Ballymena - Cemetery lookup

[Janice M]

I am looking for the Elder family of Ballymena. Unfortunately, I have no idea of what cemetery any of them are buried in.

Janice

[aghadowey]

There are lots of burial places in the Ballymena area. Where to start looking depends on the dates involved, where they lived (townland or at least parish) and their religion.

[OTTO]

Try wills search at PRONI for 35 Elder deaths, 16 of which are County Antrim.
http://www.proni.gov.uk/index/search_the_archives/will_calendars/wills_search.htm
Lots of Elder records at www.emeraldancestors.com
If you supply more details , help will come.

OTTO

[Janice M]

Thank you for your replies.

My gg-grandparents were

John Elder & Margaret (Peggy) Stewart (Stuart)

John died in 1898 and Margaret in 1904 in Craigs.

They were Presbyterian.

Other names I am looking for (who still remained in Ireland) were Anne who married Henry Smyth in 1882, Martha Elder, David Elder. Unfortunately, I have no idea when the others died.

Other names that appear constantly in my line are Joseph, Thomas, Robert and Isaac Elder, and James and Robert Stuart.

Hope this is of some help.

Janice

[aghadowey]

Were they Presbyterian or Reformed Presbyterian? Many Presbyterians buried in Church of Ireland burying-ground but Reformed Presbyterians probably buried at R.P. Church, Cullybackey.

[Janice M]

Hi Aghadowey,

That was a question I had never thought about before 

So... I checked Henry Smyth and Annie (Elder) Smyth on the 1911 Census and it says
Cullybackey Presbyterian Church.

They were living in Broughdone, Craigs, Lower Toome, Galgorm, Ballymena, Antrim..

Janice

[aghadowey]

First place to check would be the church (and how nice of Henry Smyth to include such detail in that column) but I will warn you that most Presbyterian churches don't keep a record of burials and if you are lucky there might be a map of the plots or the name of the person claiming the plot.
Next place to look would be the local Church of Ireland burying-ground. Church of Ireland usually keep a burial register (although many C. of I. records sent for safekeeping in Dublin were destroyed in 1920s) but sometimes the Rector didn't record details of Presbyterians buried in his churchyard.

[Janice M]

Thank you Aghadowey!

I will give that a try. (Here's hoping)

Janice

[Mikaela Mcgrugan]

Hi, sorry I am new to this site and realise that this was posted a while back, but my maiden name is elder, I'm from ballymena and my family are all from ballymena on the elder side