Richmond family

Hi,

My name is John Walker and I appear to be related to the same Richmond family, although my branch came over to Scotland and settled in Chapelton, Lanarkshire. My ggg grandmother was Martha Richmond, born about 1800 and she probably married my ggg grandfather Thomas Walker sometime before 1827.

I'm led to believe that there were several marriages in the Ballymena (Drumcon/Rasharkin) area between Walker and Richmond families, although there do not appear to be any surviving records.

My gg grandfather, Charles Walker, was the son of Thomas Walker and Martha Richmond, and would have been born in either 1827 or 1828. He appears to have come to Scotland with two of his cousins, Richard and Henry Richmond, who were the sons of a John Richmond and Janet Henderson. They all worked for a time as coalminers together at Bredisholm Colliery, Baillieston, Lanarkshire, but Richard and Henry moved to Chapelton to be with their parents and the rest of their large family, who came over from Ireland in the 1860s and mainly worked as iron ore miners at Chapelton.

I've spent a good few years trying to get more info on the family, but cannot find any Irish records relating to them at all. It is possible that some of them went to the Americas, but I haven't been able to find anything regarding that. I know all of their history after they came to Scotland, and for what it's worth they were almost certainly members of the Reformed Presbyterian Scottish Church (Covenanters). They would most likely have been obliged to flee from Scotland (probably Ayrshire) to Ireland in the years between 1680 and 1690 to escape religious persecution in Scotland.

They obviously ended up in hard times during the Irish Famine of 1847 and came back to Scotland in an attempt to better their lot. Unfortunately most of them died relatively young in Scotland, as they were riddled with tuberculosis and typhus, consistent with them living in poverty in Ireland. They do not appear to have made much of themselves in Ireland, as they were effectively fugitives from Scotland. Those who could manage it became small tenant farmers, but as their families outgrew the available farmland, many of them were obliged to become weavers. Some of them simply roamed the countryside looking for whatever work they could find, and elements of my (your) families were probably in that category. One or two Richmond families in Drumcon appear to have soldiered on with their small farms and the weaving industry, and managed to stay in Ireland during and after the Famine.

Of those who stayed the course in Ireland, most of them eventually ended up in the Shankill and Ormeau areas of Belfast where they chiefly worked as labourers or tradesmen in the various industries to be found in Belfast at that time.

Hope this info is of some use to you,

Kind regards,

John Walker

Thanks Ahoghill,

I was aware of Cullybackey Presbyterian Church, although the only known Irish record relating to "my" Richmond line was the marriage of William John Richmond to Ann Chambers in November 1851 at 1st Ballymena Presbyterian Church. William was only 17 at the time and was working as a labourer in Broughshane. Ann was from Crebilly.

It seems to have been the case that my gg grandfather probably came to Scotland from the townland of Craigs, or somewhere near there. This is borne out by the surnames of some other miners at Bredisholm Colliery, Lanarkshire, particularly some brothers called Carley, who had Richmonds as neighbours in Craigs. In parts of Scotland after the Famine there were a lot of mixed marriages between Irish Presbyterians and Catholics, and in my own Walker line I have Boyles from County Armagh, and Dohertys from County Derry. This seems to have come about as a result of the local Scottish populace distancing themselves from the immediate post Famine Irish immigrant workers in the rural areas, where they had to integrate with each other regardless of religion. In the Scottish towns and cities Irish catholics tended to form their own communies, whilst the Protestants appear to have integrated with the locals after a generation or two. I suppose, given the fact that most of the Protestants were after all of Scottish origin, this would have been inevitable.

I was in touch by e-mail with a Paul Richmond from County Antrim, who has carried out extensive research of Richmond families in Counties Antrim and Derry in preparation for a book he was going to write. He tells me that he has carried out extensive searches of all of the available church records in the Ballymena area, but was unable to find anything on my Walker or Richmond lines. Recent attempts to contact him have met with no reply, so perhaps he is no longer with us

I've never personally carried out any searches at all, but have had PRONI do one or two for me with negative results. I'm due to retire in a couple of years, and reckon I'll have to come over and do some research. I only started doing family history a few years ago, and haven't got a lot of knowledge or experience. It is interesting that you are able to tell me that 95% of the Scots around Ballymena came from Ayrshire or Wigtownshire. I was previously unaware of that fact, and have been unable to establish where my Walkers lived in Scotland before they moved to Ireland.

