Crosthwaite, P. Roe and R. Shaw, esqrs. and George Halpin, gent, to repair 76 perches of road from Ringsend bridge to Artichoak road, between said bridge and Beggar's Bush road...£159 12 0.
 
To Leland Crosthwaite, Ralph Shaw and Peter Roe, esqrs. and George Halpin, gent. to repair the road from Dublin to the pigeon house, to wit, 372 yards of filling, 20 perches of gravelling, 36 perches of footpath, and 13 perches of footpath, to be made in Thorn Castle-street, and five perches of a sewer, beginning at Mr. Lilly's ropewalk gate, and ending at the pavement in Thorn Castle-street...£96 03 1.
 
To Leland Crosthwaite, Ralph Shaw, and Peter Roe, esqrs. and George Halpin, gent. to repair 46 perches of the high road from Dublin to Ringsend, beginning at Lilly's rope-walk, and ending at Michael Ginties [sounds like a pub]...£104 10 0.
 
3.  The Corn Exchange Buildings Company, Burgh Quay (Incorporated 1815). 
Directors: Leland Crosthwaite and Ralph Shaw esqs.  (I know you won't forget that present day historians attribute the construction of the Corn Exchange to George Halpin snr.) 
 
4.  Corporation for Preserving and Improving the Port of Dublin (1826).
Chair: Thomas Crosthwaite (also listed as a Director in the Bank of Ireland) and George Roe.     
Ballast Master William Bigger esq.  Inspector of Works and Light Houses George Halpin.                       

 
5.  Chambers of Commerce (Inst. 1820), Commercial Buildings Dame st.
Committee member Thomas Crosthwaite esq.  Secretary Robert Roe esq.
 
6.  Trustees of the Royal Exchange:  Leland Crosthwaite, Thomas Hutton and George Roe (to name just a few).
 
7.  Comissioners of Wide Streets (const. 1757): Thomas and Leland Crosthwaite, and George Roe.

8.    Note also that in Cavan town the year after Charles Halpin's semi-retirement, we find Physician and Surgeon George Roe MD working at the local gaol and in the town infirmiry.  You will recall that Charles Halpin was the Rev. N J Halpin’s younger brother.

9.  We established elsewhere in this thread that in the 1840s the Reverend N J Halpin was living at an address in Seville place, which was owned by George snr.

10.  Finally, the detail that alters the nature of the connections above from a professional to a familial one is this - in January 1787 William Henry Halpin of Portarlington married Marianne Crosthwaite.  Their first child - a boy - was to become the Rev. Nicholas John Halpin.

Who were the Crosthwaites?

Leland Crosthwaite snr (c.1747 – 1826), was a miller and sugar merchant.

Thomas Crosthwaite (c.1782 – 1870), merchant and governor of the Bank of Ireland, worked for Leland Crosthwaite and Sons and owned flour mills in Leixlip, Co. Kildare and Co. Carlow (NB), and established a linen mill in Chapelizod, Co. Dublin.

Leland Crosthwaite jnr (c.1783 – 1852), must be George snr’s road-making workmate mentioned above.
Three Crosthwaite sisters married three sons of Joseph Hone (1747 – 1803), and – as you have since noted, Bill, it was solicitor Hone who oversaw the legal technicalities of the sale of some of George Halpin’s properties after his death. 

     What are we looking at here if not a tight social network?   The repetition of names over the course of many years bears all the hallmarks of a high status family using its influence to look after friends and relations.  They work on road repair, then on the improvement of the port of Dublin, on the construction of an important public building, and so forth.  I bet if we had a look at the contracts written up for the construction of the bridges and lighthouses that George is credited with we'd find the mark of one or more of the gang.  Jobs for the boys, nepotism, an ascendancy monopoly...

     Of course, you will want documentary evidence of bloodlines, but they don't exist.  I think we've almost certainly solved the mystery of George's family roots.  His exact lineage, and precisely why he was so silent about it, will probably never be satisfactorily resolved.  But the blood group, if not the exact blood line, has in all likelihood been identified.  Will the history books be rewritten?  Probably not, but what we've discovered may result in the rephrasing of a few lines of history, and that's no mean feat for a bunch of hobbyists.

[tompion]

Very interesting Ray,

It is now pretty cear that the Halpins from Wicklow and Portarlington knew each other.  Of course 'arranged marriages' were very much the way of doing things among the upper middle classes and entirely possible that Ms Crossthwaite was introduced as a 'suitable girl' to Mr Halpin of Porarlington.  Is there any data on how Miss Marianne Crossthwaite was related to the Crossthwaite's you mention?

