Sorry Louise as a fellow Aussie in Victoria, I can offer NOTHING! However your comprehensive request struck me as so well constructed. So great job!
But most of all it demonstrates how hard it is for Aussies and Kiwis (our New Zealand neighbours across the water) to get close to difficult Irish records. The Americans are much closer and more likely to be able to head off to Ireland at some point. I think if they had 20-30 hour flights to reach Ireland like we do, there’d be much less visiting!!!! It’s bloody hard from here! But then along comes Elwyn with the most extraordinarily array of deeply knowledgable answers and fabulous help for you Louise! Apart from the somewhat disappointing news that you need to visit PRONI in person for the best chances of info! I just wanted to say BRAVO Louise and BRAVO Elwyn! A long time ago I was on the CoTyIre list and left. On rediscovering it in the last few months I am struck by how many million times better it is these days! So thanks to those who put in the hard yards for us poor lost souls so far away. And there are some very generous volunteers on this site I thank you most sincerely! But jokingly also bow in your general direction! That would work wouldn’t it? If I bowed West-Nor-West? But seriously you really are stars! Again thanks Chris Owen Melbourne Australia > On 10 Mar 2024, at 16:39, Elwyn Soutter via CoTyroneList > <[email protected]> wrote: > > 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] > <mailto:[email protected]>> > Sent: 10 March 2024 3:32 AM > To: [email protected] > <mailto:[email protected]> > <[email protected] > <mailto:[email protected]>> > Cc: [email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> > <[email protected] <mailto:[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 > <http://roots.ie/>. > Best wishes, Louise in Perth, Australia > ================================= > Send a Message to the List - [email protected] > <mailto:[email protected]> > List Archive - > https://list.cotyroneireland.com/empathy/list/cotyronelist.list.cotyroneireland.com > Join the list by sending an email to - > [email protected] > <mailto:[email protected]> > To receive the Digest version, send an email to - [email protected] > <mailto:[email protected]> > Unsubscribe by sending an email to - > [email protected] > <mailto:[email protected]> > =================================
================================= Send a Message to the List - [email protected] List Archive - https://list.cotyroneireland.com/empathy/list/cotyronelist.list.cotyroneireland.com Join the list by sending an email to - [email protected] To receive the Digest version, send an email to - [email protected] Unsubscribe by sending an email to - [email protected] =================================
