Tracing family back using land records?

owenc

Hello, last night i was watching "who do you think you are" and Graham Norton was on it, well it was amazing what he found! I recall him using land records to get back to sheffield, he connected himself to these people which is amazing as he did not have any church records. But, he was able to get the whole way back to 1691 and actually connect himself to england, now i myself know who owned the lands around here and i have a fair idea of who my g g g fathers, father is so i could work out from there, but i'm struggling a bit as i don't know what records to get. I am using Graham as an example as thats what i want to do its just i have no idea how to do it. What records did he use to get himself connected to these people/family members??? I have several sources including the 1831 census which shows my whole family living in one block and then the 1740 and 1766 census which shows 5 family members living somewhere else just two miles down the road but all tightnit (they all live in the exact same townland and hold/ rent? land.) They are sadly not in the 1663 hearth roles :rolleyes: so there is a possibility they didn't come until after that, but there are people in the 1630 muster roll, so perhaps they were poor? :rolleyes: Anyhow can someone give me some help on how to trace family members back with land records? I think his showed land being passed down and ages so i think thats how he linked the people? Actually i'm sure he did that.

Actually to save the bother i'll just add the information now (don't worry about name changes they changed names in the 1860s they are all the one family)

1831 Census: (my g g g grandfather isn't listed as he moved in c1825 but since samuel junior is listed Samuel may be his father?)

Cumming David Keenaght Magilligan Tircreevan

Cumming Henry Keenaght Magilligan Tircreevan

Cumming Samuel Jnr Keenaght Magilligan Tircreevan

1740 Protestant Houserholders Census: (looks like the family moved from here to Tircreevan in the late 1700s)

Cumming Harry Keenaght Magilligan Carnowry

Now that is very little imformation compared to what that man got but its a start.:D I think that he got some other records.

EDIT: Ugh for goodness sake?! I have just found a site which tells us who owned the land in the plantation times and it looks my land was churchland (whatever that means?) how am i ever going to trace them back to scotland if it wasn't an estate? What the heck is churchland do they have records?http://www.billmacafee.com/estates/landlords/landlordsderryc1860.pdf Was it a protestant only place or what?

owenc

JACKPOT! (can't believe what i found its amazing?!) Was looking at the mcclelland estate records today and Found a John Cumming, it said on the record that he leased land in dunboe parish under lady mcclelland, the date listed was c1630. He is also in the muster rolls for her lands in 1630. The very fact that she and her husband brought settlers from Kirkbrightshire tells me that we are most likely from there, but i am not certain that he is my ancestor yet but it is just a VERY high chance that he is as we are the only family with that name in this area, we aren't 100% yet though i will have to get more checked out. Anyhow amazing that we could do that! I canny beleive it! .. I doubt i will be able to prove that he is from there though because i don't think there are any scottish census/records back that far ?

Dave Jarvis

Hi Owenc,
I am doing research into my family tree & I know that my mother was born at Tircreevan Farm in 1920, so I was wondering if you could give me any guidance on who might be a good point of contact or source of information in the area.

Regards,

Dave

owenc

Oh hi, sorry i missed this only seen it now. You need to tell me more imformation, it would be nice if you could tell me some about that area aswell as i don't know it too well. I was reading one of the ancestry sites and a boy says theres some graves up there from the 15-1600s in a field. They also found people from siege of derry down at the beach (magilligan beach?) a couple of years ago i hear. I don't know much about the area. Where is tircrevan farm? Anyway, what is the surname? If she is protestant i'd try the church of Ireland they have amazing records i found ones back to 1730s. The presbyterian records are useless they only date back to 1810 as the church was only opened in 1814. I don't think the catholic one will have good records either as they didn't get a church until 1800s either. Everyone back then had no church except for the church of ireland, you should try looking in there for some graves aswell, as they had presbyterians, catholics, baptists lol the lot. I found relatives in there aswell. If you look at the griffiths valuation it'll show you were your family lived then and who owned the land.

owenc

I have looked at griffiths valuation and found three people:
http://www.askaboutireland.ie/griffith-valuation/index.xml?action=doNameSearch&Submit.x=48&Submit.y=16&Submit=Submit&familyname=clarke&firstname=First+Name&baronyname=KEENAGHT&countyname=LONDONDERRY&unionname=&parishname=TAMLAGHTARD%2C+OR+MAGILLIGAN

They are all living in magilligan, it is possible that, they are from magilligan and that boy from moneymore is a different man.

Dave Jarvis

Hi Owenc,
Thanks for all of that information. This is the link to my family, which I found a couple of days ago

http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/pages/1911/Londonderry/Benone/Tircreven/594460/

Regards,

Dave

owenc

Opps i thought they were clarke LOL.. sorry what a mess up . I am friends with martins from magilligan however, they live in castlerock and they're catholics, the family over there in magilligan is still there and its quite large. I also know presbyterian martins but they're from down in aghanloo. It'll be very hard to research this as its a VERY common name down there. You'll need to be sure!

owenc

Here theres some in griffiths valuation:http://www.askaboutireland.ie/griffith-valuation/index.xml?action=doNameSearch&Submit.x=29&Submit.y=15&Submit=Submit&familyname=martin&firstname=First+Name&baronyname=KEENAGHT&countyname=LONDONDERRY&unionname=NEWTOWNLIMAVADY&parishname=TAMLAGHTARD%2C+OR+MAGILLIGAN I Can't find your gg grandfathers birth.

shanew

dont know how far back you have detailed records - but there's a good birth match for the youngest son (11 months) shown on that 1911 return :

Name: Samuel John Martin
Registration district: Limavady
Event type: Birth
Quarter and year: Apr-Jun 1910
Volume number: 1 / Page: 649

a birth cert would show mother maiden name, which would in turn help you to locate a marriage for James & Susanna

p.s. this could be James living with his Uncle and cousin iin the same townland as 1911 : http://census.nationalarchives.ie/pages/1901/Londonderry/Benone/Tircreven/1523498/


Shane

shanew

possible birth for James ?

Name: James Clarke Martin
Registration district: Limavady
Event type: Birth
Quarter and year: Oct-Dec 1883
Volume:1 / Page: 509


S.

shanew

seeing as Susanna is from Co. Donegal - could this be the marriage ?

Name: James Martin
Registration district: Inishowen
Event type: Marriage
Quarter and year: Oct - Dec 1907
Volume: 2 / Page: 105

name: Susanna Galbraith
[same index references as James]

This looks to be Susanna (as Susan) on the 1901 census, living with her grandparents
http://census.nationalarchives.ie/pages/1901/Donegal/Gleneely/Oort/1182901/

and a good birth match :

name: Susanna Galbraith
registration district: Inishowen
event type: Birth
Quarter and year: Jan-Mar 1886
Volume: 2 / Page: 132

Shane