Best wishes, Brian

[Shanachai]

     Marianne Crosthwaite's connection to Leland and Thomas Halpin has not been established, Brian.  It's supposition at the moment, based on the strength of the coincidence.  The key might be to find out more about the Crosthwaites, which I'm doing now, and to concentrate on Marianne's husband, William Henry Halpin, about whom we know very little.  Dianne is the expert on WH Halpin, and as she has pointed out here, all she could uncover about him was that he was a "gent".  I've spent a bit of time looking at WH Halpin myself, and I can't come up with more than "gent" either.  I'm thinking that there might be something in another possible connection through the Halpins to a John Henry (going on memory, now), who operated a mill in the Portarlington area.  Leland Crosthwaite snr also ran a few mills, one of which was located in Co. Carlow, where Bill and I have found strong suspicions of Halpin family members.  Because of the period we're dealing with - pre-1800 - it's very difficult to find reliable documentary evidence of blood lines...there's no paper trail, if you get my drift.  We'll just have to keep plugging away, using a time-consuming technique I (laughably) call the coincidental loop - we target a specific family member, find out all we can about him, then move through the lives of his known associates, searching their lives for anything related to our interests.  The process is slow, like I said, but by next week, by which time I'll have posted my findings on a number of key Halpin figures, you will discover just how fruitful this approach has proven to be.

     You will notice that the Crosthwaites dealt in sugar.  Ken Cooke (Reply 202, Tues. 19th Jan. 2010) alerted us to the fact that Paget Halpin jnr. (b.1795) went to the US and became a Sugar Planter.  You will also note that three Crosthwaite sisters married three sons of Hone, thus uniting two of the most powerful banking families in Dublin at the time.  The Hones also produced a number of artists, and as Ken mentioned in Reply 202, Paget junior's parents were Paget snr and Mary Delane, daughter of Solomon Delane, landscape painter.  Now Paget snr. was an engraver residing at Mecklenburgh street, and Ken and I believe he was probably the brother or cousin of Patrick Halpin and John Edmund Halpin, miniature portraitists and engravers.  You can see where I'm going to go from here, can't you - I'll ask the question: are there connections to be found among all of the artists mentioned?  If we examine their lives, will we unearth anything about the Halpins more generally?  I suppose we can only find out if we look.

For Solomon Delane:

http://www.mallettantiques.com/Public/Stock/FullZoom.aspx?ref=P2H0051&filename=P2H0051.jpg
http://www.artnet.com/Artists/LotDetailPage.aspx?lot_id=E0321B6ED48DA15E538F4004F8BF2753
http://www.artnet.com/Artists/LotDetailPage.aspx?lot_id=F2CBAA7B0EB422927EE182730F03829D
http://www.artnet.com/Artists/LotDetailPage.aspx?lot_id=FE6B8348002F7BD5

For Nathaniel Hone:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nathaniel_Hone_the_Elder
http://www.pgil-eirdata.org/html/pgil_datasets/authors/h/Hone,N%5Bb1718%5D/life.htm
http://www.christies.com/lotfinder/lot_details.aspx?intObjectID=5193946

For  information on “The Infant Daughter of Charles Halpin” by one of the Brocas, see:
http://www.jstor.org/pss/30105147

For examples of Halpin's work, see Kim's post Reply 128 on Sun. 28 June 2009 (p.9 of this thread).

I also found reference to John Edmund Halpin:

68    John Edmund Halpin, A Gentleman, wearing buttoned black coat, frilled white chemise and tied cravat, his hair worn en queue   £2,040

From Bonham Sale Results - Sale 12216, Portrait Miniatures - The property of a Lady part II, 27 Apr 2005
New Bond Street

(I don't know if this is an actual portrait of John E Halpin, or if it's merely one by him.  It would be nice to find out).

I'll have some info on the Bradleys and Sibthorpes to post to you tomorrow, Brian - all the best.
 

[tompion]

Ray,

I have discovered the Sibthorpe-Bradley link.   Sibthorpe Bayley, a solicitor who worked with William James Bradley, was his brother-in-law.  Irish Pedigrees (available on-line) gives the Bayly pedigree and mentions all my Bradley family as WJB married Caroline Foster Bayly.

Interested to hear what you discovered, Ray.

