My 2x great grandfather was Matthew Donaldson, son of Thomas and brother of James. Matthew was born on 12 July 1823 in Loughbrickland, County Down. James was born on 28 February 1830 in County Down. Matthew was recorded as being a weaver. Matthew enlisted in the 65th Regiment on 30 May 1842 which came to NZ to fight in the Maori wars. He arrived in NZ in 1845. His brother, James, was a private in the 37th Regiment in North Hampshire. He fought in India and received the Indian Mutiny Medal. He came to NZ in 1860. Could anyone please help with any information on the Donaldson family mentioned above. The only information I have on Thomas is that he was of Abbeylex House in Tullamore County and that he had died prior to 1861.
Regards
Alison
Tuesday 29th May 2012, 09:07PM
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Hi Alison,
Do you know what religion you ancestor was?
There are Roman Catholic church records available for the diocese of Aghaderg (Dromore). These date from 1816 for both baptismal and marriage records and from 1838 for burial records. You can find these at the National Library of Ireland, Pos. 5505, or the Public Records of Northern Ireland, MIC.1D/29. If you have any difficulty, you could try writing to the parish priest for more assistance.
You can find information about weavers on the following documents:
(a) Workers & Manufacturers in Linen, in The Stephenson Reports 1755-84, National Library of Ireland, Ir. 6551 Dublin.
(b) 1796 Linen Board premiums for growing flax. www.failteromhat.com
You can find information about all military records at the UK National Archives here: http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/
Could you please post your message here (Tullamore): http://www.irelandxo.com/group/kilbride-ballycowan-offaly
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)
Friday 8th Jun 2012, 02:22PM