Allan & Giffin Families, Ballymena, Co Antrim

[John117]

My Great-Grandparents, John Allan and Martha Giffin married on 21 June 1864 and lived in Ballymena, Co Antrim. John Allan was a Seedsman. Any information regarding either family would be gratefully received.

[kingskerswell]

Hi,
    Welcome to Rootschat. I have found the marriage and there are at least nine children.
21 Jun 1864 John Allan married Martha Giffin in Cullybackey Reformed Presbyterian Church, Ballymena.
The fathers were Robert Allan and Thomas Giffin. Children were:-
14 May 1865 Robert (died young)
28 Oct 1866 Mary
19 Dec 1868 John
15 Dec 1869 Thomas James
12 Apr 1871 Robert
4 Oct 1872 Jesse Anderson
3 May 1874 Martha
17 Dec 1876 William
26 Jan 1879 Arthur Ross.

Regards

[John117]

Dear kingskerswell

Many thanks for your very informative reply...you've provided the names of my great, great-grandfathers.....would you have the names of my great, great grandmothers too ?

Regards
John117

[kingskerswell]

Hi,
    Sorry, Irish marriage records do not list mothers' names.

Regards

[alistairgiffin]

Dear John117,
Maggie Allan b.30 May 1881 was the 10th child
I have a good amount of John & Martha Allan's descendants researched as well as all the Giffin connection. Please PM me to get in touch.
regards
Alistair

[twitter]

Hi John 117
Welcome to Rootschat
I too have Giffen connections in Ireland and you can't go wrong contacting Alistair as he has been researching all the Giffen families in Ireland for years and has very sound information.
Some time ago I picked up an advertisement on line re a business in Antrim circa 1880's. I was looking for verification of our James Giffen in Belfast who was a grocer. This one turned out to be a grocer named James Giffen in Ballymena who besides other things in the ad was a seed merchant. If you think there is a connection I will send it along. But most of all talk to Alistair.
Good luck on you searches
Twitter

[twitter]

Hi John 117
Thanks for the PM. I have to send this here as the rules say you can't add an attachment to a PM---so here goes. My Giffen's all appear to originate in Carrickfergus and then some moved to Belfast. I have a feeling that if you could get back in the records far enough they are all related. The "in" or "en" endings seem to me to be changes over time or transcription errors. The following is just the ad and I tried most of the  morning to locate where I got it but so far no luck. I have  some pretty good data on the Giffen's of Carrick if you are interested as there may be a connection. Who knows.
Twitter

[alistairgiffin]

James Giffen of Albert Place Ballymena in the advert in Bassett's 1888 County Antrim directory is the brother of Martha Allan nee Giffin. He died in 1894, his wife and middle daughter having been killed in a storm in 1875 when a chimney fell on them. Their headstones in Cullybackey Reformed Presbyterian have both Giffin and Giffen but the family name of all the Ballymena ones is Giffin.

The Carrickfergus Giffen family are definitely 'en' and almost certainly descend from the Carnmoney Giffens who came from Ayrshire around 1730. The Ballymena Giffins (and Givens) are originally from Cullybackey and came there from Scotland in the 1740s. They may be connected back in Scotland but while in Ireland I am sure they were separate families.

[John117]

The different spellings Giffin was a bit confusing at the start of my research.....I thought I was looking at two different families.

As a young teenager, I remember being told of ancestors being killed by a chimney collapsing but didn't know exactly who they were or how they were related to me!

This now makes sense - thanks