Orr Family Ballygowan

[pollypop01]

A recent DNA match has shown that I have a genetic connection to the Gathorne-Hardy family.

I had a look online to see what I could find and it seems that there were two Orr sisters who both married Gathorne Hardy bothers.
Jane Stewart Orr and Elisabeth Orr born early 1800's in Ballygowan, County Down, Ireland, their father, was a James Orr, and their mother, Jane Stewart. One of the girls descendants
is the current Gathorne-Hardy Earl of Cranbrook.

I have seen Orr and Stewart DNA in my results, but they don't seem to connect yet with my line. The only family connections I have with the area are visiting Shaws from Carricknacessna in Saintfield.

I understand there is a book detailing the Orr family's various lines held in the linenhall Library in Belfast. Would anyone happen to know the name of this publication and or and library reference number? I would make a point of looking it up when next in Belfast.

If anyone has any other information on this particular Orr family I would be most interested in hearing it.

My best regards
Paul

[Elwyn Soutter]

It's possibly Blackwood's Pedigrees. There is an index so easy to check if your family are in it.

[hdw]

Hello Paul. Take a deep breath! The book you want is Ray A. Jones "Ulster Pedigrees. Descendants, in Many Lines, of James Orr and Janet McClement Who Emigrated from Scotland to Northern Ireland c1607".
Jones was an American researcher who was working in the Linen Hall library in the 1960s and came across a manuscript collection entitled "MS. Genealogy of the Family of James Orr and Janet McClement of Ballyblack", which had been compiled in the 1820s by Gawin Orr of Castlereagh, Co. Down. This was before the "Troubles" proper began, but Jones sensed that there was going to be sectarian conflict in Northern Ireland, and mindful of the many Irish records lost in Dublin during the civil war in the 1920s, he arranged to have the Gawin Orr manuscripts photocopied and then had them privately published as a book. I was lucky enough to find a copy back in the 1980s when I was researching my ancestry.
I wrote an article about my researches which was published in the journal FAMILIA in 1988, and I have it sitting on this computer. If you would like to send me a private message on this site with your email address, I'll send you a copy.
Harry