Hi,
My great-great-grandfather John Galway (aka John Robert Galway) gives his birthplace as Killade, Antrim, on his army papers. He was born about 1826 and his father's name was Robert Galway, according to his marriage certificate. I would love to hear from anyone who has any information about this Galway family when they were in Killead. I think Galway could be a variant of the name Gawley.
Kate Rimmer.
Hi Kate,
Do you know what religion John was?
There are Roman Catholic church records available for the diocese of Glenavy and Killead (Down and Connor). These date from 1849 for baptismal records and 1848 for marriage records. You can find these at the National Library of Ireland, Pos. 5467, or the Public Records of Northern Ireland (PRONI), MIC.1D/63. If you have any difficulty, you could try writing to the parish priest for more assistance.
Civil registration records are available from the General Register Office (GRO). These start from 1864 however. You can access the website here: http://www.groireland.ie/research.htm
Have you check the UK National Archives for information on the military aspect of your family history? You can access it here: http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/ Perhaps you have already checked this lead.
Here is a link to some information about the frequency of the name Galway in the mid-19th century, and information on the variants of the name: http://www.irishtimes.com/ancestor/surname/index.cfm?fuseaction=Go.&UserID=
You could also try checking the land records called the Tithe Applotment Books (1823-38) or the later Griffith's Valuation (1848-64). Griffith's is freely available here: www.askaboutireland.com or here: www.failteromhat.com Failte Romhat has lots of other useful links you could try looking at. Tithe Applotment Books (1823-38). Microfilm copies of the books for all of Ireland are available at the National Archives of Ireland (NAI) http://www.nationalarchives.ie/genealogy1/genealogy-records/tithe-applotment-books-and-the-primary-griffith-valuation/ or the Church of Latter Day Saints (LDS).
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)
Hi Sinead,
Thanks very much for taking the time to help. As far as I know, John Galway was Protestant. Unfortunately the Irish civil registration records will not help with his birth as he was born about 1826. He got married in India and died in England. I already have his army records and medal roll info, thanks. I have previously looked at Griffiths Valuation and an index of the Tithe Applotment Books, also 1851 Antrim census, with the following results:
There is a Robert Gawley listed at Ballynadrintagh, Killead Parish, in the Tithe Applotment Books in 1827. Also a William Gawley and a Charles Gawley. I've only seen the index entries on ancestry so I don't know if there is info in the actual books that would help. There don't seem to be any Galways or Gawleys there in Griffith's Valuation.
There is a Galway family at Killead (Ballynadrentagh Townland) on the 1851 Antrim census:
Susan age 24, Rodger 28 away in India in the 64th Regt. Foot, Eliza 22, Peter 19 and Alex 14, but it shows their deceased parents as Alexander and Elizabeth who both died in 1847 of fever, aged 53 and 55 respectively. Alexander could be my Robert's brother, or not.
There is also a Nancy Galway, yarn spinner, listed at Killead on the 1851 Antrim census, having died in Dec 1844 of old age age 84, aunt of Nancy McGolpin age 35 unmarried.
I will look into how to get to see the actual Tithe Applotment Books entries. I can't get to the NAI. Any more ideas you have would be most welcome!
Kate.
Hi Kate,
Church of Ireland parish registers for the period up to 1870 are public records. Registers are available for about one third of the parishes, however many were destroyed in the Public Records Office in Dublin in 1922. Most are still held by the local clergy, although some are in the National Archives of Ireland and others are in the Representative Church Body Library in Dublin. A list of all surviving registers is available in the National Archives. http://ireland.anglican.org/about/42 and http://www.nationalarchives.ie/.
You mentioned Nancy who was a yarn spinner. Have you taken a look at the Spinning Wheel premium list?
1796: Spinning Wheel Premium Entitlement Lists This was part of a government scheme to encourage the linen trade, free spinning wheels or looms were granted to individuals planting a certain area of land with flax. The lists of those entitled to the awards, covering almost 60,000 individuals, were published in 1796, and record only the names of the individuals and the civil parish in which they lived. The majority, were in Ulster, but some names appear from every county except Dublin and Wicklow. A microfiche index to the lists is available in the National Archives, and in PRONI. There are 1,125 names for County Antrim.
A cd-rom index to the Tithe Applotment books for counties Antrim, Armagh, Derry, Down, Fermanagh and Tyrone is available as Tithe Applotment Books, 1823-1838 while a cd-rom index to the Primary Valuation is available as Index to Griffith?s Valuation of Ireland, 1848-1864 (both from Genealogical Publishing Co Ltd, Baltimore, USA).
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)