Catholic burial grounds in the Glenavy & Killead Parish in the 1800's

[Phil Donnelly]

I am trying to find out where GGGgf Edward Magee, who died in 1863, might be buried?
He had a farm at Carnaughliss on the Ballyhill road in the Killead civil parish.
The families nearest place of worship was St. Joseph’s Hannastown which has a cemetery but that’s not the parish they lived in.

Their options in the Glenavy & Killead  Parish would seem to have been
Mater Dei Church, Crumlin, St. Joseph's Church, Glenavy, St. James Church, Aldergrove.

 

[oldohiohome]

I don't know the specifics for that area, but they should be buried in the parish they belonged to. Not all graves are marked. Do you know anyone local who can go look at the graveyard?

[Jon_ni]

Correct spelling for townland is Carnaghliss https://www.townlands.ie/antrim/massereene-lower/killead/dundesert/carnaghliss/

I would have thought St James, Ballyquillin (Aldergrove) was closer than Hannastown but not much.
https://www.genuki.org.uk/big/irl/ANT/Killead/StJames

Glenavy & Killead have no burial registers online up to 1880 on NLI so there likely weren't any kept for the era and as there is unlikely to be a headstone/ a legible headstone (were they literate) you will probably not establish his final resting place for sure. Burials likely continued round the old R.C. church in Ballinderry too - play with the nearby churches & distance on GENUKI (it has many but not all).
https://registers.nli.ie/parishes/0417
https://www.nidirect.gov.uk/publications/guide-church-records

[Phil Donnelly]

Correct spelling for townland is Carnaghliss ...

Thanks very much for the useful links.
The PRONI link confirms that deaths were rarely recorded in Catholic registers before 1860.
From 1864 onwards there was the civil BMD registration was but Edward died just before then so I guess graveyards are the only chance – which I will explore on my next visit to N.I.

According to the 1851 Census the adults in the family were literate -  could all read and write. I have a GGgf Hercules Dean buried with his wife in the old section of Hannahstown graveyard. Their headstone dating back to 1849 is still legible – so haven’t given up hope :-)

[Phil Donnelly]

I don't know the specifics for that area, but they should be buried in the parish they belonged to. Not all graves are marked. Do you know anyone local who can go look at the graveyard?

Thanks.
And a good point to remember - as you said, parishioners 'belonged' to their parish and their P.P. so he is not likely to be buried at H'town. 

[Elwyn Soutter]

If the family were farmers and stayed put over the years (as most did) then they are likely to be buried in a local graveyard but labourers did move around to follow available work and they might therefore be buried somewhere else where there was a family plot acquired by previous generations. You don’t have to be buried in the parish you live in.

[Jon_ni]

I had forgotten the 1851 census might be available for that neck of the woods. My own Lurgan area tree has spouses from Aghalee/Aghagallon, Upper Masserene so I have used a few from there, and as is not far away, should have considered. Survived as out for binding.
http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/reels/c19/007246520/007246520_00379.pdf

Burials often continued around ancient abandoned churches and chapels. The closest being around Umgall church in Grange of Umgall but Parish of Templepatrick. Then there is the one in Carmavy Hill which is in Killead, on the site of an ancient Irish Catholic Chapel supposedly used by all denominations but the names mentioned seem to be largely protestant planters.
https://ulsterhistoricalfoundation.com/history-from-headstones/case-studies/carmavy-graveyard
Most religious sites & cemeteries are marked on PRONI historical maps, turn off the other 'points of interest' https://apps.spatialni.gov.uk/PRONIApplication/

Other local sites with some history info.
http://glenavyhistory.com/places-of-worship/
http://lisburn.com/churches/Lisburn-churches/catholic-churches.html
http://lisburn.com/lisburn_books.html : Glenavy Past and Present + Glenavy The Church of the Dwarf.

[Phil Donnelly]

I had forgotten the 1851 census might be available for that neck of the woods. My own Lurgan area tree has spouses from Aghalee/Aghagallon, Upper Masserene so I have used a few from there, and as is not far away, should have considered. Survived as out for binding.

I had always wondered how those so-called 'census fragments' had managed to survive.

Thanks for these new links to other local history sites.