WHITEFORD - Antrim to Campbeltown, Argyll

[paulcrewe]

Good morning everyone,

Being totally new to Irish family history research and living in Australia, I was hoping that someone may be able to point me in the right direction.

My gg Grandfather, James Whiteford, said that he was born in Ireland about 1816 on the 1841, 1851, 1861, 1871 Scotland Censuses.  He was living in the village of Drumlemble near Campbeltown in Argyll during those censuses and was married there on 17 Jun 1834 to Mary Mann.  In 1881 and 1891 he was living with his daughter and her family in Lanarkshire until he died in 1898 aged 82.

On his death certificate, his parents are listed as John Whiteford, labourer and Jane McBryde.

I have also found two brothers of his in Campbeltown who also say on the Scotland Censuses they were born in Ireland, one of which says he was born in County Antrim on the 1851 census.  Their details are -

John Whiteford b c1807 m Agnes McMillan in Campbeltown 27 May 1851
Alexander Whiteford b c1805 m Mary Scally in Campbeltown 30 Nov 1826.

All three death certificates show their father as John Whiteford (a labourer, a county workman, and a miller) and their mother variously as Jane McBryde, Jean McBride and Jane McBride.

I suspect that they may have all come to Campbeltown at the same time with their parents (as James was only 10 when his brother Alexander married), but the parents never appear on any censuses so must have died prior to 1841 (if my assumption is correct).

A number of posts I have seen on various mailing lists say that Whiteford is a name that is most common in county Antrim (born out by the Griffith's Primary Valuation 1848 - 1864), and that Carrickfergus, Balleaston, Ballynure and Raloo are likely areas to start looking.

Please forgive me if this is a stupid question, but do Parish Registers (or their equivalent) exist for these areas in the period 1800-1820 where I could check for births, deaths and marriages of my Whitefords, and what is the best way to get access to them?  Am I best to get a professional researcher to look into this given that I live in Australia?

I would be particularly looking for a marriage for John Whiteford to Jean/Jane McBride/McBryde around 1800ish, and births of Alexander about 1805, John about 1807 and James about 1816 and any other children to the couple.

Any general information on these Whiteford families and/or their place of origin would be very much appreciated.

Thank you very much,
Paul Crewe

[Christopher]

Hello Paul,

J. Whiteford captained the East Antrim Hockey Club in the 1930s. www.eastantrim.co.uk/members.php?member=j-whiteford If you use www.192.com to search for Whiteford you should find a few. I entered Carrickfergus and three appeared ... two with businesses in Larne and one in Straid.

I'd suggest posting messages to the Editors of the Belfast Telegraph (scroll down the list of contacts till you see "writeback") www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/contact and the East Antrim Times www.larnetimes.co.uk/contactus.aspx telling them about your search. The Telegraph regulary posts genealogy queries.

Christopher

[aghadowey]

... do Parish Registers (or their equivalent) exist for these areas in the period 1800-1820 where I could check for births, deaths and marriages of my Whitefords, and what is the best way to get access to them? Am I best to get a professional researcher to look into this given that I live in Australia?
I would be particularly looking for a marriage for John Whiteford to Jean/Jane McBride/McBryde around 1800ish, and births of Alexander about 1805, John about 1807 and James about 1816 and any other children to the couple.

To locate church records (if they exist) in Ireland you need to know what religion the family was and where they lived (parish if not actual townland).
PRONI (Public Records Office of Northern Ireland) do have microfilmed copies of many church registers. LDS also have many- check their catalogue online at www.familysearch.org. If LDS have microfilmed the records you need they can be ordered from your local LDS library for a small fee to be viewed there.

[paulcrewe]

I really appreciate your replies to my query thank you very much.

I will post messages to the editors of those papers, so thank you for those links.

I checked the LDS Catalog and none of the parishes I have pinpointed with Whitefords at some stage in the past have had their registers filmed by the LDS, so unfortunately that isn't an option for me.

If I don't get any response from the letters to the editors, I will approach PRONI for their assistance.

Thank you both again very much.

Paul

[aghadowey]

You haven't said what religion the family were but the following records are in LDS catalogue:

I checked the LDS Catalog and none of the parishes I have pinpointed with Whitefords at some stage in the past have had their registers filmed by the LDS, so unfortunately that isn't an option for me.

Ballyeaston, Ballycor Parish, Ireland - Presbyterian Church records:
baptisms 1814-1821
marriages 1813-21, 1824, 1828, 1830, 1832, 1837, 1843, 1845

[paulcrewe]

Thank you for that aghadowey, I missed it as I only checked for actual parishes, not individual towns.  I'll order that film and hope that if they were there then there were some records in that time period.

Paul

[aghadowey]

Were the family Presbyterian then?

[Christopher]

I had a look at the 1912 Ulster Covenant ... thirty Whitefords are listed ... twenty nine were from East Antrim and one from Belfast. The family is probably Presbyterian.

Christopher

[paulcrewe]

I would have thought they were probably Presbyterian as well, as I suspect the Whitefords originally went to Ireland from Scotland (maybe sometime in the 1700s) and my branch returned to Campbeltown in the early 1800s (maybe for work?).

Thank you for the lookup in the 1912 Ulster Covenant as well Christopher - does it say where in East Antrim?

From the Griffiths Valuation and the Tithe Applotment books, the Parishes I want to look at are -

Layd, Carrickfergus, Skerry, Derryaghy, Dunaghy, Ballycor, Nallynure, Grange of Inispollan, Raloo, Connor, Glynn and Ballyeaston.

Paul