Thompson - Orr, Ballygony, County Down

Ballygoney isn’t in Co Down. It’s in Co Londonderry/Derry. Rev Joseph Kerr did serve in Co Down (in Tullylish) but he later served at Ballygoney Presbyterian church in Co Londonderry. He died in Co Londonderry, in 1785. See:

http://www.cotyroneireland.com/churchrecord/ministers-pres.html

http://www.geograph.ie/photo/271377

To avoid searching in the wrong county, what precise information do you have about your family in Ireland? Did they live in Down or Ballygoney, Co Derry?

Jake,

I think your family probably lived near Ballygoney in Co. Londonderry. (It’s near Coagh). As I commented previously there isn’t a Ballygoney in Co Down, and since the Rev Kerr is known to have served at Ballygoney in Co Londonderry probably around 1774, then it seems fairly likely he wrote the reference at that location.

The bad news is that Ballygoney Presbyterian church has no baptism or marriage records earlier than 1845, so you may struggle to find anything about the family from church sources. (Presbyterians don’t generally keep burial records either).

The Presbyterian Historical Society in Belfast should have details of Rev Kerr’s career and would be able to tell you when he transferred from Tullylish, Co Down to Ballygoney, Co Londonderry, but I’d expect it to be before 1774.

http://www.presbyterianhistoryireland.com

There is a book giving the history of the church from 1762 onwards. You might want to get a copy of that to see if there’s any mention of your families. See:

http://www.worldcat.org/title/ballygoney-presbyterian-church-1762-1962/oclc/39846136

You could check graveyards in the area but without knowledge of parents names etc there’s no way of saying whether you have found the right families. Orr and Thompson are pretty common surnames in the general area and it may be difficult to narrow the search without additional information. DNA testing might be the only way of possibly finding a match with other families from the area.

You are very welcome quote this information. I am sorry I can’t give you much more. I would definitely read the church history. Those sorts of books often mention key families in the local area, and you might just get something from that.

I have one other source for you. Ballygoney is in the parish of Arboe. It’s in Co Londonderry but very close to the county boundary and straddles the border, so many of the townlands are in Co. Tyrone.

If your Orr and Thompson ancestors were farmers, and had descendants who stayed in Ireland, they would likely be listed in the tithe applotment records. The tithes were land taxes, and so consequently most people with land (ie farmers) would be listed. (Just the heads of household are listed). I have attached the 1826 tithes for Arboe parish which includes Ballygoney. You’ll see a couple of Orr and Thompson farms there. If you get no other leads you might try tracing those farms forward, using Griffiths Valuation, the revision records and the 1901 & 1911 censuses.  And if there’s anyone living in the area today, you could approach them for a DNA test. Can’t say whether they’d agree to it, but they might.

http://www.cotyroneireland.com/tithe/ardboe.html

Presbyterian emigrants in the 1700s often came from a farming background (and were often a little better off financially than the average person) so you might expect to find the families in the tithes, assuming there were descendants still living in Ireland in the 1820s.