I'm very grateful for the insight into the churches, as it may be of considerable help to me. My gg grandfather, who was born in Ireland, was married in the Reformed Presbyterian Church in Glasgow. My generation were brought up as United Free, but our village also had a Methodist Memorial Hall (popular with some of the coalminers), and some of the parishioners went to the local Bargeddie Parish Church (of Scotland). People often flitted from church to church and I dare say the same thing probably happened in Ireland. The absence or appearance of a particular minister often swayed the congregation one way or another.

I've also read that in the days when churches were few and far between or were still being built, some Presbyterian marriages in Ulster were carried out at the roadside by whoever was licensed to perform the ceremonies. I had drawn the conclusion that my gggg grandparents, Thomas Walker and Martha Richmond, were possibly married by such means, but I've currently no way of finding that out. I've been on various worldwide websites but have been unable to find any clues whatsoever.

Many thanks again for this extremely valuable insight into the Ballymena area. I've never as yet visited Ireland in my 60 years, but hopefully that will be "sorted" soon. Truth was I never knew my Walker line had any connection with Ireland at all until I found my gg grandfather in the 1851 Scottish Census Return a few years ago. One of the people I've managed to contact via e-mail is a Hugh Richmond, who also lives in Scotland. Although it seems almost certain that our families are related, we have found nothing to substantaite that fact.

Hugh seems to think that his family, and probably mine, never went to Ireland until about 1685. In November 1684, a farmer named John Richmond from Galston in East Ayrshire, was arrested by agents of Lord Claverhouse (Bonnie Dundee) and summarily executed along with several others in Glasgow in March 1685. Their "crime" was that they were alleged to have taken part in the Battle of Bothwell Brig in 1871. Hugh believes that our respective families would probably have fled Scotland about that time to avoid being caught up in any such persecution.When Hugh's family came back to Scotland in the 1860s they settled in Chapelton, Lanarkshire, which is not that far away from Galston.

However, in all of the research I have done I keep ending up with the Richmond family at Drumcon, as they are the only ones, apart from an unrelated family in County Cavan, known to have named their daughters Martha. It would seem to be the case that they were the most settled branch of the Richmonds in Co. Antrim, I have done just about everything short of tossing a coin to try and discern whether my Richmonds were part of the original Scottish settlement of about 1605, or were they in fact fugitives from Scotland about 1685, who perhaps went over to join elements of their families already in County Antrim? The fact that the whole family seemed to be destitute by 1847 suggests that they may never have had any land allocation in Ireland at all during the time they were resident there, or perhaps met with some financial disaster. Only my gg grandfather, Charles Walker, came over to Scotland, and I've no idea what became of the rest of his family.

The elusive Paul Richmond managed to persuade me that they were probably not part of the original settlement, as he cannot find any people in County Antrim named Richmond until about the mid 1600s. He also made reference to the situation in 1641, and reckoned that not many Scots would have remained in Ireland after that year. He tended to confirm Hugh's train of thought about the later migration around 1685.

I've had to rely heavily on my Richmond line to make any headway at all in Ireland, as the surname Walker is simply too common. I am satisfied that my ggg grandmother Martha Richmond was probably part of the Drumcon Richmond "clan", but as she would have been born about 1800 there doesn't appear to be much scope for tracing any certificates. I've also tried Scotlands People just in case they were married or perhaps died in Scotland, but haven't been able to find them. Almost all of the Richmonds in 17th century Scotland were from Ayrshire.

You've certainy given me a few pointers for further thought and study, and I'll maybe get around to turning over some new ground shortly.

Many thanks,

John W