Louise,
The most comprehensive set of Presbyterian records for Ulster are held in PRONI in Belfast. None of the PRONI collection are on-line and a personal visit is required to view them. Some Presbyterian records are on some of the pay to view sites but many have never been put on-line. So if you can’t find the family on rootsireland then PRONI is probably your best bet. The PRONI catalogue is on-line and you can see what churches exist and what years the records cover. https://www.nidirect.gov.uk/publications/guide-church-records There are 2 townlands called Calhame near Letterkenny. One is in the parish of Leck the other in Conwal. In Leck there is Leckpatrick Presbyterian church with baptism records starting in 1838, also 2nd Strabane with records from 1844. In Conwal, Letterkenny 1stt and Letterkenny 2nd both have records from 1821. Letterkenny 3rd start in 1841 and Trenta in 1836. Copies of all these records are in PRONI. Obviously if yours are the Leck family then there are no records for the years you probably need. If you widen your search, there are quite a lot of Presbyterian churches in Derry and Donegal, so potentially quite a few to work through, and not all have records for baptisms in the 1830s. The 1831 census of Co Derry has survived: National Archives: Census of Ireland 1911<https://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/search/> If you search it you will find that there were Presbyterian households headed by a John or Jno White in the following parishes: Aghadowey, Balteagh, Kilcornaghan, Upper Comber & Kenaught. So you could start with them. The Donegal 1831 census did not survive and so there you might just have to work through every Presbyterian church in the county. Most farmers should be listed in the tithe applotment records (they were a tax on land). The records can be found here: The Tithe Applotment Books, 1823-37 (nationalarchives.ie)<https://titheapplotmentbooks.nationalarchives.ie/search/tab/home.jsp> Searching for John White in Donegal I found them in Clonleigh, Donagh, Kilmacrenan and Urney (Urney parish is actually partially in Tyrone as well as Donegal. It straddles the county borders). Not every parishes tithes in Donegal have survived though and so there might have been others that are lost. And the tithes don’t tell you what denomination they were. As far as Presbyterians in Donegal are concerned, they are mostly in the eastern half of the county. As you probably know they are descendants of Scots who settled in the area in the 1600s. The better farming land is in the east of the county so they mostly headed for that. Death registration started in Ireland in 1864. I searched 1864 – 1901 for Hannah White. I did not find a single one in Co Derry. There were 2 of the right age in Co Donegal. One was in 1881 aged 85 in the Letterkenny registration area. However she was married to a James White. The other was in 1870 aged 75 in Donegal Town. However that year is not free to view yet and so you would need to order a copy of the certificate to find the details. If that’s not her then your Hannah probably died before 1864. Making her hard to trace. (Presbyterians generally didn’t bother with burial records by the way). Elwyn ________________________________ From: Louise Clarkson via CoTyroneList <[email protected]> Sent: 10 March 2024 3:32 AM To: [email protected] <[email protected]> Cc: [email protected] <[email protected]> Subject: [CoTyroneMailingList] Looking for the White family in and around Carnatrentagh Hello list, this is my first posting with you. I am very keen to place my 2 x great grandfather, John White, in his correct family tree. Information about his origins is scanty. There is a death registration, but I am sceptical about some of the facts, particularly the name of his father and mother, and his age. He claimed he was 23 when he married. Family history says he immigrated to Victoria, Australia as a ‘very young man’. He then travelled to Dunedin, New Zealand and married in a presbyterian church 1865 to Mary Nelan (or Neilon, or Nellin etc). Mary could have been a young Catholic woman from Kerry, or maybe Clare. Throughout his life, he was a miner for gold, and worked in a paper mill, and transporting stone. He and Mary had 12 children, 11 of them married and also had large families. Among the childrens’ names were Prudence and Dinah. Twins occurred in their families for a few generations. John White appears to have been an elder in the Presbyterian church. There are many John Whites in passenger lists, and I have not been able to place him as yet. DNA came along, and I found strong matches to people in Pennsylvania US called Tease. I found familiy trees with Prudence and Dinah, and twins. It looks like John White may belong in these families. They are documented with death certs that point to origins in Calhame, Letterkenny, Donegal. They are all Presbyterian. I produced a possible family tree with a Prudence White marrying John Tease, and her sister Dinah marrying Samuel Tease. their parents were James White and Hannah Galley. I found death records for them. I need to find baptismal records in this area - however a researcher I employed could not find a possible birth for a John White with these parents. He could be a cousin, and I considered the possibility of John being an illigitamate child of the family. Can anyone help me with directions to Presbyterian archives? I can’t find any records in roots.ie. Best wishes, Louise in Perth, Australia
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