Harbison family in or around Drummaul 1800 - married into Smith family

Have you checked Randalstown RC church graveyard for Harbison gravestones?

There don?t appear to have been any Harbisons left in Magheralane by 1848. Here?s a list of the RC residents of that townland, taken from the parish records:

Magheralane:

Daniel McGill, John McCrory, Widow McCrory, Michael McGee, John Kenney, Bernard Mulholland, Col Blayney, Bernard Kielty, Hugh Kielty, John Gribben, Col McAlister, Samuel Hill, John Murray, John Dowdal, Neal McIlroy, Daniel Kenny, Daniel McLenaghan, John McDonnell, James Martin, Bradohan Burns, Patrick Kielty, James McGroggan, John Gormley, Murtha Boyle, Charles O'Hara, Hugh Heaney, John Mulholland, John Corr, James Murray, John Kielty, Widow McCrory, Francis Martin, Susan Larkin, Patrick Martin, Peter McLoughlin, Charles Martin, Harry McCrory, Alex. Martin, Patrick McAlister, James Blayney, John Hannan, John Hannan, Jun.

Holly Brook is a part of Magheralane. Nowadays the Hollybrook Rd runs west from the Magheralane Rd. That?s Holly Brook.  (I live just a mile or so from Magheralane).

Hello again: No, I have not checked the Randalstown RC graveyard for Harbisons. How is that done? I have actually written to the RC church about a week ago, but no reply so far concerning my possibly stopping by on Friday the 19th in the late afternoon. I have been out of touch due to travels and then was blocked by the new website. I see that you have also answered me on the other posting I made and I will look at that next. Thank you ever so much for your replies. I think I am now connected again which is wonderful since I depart for Belfast this week. Meanwhile, I looked up the entire tithe record series from 1834 while I was in the SLC genealogy library and found no Harbisons at all - Did find McClenaghan next door to Leslie Smth in 1834. Only 2 other Smiths paying tithes in Drummaul at that time: Hugh and John. Laurie

Laurie, 

Regarding checking Drummaul RC graveyard, the answer is simply to go there and look at the graves (or get someone to do it for you). I don’t think they are on-line anywhere. Most of the gravestones there are in very good condition and easy to read. It’ll take you about half an hour to walk around all of it. I have been around it 10 times or more and have always meant to compile a lit of names but have never got around to it. The name Harbison is common enough in this area but I can’t recall whether there are any in the RC graveyard.

The RC church doesn’t generally keep burial records so if the family don’t have  a gravestone, then there usually won’t be any other record. Most gravediggers were illiterate so no point them keeping paper records. Most families knew where their plot was and just pointed it out to the gravedigger. Unfortunately that meant the information was often lost if the family moved away or died out.

People don’t always get buried in the graveyard of the church they attend. If they have a family plot somewhere else, then they often carry on using it. (Perhaps the Harbison family moved into the Randalstown area from an adjacent parish?). Nearest other RC graveyards are at Moneyglass chapel, and Cargin chapel (both in Duneane parish to the west of Drummaul) or Ahoghill to the north. Having said that, in the 1901 census for Co Antrim there are 136 people named Harbison. Only 13 are RC, the rest are all protestant of one denomination or another. So I’d wonder if this was a mixed marriage, or at least one where Frances family were at one time protestant. In that case the family might be buried in the Church of Ireland or one of the 3 Presbyterian church graveyards in Randalstown.

You could have a look at the O’Neill Estate papers in PRONI to see if the families you are interested in are listed as tenants in in Magheralane then. T1024/1 has the records for 1829 and T1024/2 those for 1831. Compiled by townland, the records are not on-line and a personal visit is required to view them. In addition to confirming the exact size of the land each tenant held, the records sometimes tell you what terms they were on eg “3 lives lease from 1793”, which gives you an idea how long they had been there.

Probably worth checking the originals of the tithes in PRONI to look for your Harbisons. (Many of the transcription sites contain errors and omissions). It will also tell you the exact size of their holding in 1834 which you can sometimes match to Griffiths (1862), to locate the farm today. Drummaul tithes are on microfilm MIC15AA/16 in the main public reading room.

I'll be away on Rathlin Island all day on Friday, otherwise I'd offer to meet up with you at the graveyard. Good luck anyway.