Robert Morrison of Ballymote County Sligo

Hi there,

What an interesting and poignant inscription on such a special gift to give to a loved one sailing to another land.

First of all, do you know anything about Rebecca? if so, what? This might offer up clues about Robert.

There are Roman Catholic church records availabkle formthe diocese of Achonry (Ballymote) dating from 1878 (baptismal records) and 1865 (marriage records). These are available at the National Library of Ireland, Pos. 4227, or the Church of Latter Day Saints, ref. no. 1279231. The civil records can be accessed at the General Register Office (GRO), and these date from 1864.

Perhaps there is a chance that the parish priest of the area might be able to guide you further. Perhaps he knows a little about inscriptions in local graveyards, etc. Sligo Heritage and Genealogy Centre has transcripts for 146 graveyeards in the county.

You could also try checking the land records called the Tithe Applotment Books (1823-38) or the later Griffth's Valuation (1848-64). Griffith's is freely available here: www.askaboutireland.com or here: www.failteromhat.com Failte Romhat has lots of other useful links you could try looking at.

Please make sure you link anyone else in your family who is interested in their Irish heritage to our site - and indeed anyone else you know of Irish heritage.

Kind regards,

Sinead Cooney

Genealogist (Ireland XO)

My Morrisons left Ireland during the great Hunger (1850ish) the oldest Francis born about 1810 with wife Ann was from Mayo, his son James is in the English census as being born Longford 1835. Please get in touch if any or both fit in with your tree.

Longford is in Westmeath. My Morrisons were from Sligo. I do have this:

Of corresponding interest is the story of the Morrisons, who came from the county of Longford in Ireland to what was then the wilderness of the township of Peel in the county of Wellington. Three months with no stops by the way was the experience of Robert Morrison, father of J. J. Morrison, the moving spirit of the U.F.O. movement to-day.

The weary pilgrimage of the first Morrison began, in 1845, with a tramp from the ancestral home in Longford to Dublin, this being followed by a tempestuous voyage in a small sailing craft to Liverpool. Between Liverpool and Quebec six weeks were spent, and then the real hardships of the journey began. From Montreal to Kingston by way of what is now Ottawa, the only means of travel available at that time were open boats, drawn by horses walking on the bank when the rapids were reached; boats in which people sat huddled in discomfort during the day, and that were aliuost. unbearable when sleep and rest were sought with the coming of night.

Nor did relief come even when the long water journey ended at Hamilton. Rather was it merely a change from one form of hardship to another. From Hamilton to Guelph, passage was taken by stage which followed the circuitous route through 0-alt and Preston, over roads on which the jolting of the rude vehicle jarred and rocked muscles cramped and stiffened by the narrow quarters of the old Durham boats on the St. Lawrence. The pilgrimage ended, as it began, on foot. From Guelph, then a mere hamlet, it was a case of tramping over mud or corduroy roads, and finally a mere trail, to the location selected on lot eighteen, concession thirteen of Peel.

"We of the present," said Mr. J. J. Morrison in telling the story, "can form but the faintest conception of all that was involved of physical suffering and mental anguish in the coming to this country of those who arrived here from the British Isles in the 'thirties, 'forties' and 'fifties of the last century. All the associations of home and childhood were forever left behind. The conditions endured in crowded and unsanitary sailing vessels, and the perils faced, were such as those who travel by the palatial ocean liners of to-day cannot possibly visualize. The experiences after arrival were even more trying than those borne during the weary journey across the sea and by inland waterways. The neighbours in the new land, where there were any, were all strange; skill in the use of the tools required in building homes, clearing the forest, and cultivating the newly cleared fields had to be gained slowly and painfully by experience. Stalwart of frame, firm of purpose, and possessed of patience inexhaustible, these pioneers must have been, otherwise they would either have fallen by the wayside during the migration or have perished amid the loneliness of the forest after their arrival."

http://electricscotland.com/History/ontario/ontario9.htm

Born in County Sligo 1818 -1827, married Elizabeth Kean of Ballymote (their spelling Belomote) in 1844.

By the time they left Ireland for Canada it was 1850 and they sailed with two children, Mary Ann born in 1845 and Robert born in 1850, an infant.

Upon their arrival in Canada, their church affiliation was catagorized as Methodist for Robert and Presbyterian for Elizabeth.

One child Elizabeth was born in Canada 1852 whereas the next child Jane it specifically states as born in Toronto in 1854.

It is their history in Ireland I am interested in if there is anyone able to define a parish that might have record of their birth or marriage.  Also the birth of their children.  In all we are told they had two other children between Mary Ann and Robert but both children, boys, died in Ireland before the family emigrated to Canada.

Lorraine Kirkham 

I am still figuring out the numerous Morrison lines in Sligo so I am by no means an expert. I do have a great group that I belong to of Morrison contacts. I have sent them your info. Hopefully they will register here as they have much to offer.

JJ Morrison from Arthur, Ontario is my great grandfather. His daughter, Margarette Rae Luckock nee Morrison is my grandmother. She's getting a bronze statue at the Ontario Legislature for her tireless work advocating for Canadian women, world peace, and first woman (along with Agnus MacPhail) elected to the legislature in Ontario. Currently the only statue at the Ontario Legislature is of Sir John A MacDonald, first Prime Minister Minister of Canada. 

I have a little information about a Robert Morrison of Ballymote, who married Mary Jane Davis, a relative of mine. He was born in Ballymote in 1799 and died in 1873 in Manorhamilton, where other members of his family lived - so the dates would fit.

They had 3 daughters, Mary Alice, Frances Jane and Ellen Rebecca, who called themselves Alice, Lily and Ellie respectively. I know this because I have a letter from them to my great grandfather, their cousin Thomas Davis, sent just before his departure for Australia, where he settled and set up an accountancy firm that still survives to this day. I also have a letter to him on the same occasion from Mary Jane (Robert's wife) which is fairly religious in its contents, so would fit with the gift of a bible on the part of her husband to his cousin. However, as the Morrison's are not part of my family, I don't know exactly how the two Roberts are related.

I hope this rather belated contribution is of some interest still

William