ARMOUR; Loughguile Parish, Ballycregagh Townland; 1803+

Grace Armour died 17.3.1895 aged 87. Her death certificate says she was the widow of Alexander Armour. The informant was her son John. The farm appears in William Armour’s name after her death. She evidently married before April 1845 and Alexander was evidently dead before 1861 when Griffiths was compiled.

Adam Armour looks to have died 4.2.1871 aged 66. You may be able to learn something about him from his death certificate. It’s not on-line free yet. You can view the original certificate on the GRONI website, using the “search registrations” option:

https://geni.nidirect.gov.uk

You will need to open an account and buy some credits. It costs £2.50 (sterling) to a view a certificate.

Grace Armour and family appear to have been Presbyterian judging by the 1901 census. They may have attended Ballyweany Presbyterian church. Unfortunately it only has baptism records from 1862 onwards so if that’s where Alexander was baptised there won’t be a record. Have you searched for gravestones for the family? You might get more information that way.

You might expect the William who was farming in Ballycregah South in 1832 was the father of either Adam or Alexander (or both perhaps) but proving that might be difficult.

In Altadeevan South, the revision records show William’s name deleted in 1869 and replaced variously by John, William & Thomas Armour. There’s a possible death for William on 18.11.1864 aged 69. Again that death certificate on the GRONI site might tell you a little more. (It’s indexed under Wm).

I would agree with your assumption the “Armr” is probably an abbreviation for Amour. To this day Presbyterians often use a surname as a Christian name, often reflecting either someone’s maiden name or a person they respect eg the Minister or local School teacher.

I am afraid I can’t help you with any possible relationship between the Ballycregagh South, Altadeevan South, Moyaver & Kingariff families.  Any such a connection looks to have been well over 200 years ago, probably in the 1700s or 1600s. Earlier than any surviving records, so unless someone had private papers identifying links, it’s hard to see how you would crack that one.

There’s no Armours listed in Co Antrim in the Muster Rolls for c 1630 so it looks as though these families arrived in the area from Scotland some time after that.

Elwyn:

Thank you for the rapid and helpful response!

I’m glad you also think that ARMOUR family of Ballycregagh is probably ancestral to Armour McILHATTON of Kingarriff. The McILHATTONs were Presbyterians and one member of the family was named Armour Boyd Kirk!

Perry