Halpins of Wicklow - Part 3

[BillW]

Welcome everyone.  Ray Halpin, who had taken on the former thread, has requested that I initiate the continued one, which I am only too happy to do.  The previous 30 pages only took from February to August to fill, half a year, and I think much progress was made.
This is not a "closed" discussion group and I encourage new contributors with fresh material, or comments on past material, to enter the discussion.  We all benefit mutually from each and every contribution.
I encourage all of us to dip into the last 60 pages (for which the Moderator has kindly supplied links).  The intensity of discussion and contributions sometimes leads to overlooking what has already been discovered and achieved.  Not only that, with our most up-to-date knowledge, we can get fresh perspectives on the older material, most of which retains its original integrity.
With best wishes, Bill.

[aghadowey]

Links to previous threads-
Halpin family of Wicklow
Halpins of Wicklow County, Portarlington County Laois, and Dublin City

[kenneth cooke]

I received the following in reply to a query to the Nat.Lib. IRL in June 2009,
in case anyone is interested:

Your query has been forwarded to the Manuscripts Department of the National Library of Ireland. There are a few items relating to various families with the surname Halpen, or derivatives of that name, such as:

 i)  Genealogical Office, MS 800, p.5: draft pedigree of Halpin of Co. Cavan and Von Koffelow of Schwerin, c. 1700-1912

 ii)   MS 24034-5: pedigree notes by Mac Iomhair on the family of Halpenny from Ardee, Co. Louth (c.1750-c.1900)

 iii)  D 27521-7: leases regarding the family of Gregg and the associated family of Halpin (Capt. Richard Halpin) concerning lands on the Murrough of Wicklow and at Church Street, Wicklow, Co. Wicklow. 7 items. Dates: 1840-75

There are also one or two items relating to William J. Halpin (a native of Co. Meath who was a prominent member of the Fenian Brotherhood in the United States during the 1860s along with Thomas W. Sweeny), although there is no material relating to his pedigree, or to his family or property.

[Shanachai]

Hi Ken - on point i):  I've read it and passed the info on to everyone some time ago.  The info it contains appears in Burke's peerage as the family tree we all now possess (re. the Portarlington branch).  It is handwritten, and it was from that document that I learned of two William Halpin's, formerly of the RN, residents of Portarlington/Dublin, both preceding Nicholas Halpin.  No dates were given.  So: we have William Halpin (RN), followed by W. Halpin (RN), followed in turn by Old Nick and William Henry Halpin and the Rev. N J Halpin, and so forth - you know the rest.  Brothers and uncles must have been John and Pagett, etc.  Personally, I'm inclined to think that the Wicklow branch of the Halpin family emerges from one of these early Portarlington Halpins - from one William or another.  But I'm only guessing.

I know nothing about point ii).

I've read the documents listed in point iii), but I didn't think there was much of interest to us.  Mostly stuff about who owned what property where in Wicklow town, and who leased what to who, and for how much.  I think that's where the Bradleys are also mentioned.

As for General William G (or J - depending on your source) Halpin, of county Meath.  Well, I have reams of stuff on the chap.  We were told that he and Charles G Halpine were cousins, and that together after the civil war in the US, they hatched a cunning plan to win freedom for Ireland in the Fenianian rising in Dublin in 1867.  William would defend himself manfully in court, while Charles would lead a powerful press campaign arguing for the rights of Irishmen to bear arms against their oppressors (the British) and govern themselves.  It was hoped that the British public would sympathise with the Irish and put pressure on their government to cease its 'enslavement' of the Irish people.  The British public had done something similar before, when - with the guidance of Wilberforce - it petitioned its government for the end of the slave trade.  Charles G Halpine thought he could convince the British people to do something similar for the Irish, using the trial of Gen. W G Halpin and his subsequent imprisonment as pretexts for said campaign.  Well, all was going according to plan until Charles took an overdose of a drug he used to help him cope with the effects of alcohol withdrawl.  He died in a New York hotel and the General was left to fend for himself in Ireland.
     I swear to God I wish this were true, but I think it's baloney myself.  A great story, but with no basis in fact.

Well - with none that I know of. 

Yet.   

[BillW]

Ray, I know that you have written of the Williams in the RN but, forgive me, I hadn't associated that with anything written.  There is no mention of a William in the RN, I think, in the Burke's entry.  But it can help to explain Nicholas's son being William.  So there must be more in these papers than got into Burke's.  Would it be possible for the contents of these papers to be more fully expounded here so we can all put our own interpretations on them?

Halpins in the Royal Navy suggests to me more of an association with a maritime county like Wicklow (or Dublin, or Wexford, ...) than Queen's.  I know Ireland is a small country and no-one is that far from the sea.  But I think my suggestion holds.  If these men in the RN are related to us, to me it adds further credence that the family originated somewhere other than Portarlington, as in Diane's and my submission a week or two ago.  I think at least three of the Wicklow family were sea captains, others were harbour masters or similar, and George in Dublin was involved from an early age first with docks and then with lighthouses.  There is no shortage of maritime connections.  And of course, another William Halpin definitely came from Wicklow, father of the Rev Robert Crawford and three military sons.  So, the name William Halpin is not restricted to the Portarlington family.

