Looking for Information on my Family from Craigs

Janice,

The house numbers in the censuses were the enumerators private numbering system and varied from census to census. Different numbers in the same townland didn?t mean the families had moved, just that a subsequent enumerator had used a different system.

Griffiths Valuation has a farm listed in Gortaheran in 1862 for a John Elder. He had a farmhouse , outbuildings and a half share of just over 16 acres.(Shared with the Nevin family). The farm (plot 1) was beside the banks of the Bann and so fits your information. It remained in John Elder?s name till 1887 when he was succeeded by James McCahy. The farm today is just off the Gortgole Rd, a few miles north of Portglenone.

If the fmaily were Presbyterian, then they probably attended churhc in Portglenone. There were 3 Presbyterian chruches there at one time. Copies of their surviving baptism records are held in PRONI, Belfast. You may be able to trace the baptisms there.

The Smyth family were farmers by 1911, though judging by the birth of one of their children in Glasgow c 1884, they evidently lived there for a short period of time.

The 1911 census records that the family attended Cullybackey Presbyterian church so that would be the place to look for Smyth ancestors. The church records go back to 1727 when it was built. Those for the 1800s are in PRONI, the earlier ones in the Presbyterian Historical Society in Belfast. They are not on-line and so a personal visit is required to see them.

The revaluation records show Henry Smith (sic) as acquiring plot 8 in Broughdone in 1909. That was just over 12 acres of land, and with no house recorded on it. So they may have been staying somewhere else (though obviously they are in the 1911 census). By 1925 the farm is listed as house, offices (outbuildings) and land, and had been purchased under the Land Act. Henry Smyth?s name was still against the property when that set of records concludes in 1929. (There are later paper records in PRONI which go up to the 1960s).

http://applications.proni.gov.uk/dcal_proni_val12b/ImageResult.aspx

That farm today is just off the Shellinghill Rd, north out of Cullybackey. (To locate it precisely, you would need to get a copy of the 1860s Griffiths map of Broughdone from Ballymena Library, local studies section. Easy enough to do, but involves a visit to the library. Or PRONI should also have a copy. The on-line version on Griffiths doesn?t have plot numbers for that townland, so you can?t locate it that way).

Prior to 1909 the family were evidently in a farm labourers cottage, on a farm in Craigs townland. Their landlord was James Duncan and so it appears likely their cottage was on his farm (which was plots 54 & 56. Their house was probably 56a, though they are not actually listed as tenants in the revaluation records. However James Duncan is listed as tenant of both the main farm and the cottage at 56a, so it seems likely he had sublet it to the Smyth family. ) The house had 2 to 4 rooms, 4 windows at the front and a thatched roof (though it could have been wood or some other perishable covering). The farm today is on the south side of Duneoin Rd, just before the junction with the Granagh and Maboy Rds. You can see it on the Griffiths maps.

Craigs townland and Broughdone are immediately adjacent. They are separated by the river Main.

Elwyn

Elwyn,

Thank you so much for all of the information you provided. 

I really appreciate it, as I have no knowledge whatsoever of Ireland. I live in Canada, and have never had the ability to visit.

Now back to connecting the dots.

Janice 

Elwyn,

Thank you so much for all of the information you provided. 

I really appreciate it, as I have no knowledge whatsoever of Ireland. I live in Canada, and have never had the ability to visit.

Now back to connecting the dots.

Janice