Elliott Family

Hi Renie,

Thank you for your message.

In order to find information on these families you will probably have to look into church records. Do you know what religious denomination the family were? In order to know what records are relevant to your research, you also need to have a parish name. You have mentioned two place names in your message:

Brookfield: This is an area in Belfast. Belfast belongs to the civil parish of Shankill

Ballyeaston: This is a townland in the civil parish of Ballycor.

These are the two parishes which you will probably need to look into.

A useful websites when it comes to Irish Place names is : http://www.logainm.ie/

Most Catholic records are held locally so you may need to write to the local parish priest for possible assistance. One website that you may find useful is the Irish Times where they give an overview of what records are available in specific parishes.

Now this is where it gets even more confusing..!

The civil parish of Ballycor belongs to the Roman Catholic Parish of Ballyclare. TO see what is available there, follow this link:

http://www.irishtimes.com/ancestor/fuses/rcparishmaps/index.cfm?fuseaction=showidrecords&CityCounty=Antrim&parish=Ballyclare&churchid=389

For Catholic records in Belfast, follow this link:

http://www.irishtimes.com/ancestor/fuses/rcparishmaps/index.cfm?fuseaction=showlikerecords&CityCounty=Belfast%20city&parish=Belfast

(Irish land divisions can be very confusing, for clarification go to: http://www.irish-genealogy-toolkit.com/Irish-land-divisions.html )

Most surviving Church of Ireland records are still held by the local clergy, although some are in the National Archives of Ireland and others are in the Representative Church Body Library in Dublin. Here are their websites: http://www.nationalarchives.ie/ and http://ireland.anglican.org/about/42

Lists of these surviving registers can also be found at the National Library of Ireland.

www.familysearch.org has some Irish births and baptisms available online.

You could also check for record of the family in the land acts pertaining to Ireland in the 19th century. There are two:

The Tithe Applotment Books (1823-1838) found at http://titheapplotmentbooks.nationalarchives.ie/search/tab/home.jsp

and Griffith?s Valuation (1848-1864) found at http://www.askaboutireland.ie/griffith-valuation/

Did Hugh and Janet emigrate? If so what do you know about their emigration? If they remained in Ireland, you may be able to find their death record in civil records as civil registration began in Ireland in 1864. These records are available from the General Register?s Office in Dublin. Here is their website: http://www.groireland.ie/research.htm

You can search the indexes to these records online at: https://familysearch.org/search/collection/1408347

Some other websites that you may find helpful are:

The National Archives of Ireland http://www.nationalarchives.ie/genealogy1/genealogy-records/introduction/

The National Library of Ireland http://www.nli.ie/en/family-history-introduction.aspx

The National Archives UK ? genealogy search: http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/records/looking-for-person/

The Public Records Office of Northern Ireland http://www.proni.gov.uk/index/family_history.htm

The US National Archives: http://www.archives.gov/

Genealogy Links: http://www.genealogylinks.net/uk/ireland/antrim/index.html

I hope that some of these links are helpful. Remember to post as much information as you can with regard to the people you are researching. The more information you post, the more likely it is that one of our volunteers will be able to advise or assist you. Also include information concerning which sources you may have already used so others may further your search.

Kind regards,

Genealogy Support

Thanks so much for all this info.  I have been busy searching through some of those sites only to finally receive a death certificate for Hugh's son, James b 1842 which lists his mothers name as Barbra Nickholson........birth place Ireland....  I do not see the name Nickholson but Nicholson so I have started searching for that name. 

Hugh emigrated to USA in 1862 along with his son James and James' wife, Mary Hill Elliott...and I have no record of her being with the family.  Hugh lived in Pa with his son and his family till he died in 1898 in Pa.    Possibly she died before 1862..  so far, no luck finding any thing of her.