O'HARA FAMILY OF CREBILLY

[king william]

I am in New Zealand and am hoping someone can put me in touch with a genealogist of the O'Hara family of Crebilly.
I have been doing my friend's O'Hara family history of the area and to be in touch with a family member would be of help.
I noticed that the O'Hara children have names that resonate with those of Crebilly family including the name of Hugh and Henry and the family comes from the same area.
It would be great to join the dots if possible.
Robin

[jimchelsea]

Hi King Billy
theres lots of others on the link below researching the OHaras, you may find some contact details.
jim

http://oharas.com/guestbook/index.html

[king william]

Jimchelsea - many thanks for the information - lots to look at on that site. Perhaps you could answer something else for me. Being in NZ I cannot visit the place, so could you please tell me about Glenwhirry, to put it into context, how close would it be to Crebilly and Ballymena? Why I link these O'Hara's to Crebilly is because I have a report of the O'Hara's having migrated in the 14th century from Sligo to the Glens of Antrim and settling at Crebilly.
Is Glenwhirry a village or an area?
In the history I was given by the family it appears there is a mis-spelling as it says "David was the second son of Henry O'Hara and Jane McCurley and was born in 1863 in Ballenrin, County Antrim".
I have googled Ballenrin every which way and found nothing, perhaps it was the name of a house, or perhaps it was a mis-spelling of a village.
Does it sound like a wrongly-spelled name of any place in that vicinity which could bring me closer to them.
I like the name of King Billy, I called myself that because I have the King family of London in my history and William is a family name and also because way back on my only rich line of gentry, there was an illegitimate daughter of King Henry 1 and his papa was King Billy the Conqueror.
Many thanks for your help
Robin

[king william]

Jimchelsea,
Reading what I have just written and posted sounds a bit disjointed with the mention of Glenwhirry thrown into the discussion, so I will clarify.
The history I have is limited but here goes:
David O'Hara was the second son of Henry O'Hara and Jane McCurley and was born in 1863 in Ballenrin. He emigrated to NZ in the 1880's with two of his brothers.
HIs parents, Henry O'Hara and Jane McCurley of Glenwhirry, Country Antrim, their children were John, David, James, Mary Jane, Isabella Ann, Hugh and William, the children all born between 1861/2 to 1873.
I had given up on finding any more about them until I saw the mention of the migration of a branch of O'Hara's to the glens of Antrim and settling in Crebilly. When I googled the family in Crebilly, I noticed a repetition of the names of Hugh and Henry right through the history and am hoping I can link these ones here in NZ to those in Crebilly.
If the link exists it would be nice to find it.
Robin

[kingskerswell]

Robin,
        I cannot tell you about the area but here is a little more on the family. Henry O'Hara married Jane McCURLY in Buckna Presbyterian Church, Ballymena District on 14 Feb 1855. The fathers' names were Felix O'Hara and John McCurly.

Regards

[Elwyn Soutter]

I think that some of the O’Hara graves are in Ballymarlow graveyard. If I recall correctly Henry O’Hara became infamous because he once dropped a lighted coal down the front of his wife’s dress because she wouldn’t get up out of a chair to greet his friends. Relations were a bit fraught between them after that. (Drink may have played a part, I suspect). That, and a little other O’Hara family history, is mentioned in James Kenny’s 1988 book “As the crow flies over rough terrain.”

Glenwhirry is a parish of about 12,000 acres. It’s a rural agricultural area mainly made of upland farms. It’s 8 to 10 miles east of Ballymena. Crebilly is on the eastern outskirts of Ballymena, so perhaps 8 miles from Glenwhirry. So close enough for there to be a possible connection.

Ballenrin is not right for the place name. It’s possibly Bally..something but I can’t think what. You can see all the townland names in Co Antrim on this site, and search yourself: http://www.thecore.com/seanruad

[jimchelsea]

http://www.rootschat.com/links/0mw1/
some info on Glenwhirry



http://www.bbc.co.uk/northernireland/yourplaceandmine/antrim/squire_ohara_simpson.shtml


below is a newspaper article on the family

http://www.ballymenatimes.com/community/nostalgia/the-o-hara-s-of-craigbilly-part-one-their-background-1-1910300

[king william]

So many thanks to all of you - I had seen some of that information when I googled the family but it seemed too good to be true that those people would be exactly the right Henry O'Hara's in a district teeming with people of that name.
Now I have a date of marriage for Henry and Jane of 1855, it would give them both a birth year of approx. 1835.
I checked out on the IGI the John McCurly mentioned and find him born in 1808, son of Bernard McCurly and Sarah Martin, all of Carnmoney.
Yesterday I had found another Jane McCurley born in 1834 also of Carnmoney, daughter of a Daniel McCurley which is obviously wrong as you have the parent's names from the marriage record.
Just to satisfy my curiosity,where did you find their marriage record, I did not see it online, but then again I am not terribly good at that sort of thing.
Many thanks
Robin

[kingskerswell]

Robin,
        The date and place of marriage come from a subscription site which I have access to. The fathers' names come from the free section of the Ulster Historical Foundation site. There is a charge for looking at the full information on this site.

Regards