I guess you old Irish hands know 'Irish Pedigrees'. For those who don't you can read it all at:

http://www.archive.org/stream/irishpedigreeso02ohagoog#page/n6/mode/2up

Brian
Best wishes,  Brian

[kenneth cooke]

Looks like we are getting somewhere. Your methods seem to be paying off, Ray.
I have one reservation though, about Paget Halpen and Margaret Delane, daughter of Solomon.
Solomon's father was Rev Richard D. mother poss. Sarah. Sol born 1727 (Tipperary ?) His father died 1750 and his elder brother Richd.died 1752, leaving Sol with income from properties in Dub & other places. Associated with JOS. HALFPENNY of York, 1748-1811, topographical engraver & watercolour painter. Sol died 1812 Dublin
(?Hawkins St) .
He went to Italy about 1762 and returned to Ireland in 1782 and married. If Margt. was his daughter, she would have been too young to marry in 1794. He could have been married before, but Margt would have been at least 32 if she was the daughter of an earlier marriage.
Another scenario is that her mother was a widow, and S.D. gave his name to his wife’s child(ren).
Regards,
Ken

[Shanachai]

- House of Commons Parliamentary Papers (HCPP) 1900 [Cd. 4] “Appendix to the 13th report of the Deputy Keeper of Public Records...” –

Marriages:  Homan, Emily and Luke Sibthorpe 1815
Myler, Mary and H J Sibthorpe 1815

There are many jury presentments for Luke Sibthorpe – it seems he glazed most of the courthouses of Ireland.

- HCPP – 1829 (235) Apothecaries Hall, Dublin:  Henry James Sibthorpe, Licensed Apothecary Feb. 5th 1828.

Charles Halpin, Summerhill, Licensed Apothecary, June 4th 1824...Also, October 27 1814.

- HCPP – Dublin Jury lists for 1844 (357): Luke Sibthorpe, Glazier...John Sibthorpe, Corkhill, Glass Merchant...H J Sibthorpe, Corkhill, Apothecary.

Bradley, W J Solicitor and Secretary to the Trustees of the Malahide turnpike roads, 26 Mecklenburgh street.

(Almanack Registry Post Office Directory 1834).  Also Halpin, James 32 Old Dominick St.

Savage, Marmion 24 Mecklenburgh street.
Savage, John Carver gilder and looking-glass manufacturer 51 Pill lane.  Also agent to Foley and O’Connell Cork-glass-warehouse, 48 Sackville street.

Joshua F Bradley painter of China and stainer of glass, 27 William st. And 4 Clarendon st.

What follows is from Thom’s 1848 – Bradley, William James and William George, solicitors 123 Gloucester street.

Bradley, George esq. 26 Mecklenburgh street.

Sibthorpe Charles esq 4 Epworth Tce Leeson street

Sibthorpe, Henry and Son, painters, importers of window and plate glass and Agents to the Thames Plate Glass Co. 11 Corke street.

Sibthorpe, Henry James MD/MRCSENG Lying-in Hospital, Britain st. Great.

Keating, John 33 Lower Mecklenburgh street.

Keating, Rht Hon Richatd LL.D judge of the Prerogative Court, 21 Merrion sq sth...Maurice and Richard Keating share the same address.

- HCPP – 1847-48 (327-I-VII) 1. Public Works and Buildings...year ending 31 March 1849.  For Pension to Emily Sibthorpe, retired Matron of Medical Hospitals 72yo – 16 years service - £27 p/a. (p. 139).
Ditto to Julia Halpin, superannuated Head Nurse of the Richmond Surgical Hospital – 51yo – 11 years service - £15 p/a. (p. 139).

- HCPP _ 1835-42 Poor inquiry (Ireland). Appendix (C.)—Parts 1 and 2.  Reports on the state of the poor, and on the charitable institutions in some of the principal towns...

The Benevolent Strangers’ Friend Society: Mr. John Sibthorpe – I am secretary to the Benevolent Strangers’ Friend Society; it is an honorary office...The institution is similar in constitution to the Strangers’ Friend Society; none are admitted to be members but Methodists.  The origin of the society, in the first instance, was by some young men uniting together for the purpose of visiting and giving religious instruction to the poor.  They met with so much distress, that they raised a subscription amongst themselves...The objects of the society are to relieve all poor, except mendicants.  We assist people in getting passes to England...I think, in food and clothing, the poor are much in the same situation as they were six years ago.  My intercourse with the poor has not been very extensive in other districts besides my own.

(Could only give you a flavour of that testimony, Brian).

- HCPP – 1881 [C.2779]...Commission of Inquiry into the working of the Landlord and Tennant Act.

Statements of Thos. S. Sibthorpe Esq. And his agent, Robert Owen Esq. [about land leased originally by Sibthorpe’s father]...Mr. John McMahon of Crubbin, Ballyroan Queen’s Co. Leased land (£60 p/a) from the late John Sibthorpe, Cork Hill.

(Again, can’t present much of the testimony to you, Brian – but I’ve given the reference, which will help you track it down.  Not all I’ve posted this time is relevant to you, but I thought it was worth noting the overlapping interests in glass – it may provide us with a useful avenue of enquiry. Cheers.)