My purpose now is to write of the family of Samuel, the eldest son of Robert Wellington Halpin. SAMUEL HALPIN (4/6/1846 – 7/1/1918) was born in Wicklow and he married, in 1871 at Wicklow Church of Ireland, MADELINE TURNBULL (18/10/1847 – 17/8/1925). Madeline’s father was James Turnbull of Roxburgh, Scotland, and she was born in Edinburgh. She had a few siblings who were born in Arklow and at her wedding James Turnbull was described as of the Wicklow Rifles.
Samuel and Madeline’s children were born in Co Louth where, in the 1901 Census, Samuel ‘s occupation is shown as Mill-Wright, living in Chord Road, St Laurence Gate, DROGHEDA Town. (Could Samuel have learned to become a mill-wright in Wicklow Town? I believe that the Kents and other merchants in Wicklow with whom the Halpins dealt may have been millers.)
Their known children were: Robert James 1872; Margaret Frances 1874; Maria Rose 1876; Madeline M 1878; Samuel 1880-1885; Anne Christina 1882. It would seem that Fanny, Maria (Ciss) and Annie Christina may not have married.
Most of these people and their families, with the exception of the family of Robert James Halpin, to whom I will return, are commemorated in two memorial inscriptions at St Peter’s Church of Ireland, Drogheda (not to be confused with the Catholic church there of the same name). These have been transcribed as follows [Journal of the Old Drogheda Soc. 1992]:
Samuel, eldest son of Robert Wellington and Frances Mabella Halpin. Born in Wicklow 4th June 1846. Died at Drogheda 7th Jan.1918. Madeline M. his wife, eldest daughter of James and Margaret Turnbull. Born in Edinburgh, 18th Oct.1847. Died in Drogheda 6th Nov.1925. Samuel son of the above. Born 1st May 1880. Died 25th Jan.1885. Maria Rose, (Ciss) their second daughter. Born 26th Sep.1876. Died 27th July 1948. Anne Christine their youngest. Born 11 Dec.1883. Died 7th June 1964. "Peace Perfect Peace".
And
James Turnbull, third son of James Turnbull of Roxburgh, Scotland. Born at Hollmount, 21st August 1814. Died at Drogheda, 15th April 1888. Also his grandson, Walter James Turnbull. Born at Arklow 16th April 1878. Died at Drogheda 12 Sept 1880. Also his grand-daughter Margaret Frances (Fanny) Halpin, died at Drogheda 6th June 1925. "She hath done what she could" Mark, XIV.8. Also his youngest daughter Margaret. Born at Wicklow 24th April 1860. Died at Kinnitty, Kings County 3 Feby. 1928. "Blessed are the pure in heart". His daughter Maria, widow of Edmund Rundle, late of Plymouth. Born Dublin 22nd Feb. 1856. Died at Kinnitty, 11 Jan.1941 and interred here. "Thy Will Be Done".
Not mentioned in these is Madeline M Halpin who in 1901 married John MARSHALL in Drogheda and had two sons, Robert Cecil 1904 and John Ernest 1908. This family in 1911 was living in Ballymena Co Antrim. When Maria Turnbull, above, married widower Edmund Rundle when both were in late middle age (1905), the witnesses to the marriage were Margaret Frances Halpin and Robert Marshall.
Samuel and Madeline’s eldest child, ROBERT JAMES HALPIN, in the 1901 Census, while still unmarried, had moved to Rathdrum, Wicklow, as a National Schoolteacher where in the same household were his aunt Margaret Turnbull, housekeeper 40, and his sister Annie Christina 18, work-mistress. He married near Thomastown Kilkenny in 1902 ALICE MYERS, also a National Schoolteacher, daughter of James, a butler, and Lizzie Myers and in the 1911 Census their family was still in Main Street, Rathdrum.
Robert and Alice had four surviving children: Samuel James 1905; Robert George 1907-1928; Elizabeth Madeline 1909; and Henry Grattan Halpin 1911. Unfortunately I know nothing further of the sons but Madeline married, in the Naas district, William M D AITKEN and they had at least one son, George A Aitken.
That the family in Drogheda went to the trouble of inscribing their family’s dates in some detail, it is to be hoped that some descendants of this family may retain handed down mementos and documents that, hopefully, may go all the way back to Robert Wellington Halpin and his origins.
