Ancestors of John McCune buried in Movilla Cemetery, Newtownards, Down.

Cardy is a townland of 513 acres, near Greyabbey. You can see its boundaries using the map facility on the Griffiths Valuation website. There were about 60 farms there in 1863, and a total of 141 people living there in the 1901 census. It's in the parish of Greyabbey.

In 1863 the only McCune household in Cardy townland was a Robert McCune living in an agricultural labourer?s cottage (plot 16c(b) on James Brown?s farm which was plots 16a, 16b & 16c. 16c was on what is now the south side of Cardy Rd East. There is, or was, a little lane leading into it. The farm is probably still there today but whether any farm labourers? cottages remain is less certain.

The revaluation records show that Robert McCune had left some time around 1900. There were no McCune households in the townland by the time of the 1901 census. You can view the revaluation records on this link:

http://applications.proni.gov.uk/dcal_proni_val12b/RelatedVolume.aspx?6448

Cardy falls within the Newtownards civil registration area, so a birth, death or marriage there would be registered in that town. GRONI has two Robert McCune deaths around 1900. One died 14.10.1895 aged 59, the other on 29.6.1900 aged 69. The one who died in 1900 appears to have been a farmer in Rabara (judging by a probate abstract I found on the PRONI website):

Probate of the Will of Robert M'Cune late of Rabara County Down Farmer and Carpenter who died 29 June 1900 granted at Belfast to William M'Cune Joiner

http://applications.proni.gov.uk/DCAL_PRONI_WillsCalendar/WillsSearchRe…

I?d therefore suspect the 1895 one is more likely to be the man from Cardy. You can view the certificates on-line 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 to a view a certificate).

Most agricultural labourers would not have left a will, or at least not one requiring probate, and I did not find one for the 1895 death.

You don?t say what denomination your family were but judging by the other McCunes in Co Down they were probably either Presbyterian or Church of Ireland. There are two Presbyterian churches near Greyabbey. The Non Subscribing Presbyterian church has records which start in 1835. The main Presbyterian church has some early records as follows:

Baptisms, 1835-40; marriages, 1835-42; lists of families, 1835-54.

Then there is a gap to 1845 for marriages and 1873 for baptisms.

The NSP church records are in PRONI, in Belfast. The early mainstream church records mentioned above are only held in the Presbyterian Historical Society in Belfast.

Greyabbey Church of Ireland?s records start in 1807. There?s a copy in PRONI.

All earlier records for the above churches have evidently been lost.

There?s a few McCunes around Greyabbey listed on this Co Down site:

http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/%7Erosdavies/SURNAMES/Mc/McCu.htm

I see a Robert s/o Robert listed on that site, who married Agnes Moorehead in 1860. Could be worth looking at his marriage certificate to see where he resided.

The majority of Jelly/Jellie families listed in the 1901 census for Co Down seem to have been Presbyterian, with a few Church of Ireland.