Carltons/Mccloskeys

I looked at the 1831 census for Co Derry. There was only 1 John Carleton listed in the county. He lived in Mawillian, parish of Artrea and his household consisted of 3 males and 7 females. All Presbyterian.

http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/pages/1831/Londonderry/Loughinsho…

I noticed an Andrew Carlton living nearby, so he might be related.

http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/pages/1831/Londonderry/Loughinshollen/Artrea/Mawilliam/15/

Were your ancestors Presbyterian, and was John a farmer? If you think this might be your family (and it’s the only 1 in the county I can see) then you would need to check the local Presbyterian church records to see if Henry was born there c 1828 to John & Mary.

The tithe applotment records for 1825 list 4 Carlton farms in Mawillian (spelling of the townland varies).  One of the farms was held by John Carleton. I also notice 2 McClusky farms nearby in Maghadone & Ballynenagh.  Probably less than a quarter of a mile from Mawillian, so that looks encouraging.

http://www.irishgenealogyhub.com/tyrone/tithe-applotment-books/parish-of-artrea.php

By the time of Griffiths Valuation in 1859 there was just 1 Carleton property in Mawillian. It was plot 27 which was a 21 acre farm and a flax mill. It was held jointly by William Carleton senior & junior. By the 1901 census there was a Gabriel Carleton farming there. From his 1878 marriage certificate he is the son of William Carleton:

http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/pages/1901/Londonderry/Springhill/Mowilliam/1534732/

Hannah died in 1907 and Gabriel in 1908. The property today looks to be abandoned. Access is up a dead end track off the Mawillian Rd, a mile or two outside Moneymore.

Tradition was to marry in the bride’s church. I found a marriage in 1852 for a Mary Carlton of Mawillian  (daughter of Henry). That was at Moneymore 1st Presbyterian church, so that may be the family church and where to start any search for records.

https://civilrecords.irishgenealogy.ie/churchrecords/images/marriage_returns/marriages_1852/09434/5418004.pdf

I found a marriage for John Carlton son of John Carlton of Mowillian in 1853. If this is the right family, that would appear to make him Henry’s brother. 

https://civilrecords.irishgenealogy.ie/churchrecords/images/marriage_re…

1st Moneymore Presbyterian church’s baptism & marriage records start in 1827. I don’t think they are on-line anywhere but there is a copy in PRONI (the public record office) in Belfast. If you are unable to go yourself, you could employ a researcher. Researchers in the PRONI area: http://sgni.net

Wow - thanks for all the research!  I don't know which parish in Londonderry my relative is from so I joined & posted same message on every parish.   Was that the wrong way to do it , because I see "duplicate post" on several parishes I joined?

I followed the leads given and cannot be sure if him.  I should have mentioned that he was Roman Catholic.  I understand that Catholics may have been registered as Presbyterian because Catholicism wasn't recognized at that time. 

I had date wrong above.  Henry was born December 22, 1829 not 1828, somewhere in or near Londonderry County.   He worked as a sailor-before-the-mast to pay his passage to United States.  He left from Londonderry port in 1847.  I found a John Carland, age 22, on the ship Chenango which left Londonderry July 28, 1847, headed for U. S.  I believe he landed in New York.  He is on U.S. census in Butler County, Ohio, in 1850 but not 1860,  He applied for naturalization in Ohio then moved to Jackson/Davis/Geary County, KS, by 1856 and applied for homestead.  He shows up in later U.S. censuses in Kansas where he died and was buried July 12, 1914.  One obiturary says he sailed around for a while visiting many countries.  That probably occurred sometime between 1847 and 1850 before he arrived in U.S. 

He farmed in Geary County, Kansas, but I don't know if his father farmed.  On paperwork his name is spelled Carlton which he kept and Carrolton.  His death certificate names his Father as John and his mother as Mary McCloskey.

Oral history from a deceased aunt says he came to U.S. with 2 brothers who went on to Florida but must have joined him in Kansas later.  Their names might have been John, William or James.

He had daughter named Mary, probably after his mother.  He had son named John, probably after his dad.

If I could find a birth certificate, I could narrow it down to a parish or hire someone to do that for me because after 2 decades, I am tired of searching.  Have postponed visit to Ireland until I found where he came from or his parents graves which I presume are in Londonderry, Ireland.

DM,

If you didn’t know which parish he came from it’s best just to put the entry under the whole county. But I wouldn’t worry. The “duplicate message” notice is there to prevent other researchers spending time on a query that someone else has already looked at. 

I wouldn’t say that Catholics sometimes passed themselves as Presbyterians. That would be unusual. Both denominations had had various restrictions placed on them during the period of the Penal Laws c 1660 – 1760, in order to try and persuade them to become Church of Ireland, but by the 1830s all of those restrictions had been removed. There were some issues to do with the validity of mixed marriages. Catholic priests often wouldn’t conduct a mixed marriage and there was some legal doubt about the validity of a mixed marriage in a Presbyterian church. However there was no doubt about the validity of a marriage in the Church of Ireland, and so some Catholics and some Presbyterians married there (especially if there was any property involved to avoid possible inheritance difficulties if the validity of the marriage was later challenged). The law was clarified in 1844 to guarantee that all denominations marriages were lawful provided they were carried out by someone qualified in accordance with that denomination’s custom and practice. Civil marriages by a Registrar also started in 1845 which was another option for a mixed denomination couple.

But in the 1820s and 1830s there were plenty of functioning Catholic churches, and plenty of Catholics happy to identify themselves as that denomination in the 1831 census, as you can see. And they married and baptised their children in the Catholic faith. There are records around that prove that though not for every parish.  There was no obvious reason for your ancestor to pass himself as a Presbyterian if he was Catholic in the 1830s.

The vast majority of the Carltons in the 1831 census were Protestant. I could only see 2 Catholic Carleton families. This one in townland of Deregarve in Artrea parish:

http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/pages/1831/Londonderry/Loughinshollin/Artrea/Deregarve/63/

And this one from Gortnaskey in the parish of Ballynascreen:

http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/pages/1831/Londonderry/Loughinshollin/Ballynascreen/Gortnaskey/27/

You can see what records exist for all the Catholic parishes in Co. Derry using this link. (Click on the individual parish name):

https://www.johngrenham.com/browse/counties/rcmaps/derryrc.php#maps/

Ballinascreen start in 1825, Ardtrea in 1832 (with some gaps).

Could your ancestor have come from a mixed marriage? The majority of Carltons were Protestant and the majority of McCloskeys were RC, so could it have been a mixed marriage, with Henry being brought up RC? (Mixed marriage families responded in different ways to the question of what denomination to bring up their children. In some cases the boys were brought up the father’s and the girls in the mothers. In other cases where perhaps, one party didn’t feel very strongly about the issue, the whole family flipped to one denomination. It varies).

If your ancestor doesn’t come from Co Derry then there are no relevant censuses to search. The only county in Ireland that’s still has the 1831 census is Co. Derry. The others were lost in the 1922 fire in Dublin. Presumably someone was working on the 1831 Co. Derry census and it was outside the building that day. 

Thank you this was extremely helpful. I will play around with it to see how to put message on the county and remove from each parish.