Author Topic: Halpins of Wicklow, etc. - Part 4  (Read 71054 times)

Offline BillW

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Re: Halpins of Wicklow, etc. - Part 4
« Reply #9 on: Thursday 09 May 13 22:35 BST (UK) »
Images recorded from the Calendars of Wills & Administrations 1858-1920 can now be inspected online at
http://www.willcalendars.nationalarchives.ie/search/cwa/home.jsp.  Full information at this home page.
Many names we have been discussing here are listed.  Deaths outside Ireland including Canada, Scotland and France are to be seen.
Most wills are kept at the Archives but they caution that some have not survived.

Offline Shanachai

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Re: Halpins of Wicklow, etc. - Part 4
« Reply #10 on: Monday 13 May 13 22:56 BST (UK) »

At times in the past, as we've been busy posting our latest discoveries, we've sometimes paused to speculate on where the Halpins came from.  Are they natives, who converted to Protestantism some time around the end of the 17th century?  Or are they colonists, who came to these shores from Scotland, or England, or maybe even France?  Part of my own research has tried to answer this question.  My findings are inconclusive.  Through my investigations in the Registry of Deeds I've loosely traced the Halpins back to Dublin in the 1720s.  And in one of those deeds I have a Halpin doing business with a Halpenny.  The Halpennys appear to predate the Halpins of Wicklow, which has prompted some to wonder if Halpenny isn't some kind of Gaelic version of the Anglicised Halpin, which would suggest a blood tie between the earlier Halpennys and the later Halpins.

I've played around with a theory of my own for some time, which suggests that the Halpins were originally native and Catholic, but converted when land was being transfered from its native owners to Protestant settlers, in the hope of hanging on to their land.  I have no proof of this, and base my theory solely on a hunch.  It could just as easily be the case that the Halpins arrived with the invading army in the middle of the 17th century, after Cromwell's victory over Charles II and the Catholic Confederacy.  As Fintan O'Toole writes in last weekend's Irish Times (Sat., May 11): "Soldiers who had fought in the campaigns, and adventurers who had funded them, had been promised Irish land in return."  If you're going to expropriate someone else's land and hand it over to your allies, you need to conduct a survey first, to find out what you have.  This is precisely what was done, and the results of that survey, complete with the names and locations of the original owners, have just been posted online by Trinity College.  You can find it at:

http://downsurvey.tcd.ie/

Offline BillW

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Re: Halpins of Wicklow, etc. - Part 4
« Reply #11 on: Wednesday 15 May 13 01:01 BST (UK) »

...and by A. Halpin [Andrew Halpin?] of [elugus/augus/dugus] in the Kingdom of France.

1.  I am told by experienced researchers in France that many records including censuses exist but that it is almost always necessary to know the location to search.  Records are not held centrally.

2.  My cousin Pamela has been inspecting items at the National Maritime Museum and has some interesting observations.  Some excerpts:
I met the man who has the job of setting up the exhibits. He still had a lot of Halpin stuff in boxes and was talking about a ticket or permit that Halpin had to go into Confederate waters where he ran guns to the men engaged in the Civil war. He did this in the year that he was not licensed to captain ships. I asked him for a copy of it and have it with me now. It gives his height as 5.7 feet and complexion as ruddy. His signature is on the card. It then occurred to me that someone would have had to give the things to the Museum and the volunteer said they came in at about the time of the death of the Halpin women in the late sixties. This was only heresay however I got the card of the man who is engaged in research on Halpin and asked him if he had the details about the person who gave the objects of which there were plenty and some were very valuable. He could not tell me off the cuff but it occurred to me that this information must be there somewhere and it would be nice if we could tap into it.
There is a lot of respect for the two George Halpins.  To some they are heroes. They are generally credited as being great men and they are inseparable as they worked together on the same projects. Apparently George's writings are short and to the point and juniors are long and detailed. I saw an archive room in the museum that ... runs and there were expensive library modern moveable shelves that had volumes of leather bound large format books of writings by both men. Some were copies in handwriting of their records.
. I have observed how lighthouse keeping ran in families for many generations and I am prepared to believe that the Halpin dynasty was a similar thing. Therefore I am not surprised by the link to the Stevensons who were the engineers in England.....I have seen it written that snr George built three bridges. To get this job he must have had connections. Often the Stevensons accompanied him on visits to lighthouses or sites where they were to be either constructed or inspected or designed. They were close. I think we may be about to make a breakthrough in understanding why George got the job at such a young age. It may have been to keep it all in the one family as is the habit here in Ireland even today. With the troubles developing it may have been good to change the name from Halfpenny to Halpin to appear more Irish. The English became very Irish over the centuries here.
I do not believe that the Halpins just rose from being road or quarry workers. This did not happen easily. There would have to be a history of leadership or family connections. Maybe we should go further back into history if possible. The clannishness of Irish families is amazing to me. Nothing is straight forward in this country.

