Liz,
Aye, its a grand wee place!
[To be distinguished from its namesakes in Co. Wicklow, Ireland and Manchester County, Jamaica (home to UK TV's cook Ainsley HARRIOTT's slave-keeping/generating ancestors!).]
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Some sources for informing you what Ballynure
was like are:
1) Ballynure: History and Happenings in the village over the past Four Hundred Years.
2004 Ernie SCOTT
[Ref:
http://www.ollar.utvinternet.com/erniebook.htmIf you are visiting the area, simply buy it from the newsagent in the square in Ballyclare, otherwise drop an EMail to the fine folks at ollar {-- a t } utvinternet.com for details on ordering by post (£6 all up in UK).
A very condensed version can be seen at
http://www.ballynurepresbyterian.org/history/Ballynure_History.pdf ]
2) ORDNANCE SURVEY MEMOIRS OF IRELAND
PARISHES OF COUNTY ANTRIM XII
1832-3, 1835-40
Ballynure and District
Vol. 32
1995 IIS@QU,Belfast & RIA,Dublin
ISBN 0 85389 552 ppb 141 pp
[Order from QUB or from UHF - who have a sale on just now!]
3) Old Families of Carrickfergus and Ballynure
Rutherford & Clark
2003 UHF
[Includes headstone transcriptions for Old Ballynure Cemetery.]
4) Books offering a perspective on the wider area are listed at
http://www.ollar.utvinternet.com/books.htm .
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I had a methodical read of the OSM for each of the parishes of Ballynure and Raloo.
[The latter gave me a really good laugh - the writers obviously did not take a shine to the area - some of the comments are so modern-day not PC. Much was made of the over-prevalence of whiskey drinking everywhere!]
Ballynure was a mixed agricultural and industrial area.
Raloo mostly agricultural (and 50 years behind the times!).
Linen production had been totally dominant, with nearly everyone involved in it, but was in very serious decline by the 1830s.
[No more Napoleonic War satchels/matresses/capes required ...]
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No mention of the CALVIN name in either parish.
No DEMPSEY mentioned in Ballynure.
A Robert DEMPSEY owned a farm in Ballygowan townland in Raloo.
[It had an ancient druid's altar called "Cannorth's Walls" on its land.
This seems to be known as the "Canders Walls" monument nowadays..
Ref: OSNI Discoverer Series BALLYMENA, LARNE 1:50000 Sheet 9 D359969
Just off the B100 road, opposite Thorny Hill.]
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The Ballygowan townland was the "Irish" enclave of the two parishes.
[Though the folks there were reckoned to originate from Scots who came over with the BRUCEs in the 14thC.]
These people were of an RC religious persuasion, attending the chapel down in the valley, about an Irish mile NW of the druid's altar.
[Your DEMPSEYs may have been of this persuasion - but there were only four RC landholders.]
The population of the area was overwhelmingly (90%) Presbyterian, reflecting waves of immigration in the 1590s, 1610s, 1640s & 1690s.
The DEMPSEY surname originates from Leinster, but was scattered after the Williamite/Jacobite war. Of the Ulster counties, Co. Antrim hosts a disproportionate number, suggesting that some are corruptions (synonyms) of another name - most likely DEMPSTER, originally a Scottish baronial official.
[ref: The Book of Ulster Surnames, Robert BELL, The Blackstaff Press 1988]
So, your DEMPSEYs might have been of a Protestant persuasion.
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If so, then they are likely to have married in Ballynure village.
This village hosted the only church (Christ Church) in the CoI prebendary of the three conjoined parishes of Ballynure, Raloo & Templecorran.
[A chapel of ease was built at Glenoe in Raloo only in 1840.]
It also hosted two Pb Meeting houses (Orthodox & Seceder).
[Two parallel MHs were built near Raloo village only in 1838.]
A neat summary of PRONI-available church records is given at:
http://www.vyger.fsnet.co.uk/Parish_records/Antrim/Ballyclare_Doagh/Ballynure/ballynure.html----
You will note from the above URL
(or from
http://applications.proni.gov.uk/geogindx/parishes/par039.htm )
that Ballynure parish includes two townlands, named "Ballymena Little" and "Little Ballymena". The Ballymena burn runs along the SW side of Ballynure parish, forming part of the boundary with the adjoining parish of Ballylinny.
[Presumably these townlands are adjacent to it.]
Thus your William LINN may hail from nearer-by than Ballymena town (in Kirkinriola townland, Ahoghill parish).
[The OSM say that people seldom chose partners from outside the area.]
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Emigration (~8 folks per year) was mainly to New York, though some to Quebec.
[Reasons were invites from previous migrants, and lack of success at home.]
Strangely Raloo folks got in to difficulty because many had availed themselves of an offer of perpetual leases offered by the landlord's agent (DOBBS) in 1780. This made them feel safe, so they let things slip. By contrast, farmers paying rent worked their farms hard and made (small) profits.
Many of the freeholders had to leave (bankrupt), often handing the farms over to people who had been their servants.
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You can hunt for some CALVINs in the 18thC Belfast Newsletter Index.
[
http://www.ucs.louisiana.edu/cgi-bin/belfst/QueryForm1.cgi ]
Else further back in Geneva ...
www.calvinus.com !
Capt. Jock
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