[BillW]

Further to the above, we know from James Halpin's burial plot in Wicklow Town that his mother Elizabeth is buried there in 1814, aged 75, indicating birth in or before 1739.  So we can reasonably assume that her Halpin husband, James' father, was born around the 1730s. 
The birth date of Nicholas Halpin of Portarlington has been estimated at about 1735.  That puts Elizabeth's husband as an exact contemporary of Nicholas.  Was her husband one of these William Halpins and a brother of Nicholas?  Were Nicholas' brother and father named William?  If Elizabeth's husband was William in the RN, he would have been away for long periods, and that lends explanation to the late births of children.  Elizabeth was in her late 30s when James was born (and possibly William and George, and the fathers of Frederick and Robert Wellington?).
Remember that George Halpin only had known sons named George and Oswald.  We don't know if he had had another son, he would have named him William, but we do know that his son George's first son was named William, as was Wiliam's first son.
Also, in those times, enterprising naval men could make fortunes over the horizon.  Did William come back and retire from the navy with his gains to become a distiller and brewer in Dublin?  Were the brewers William and son James?  Or could William and Nicholas have another brother James?

[Shanachai]

     Just on the entries in Burke's Peerage, Bill.  Everything I saw in the original document was as transcribed in Burke's, except for the two names that came before Nicholas - both of them William.  I'll try to view the document again and if I can copy it, I'll scan it into the discussion.  The names of both Williams were written in red ink, perhaps with a question mark after one of them, as if the person creating the family tree was a little vague about the people he was trying to recall.  I'll also try to determine when the document was deposited in the archives, and by whom.  That might tell us something important.  I'm guessing it was one of the Cavan-based Halpins, possibly Ralph, the solicitor.       
     If it was Ralph, he would have constructed the family tree from information gleaned from two sources - from family members (probably an Aunt) and archival sources stored in a place like Custom House.  Most of the records stored at Custom House were destroyed when it was shelled during the civil war, and census forms and the like were destroyed when the new Irish government refused to take them off British hands after power transferred from one to the other.  So great sources of information, once available to Ralph, are no longer available to us.
     You're right to draw attention to the prevalence of a name like William in the Halpin lineage, and naming conventions can help in the early stages of an investigation like ours.  But a word of caution - those conventions were practiced by all, and they are more likely to indicate religious and/or political loyalties than familial bloodlines.  William of Orange was revered by virtually all Protestant Irishmen, and they were conscious of the great debt they owed him.  They would demonstrate that debt by naming a son after him.  They would then go one step further and pay homage to their King.  There was a succession of Kings George from about the 1750s through to about the 1840s, so this accounts for the prevalence of that name among the Protestant people of Ireland at that time.  I'm not saying we should shy away from naming conventions, just that we should understand them for what they were.
     As far as the direction the Halpins took in their movements about the country, I'm not wedded to any particular version of events, but I do recognise the value of getting it right.  Did the Halpins move from Wicklow to Portarlington?  Or was it the other way round?  I don't know - but you and Diane have made a good case for the latter.  Let's hope this new thread sheds some light on the matter.

[BillW]

Wicklow (County and Town) gravestone and church inscriptions can be viewed at a commendable ongoing project by Irish Genealogy Projects, as they can for most Counties.  The site is searchable at page: http://www.igp-web.com/IGPArchives/ire/wicklow/index.htm.

Transcribed inscriptions can be accessed at the Headstones link and photos of them at the Photos link, although I am not certain that the photos are up yet.

[BillW]

KENNEDY family married to Louisa HALPIN, 2nd youngest child of James and Ann Halpin of the Bridge Tavern (1½ years the senior of Capt Robert Charles Halpin, the youngest child):

In | Loving Memory | of | WILLIAM HUGH HARRIS KENNEDY | born Nov. 23rd 1841 died Jan. 25th 1902 | and | LOUISA | his wife | born July 16th 1834 died June 24 1902 | also their son | ROBERT C. H. KENNEDY, M.B. | born March 31st 1873, died at Ryde, Isle of Wight | August 6th 1927, Interred at Binstead  | FRANCES FREDERICA KENNEDY | died 21st February 1958. | LYDIA ANNE KENNEDY | died 8th March1958 |LOUISA GERTRUDE KENNEDY | died 14th May 1961 | "I am the resurrection and the life | he that believeth in Me, though he were dead | yet shall he live".

Marie, do you remember Aunt Gertie's sisters?  Although she died in 1961 aged 90, her sisters only died 3 years earlier aged 90 and 88.  We also learn that their brother who went to the IOW seems to have been a doctor, yet another doctor in the family of the Halpins of Wicklow.  I wonder if he may have trained with his 12 years older cousin, Dr James Henry Halpin, in Wentworth Place.