Offline tompion

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Re: Halpins of Wicklow, etc. - Part 4
« Reply #12 on: Wednesday 22 May 13 21:18 BST (UK) »
The online wills calendar (probate notices) that Bill mentioned in a recent post is a very useful new resource (or maybe just new to me) - interested to see that as late as 1903 the surname 'Halpin' and 'Halfpenny' being used by the same person!

http://www.willcalendars.nationalarchives.ie/reels/cwa/005014913/005014913_00104.pdf


Offline Shanachai

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Re: Halpins of Wicklow, etc. - Part 4
« Reply #13 on: Saturday 25 May 13 00:00 BST (UK) »
Continuing with the Halpin/Halpenny theme -

Halpen/Halpenny: 131 304 89183.
     Memorial of Deed of Lease dated 25th of March 1748 between Richard Halpen of Golden Bridge County Dublin, Gent, and Thomas Halfpenny bof Arbour Hill, Dairyman...whereby the said Richard Halpen for the yearly rent of £112 sterling did demise sell and to farm let unto the said TH all that part of his the said Richard's holding containing 28 acres situate in the Parish of Saint James County Dublin.  To have and to hold the said demised premises for the term of thirty one years from the date of the said lease which said lease was duly executed by the said parties in the presence of Paget Halpen of the County of Dublin, Gent, and Patrick McDonagh of the City of Dublin, Gent...and this memo was executed by the said Thos. Halfpenny in the presence of the said P. McDonagh and James Monnaghan of the City of Dublin, Victualer.

And a connection to Ken's forebears -

Halpen/Halpen: 133 220 90485.
     Memorial of a Deed Poll dated 11th February 1748 made by Paget Halpen of Hamstead, Co. Dublin, Gent, to Mark Halpen whereby the said PH for the Considerations therein Mentioned did bargain sell assign transfer and make over unto the said MH all his right and interest in - and to his leasehold interest in - Hamstead and all the household goods in his house in Hamstead and to all other reale (sic) and personal effects, together with all the money due and owing to him.  To hold all and singular the said several granted premises unto the said Mark Halpen...
     Wit. by William Connor Clark, Edward Butler Attorney at Law and Thos. Fitzmaurice, Clerk to the said E. Butler.

Offline kenneth cooke

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Re: Halpins of Wicklow, etc. - Part 4
« Reply #14 on: Saturday 25 May 13 01:01 BST (UK) »
Thanks again Ray,
The deed of 25.3.1748 between Richard Halpen and Thomas Hal(f)penny seems to show a relationship between the different variations of the name. Of course it could have been a coincidence, but that is not likely. And a witness was Paget Halpen, most probably related to the other two, but to date we can not establish the link. Interesting to see that Paget was not from the City of Dublin, but was ‘of the County of Dublin, Gent’.
Six weeks earlier Paget was noted in a deed, living at Hamstead, County Dublin, in which he transferred the property at Hamstead to a Mark Halpen.
But which Paget, and which Mark ?
It can only have been Paget (1) born 1682, son of Nicholas ‘Generosus’ of Maryborough. Paget (2) the army officer, was too young (born about 1742).
Paget (1) had a brother Mark, born 1684 and a son Mark, born about 1710.
I had assumed that it must have been his son, as his brother lived in England from about 1712 until his death there in 1768.
But there is a gap where nothing is heard of Mark senior, between 1742 and his death at Bath in 1768.
It is possible that he went to Ireland to settle his affairs there in 1748, then returned to England to spend his last years (and that his son Nicholas, b. 1726 in London, accompanied him and stayed in Ireland ?)
It would be interesting to see how other contributors interpret these two deeds.

Offline Shanachai

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Re: Halpins of Wicklow, etc. - Part 4
« Reply #15 on: Saturday 25 May 13 23:21 BST (UK) »

Your interpretation seems pretty sound to me, Ken.

Offline BillW

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Re: Halpins of Wicklow, etc. - Part 4
« Reply #16 on: Wednesday 29 May 13 08:06 BST (UK) »
Who was Gaston Rogan Halpin?  He is in the Wills Calendar dying 5th August 1883 at London Ontario, leaving a small Irish estate, probate granted to Nicholas John Halpin (who had been at the Custom House, wife Rebecca Doherty) of 5 Palmerston Road Rathmines, "attorney of the mother".  It seems most likely he was a son or grandson of Rev William Henry Halpin (brother of the above NJH) and of Elizabeth Gaston Rogan but if the latter was his mother she had predeceased him in 1869.

Offline Shanachai

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Re: Halpins of Wicklow, etc. - Part 4
« Reply #17 on: Wednesday 29 May 13 11:44 BST (UK) »
From an email sent by Diane Carruthers, June 25th 2009:

"William Henry married twice. He first married Elizabeth Gaston Rogan in Ireland [27th September 1853 at the Church of St. George, Dublin] then Eleanor Baynham in Canada. William and Ann's children were: Henry Ross (1854), Hugh Gaston (1855), Annie Greham , Nicholas John (1859), Charles Bernard (1867), Claude S Burgoyne (1868), Herbert Francis (1869). I have been able to trace them on the Canadian census records. Nicholas John ( 1859) had a drug store in Brandon, Manitoba and he helped my great grandfather Herbert buy his engagement ring."

This would suggest that Gaston Rogan Halpin was not W H Halpin's son.  Is another interpretation of the information possible? I haven't seen it so I can't be sure.  Since G R Halpin died in 1883, and left 'a small Irish estate' to N J Halpin, he might in fact have been William and Elizabeth's second child, "Hugh Gaston" (b. 1855), and the beneficiary of his will could have been his brother Nicholas John (b. 1859).  If this is correct, the change of name, from Hugh Gaston to Gaston Rogan will have to be explained.

Henry Ross Halpin was a fascinating character.  After the death of his first wife he married a Metis woman, Flora Leask, and had a second family.  Leah, who has contributed to this forum in the past, is his descendant.  For a photograph of Henry and a brief biography, go to: http://esask.uregina.ca/entry/halpin_henry_ross_1856-1930.html