Ireland XO
Back to Message Board

Patrick CAMPBELL

DonegalKilmacrenan (Donegal)

Sadly I have to admit that my gt gt grandparents Patrick & Elizabeth CAMPBELL were connected with the Derryveagh Clearance. He worked for ADAIR as a shepherd living in one of the houses cleared of tenants. This made themvery unpopular with the locals. His home was burned down and then his wife appeared as a witness in a related murder case making them even more unpopular. To make matters worse Patrick fired a pistol when he was being assaulted following an incident in a local tavern. He was arrested but was acquitted of any wrong doing. It would appear that this made them realise they could no longer remain in Donegal so they emigrated to New Zealand in 1866.. I know before they moved to Derryveagh they had lived in Gartan & Kilmacrenan. Elizabeth's maiden name was HAZLETT.. Apart from their marriage banns 1853 St Eunan's Letterkenny, the birth of twins Patrick & Elizabeth in Lifford, in 1864 and some newspaper reports I have found no other records relating to them. It has taken me over 40 years to find out this much about them. I would love to learn more about them such as who their parents were & the birth details for their other children,John c.1857, Margaretc.1859 & George c.1863

IrelandXO member

15 replies

Garth:

Welcome to Ireland Reaching Out!

I know you had posted earlier. Finding RC church records in Co. Donegal is frustrating because most parishes have records starting 1850 or later. In your case likely they attended either Kilmacrenan parish (records start 1862) or Gartan and Termon where records appear to start in 1877. Roots ireland only has the civil records for the twins and civil registration started in 1864. I'm afraid it is very likely that no records are available for the other children.

Roger McDonnell

Castlemore RoscommonIrelandXO Volunteer

Thanks Roger. I guess I will never find out who were the parents of Patrick and his wife Elizabeth.

IrelandXO member

It is interesting that they married Glenswilly/St Eunan's  Letterkenny which I presume is Catholic The children born in NZ were baptised Church of England. Could this mean one of them wasn't Catholic? Also would there be records available for the Adair Estate.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

/

IrelandXO member

St Eunans is RC. The RC church in the mid 1800s wasn’t very keen on mixed marriages, so probably if one party wasn’t RC, he/she converted to the RC faith. Normally the thing to do is to look at the baptism records for about a month before the marriage and you might find an adult baptism, which would indicate that is what happened. Unfortunately you can’t do that in this case as the Conwal RC baptism records only start in 1874. On arrival in NZ they may have decided to revert to Anglicanism. Hard to say for certain.

The Adair Estate papers might be in the National Archives in Dublin or in the National Library in Dublin. A personal visit would be required to check both:

http://www.nationalarchives.ie/genealogy1/genealogy-records/estate-records/

I also looked in PRONI’s e-catalogue in Belfast to see if they hold any of the estate papers but didn’t see any listed. Many of the big estate owners had land in various parts of the British Isles, and so the papers don’t always end up where you might expect. People with land in Ireland and England, might leave their papers to the National Archives in London. And so on.

Elwyn, IrelandXO Volunteer ☘IrelandXO Volunteer

Garth,

Don't know if you already have this info, but on Elizabeth Campbell (nee Haslett's) death certificate it shows her father's name as William Haslett - Mill Builder.  Her mother's name is Margaret Haslett (formerly Cassidy).

I can email you a copy if you don't have one.

Patrick Campbell's death certificate has no information about his parents at all.  For some reason all of those parts of the certificate are blank.

Regards,

Patricia Mills

 

amber28

 

Hi Garth

It is some time since you posted and I wonder if you have got any further in your search.

I am the granddaughter of George Campbell, the son of Patrick and Elizabeth. My mother was born when he was in his sixties.

I noticed that the families names are not on any of the lists of tenants who were evicted in the Derryveagh Clearance as well. Is there an explanation for this?

Audrey

 

acampbellfrear…

Hi Audrey

They were not evicted. He worked for the land owner who did the evictions. They were not popular and had to leave for their own safety.

Garth

 

garphh@gmail.com

Read my first post at the top.

garphh@gmail.com

Audrey,

The book "Land War and Eviction in Derryveagh 1840-65 by Liam Dolan contains information about Patrick and Elizabeth Campbell (especially Elizabeth Campbell) and tells us the reason why the Campbell family left the district, and then Ireland.  I purchased a copy from Foyle Books in Londonderry.  I do not think there is a copy in the New Zealand Library system, but worth a try.

Patricia Mills

George27

 

amber28

Can you give me the reasons as written in the book please.

garphh@gmail.com

Patricia

I have had no luck getting a copy of the book. I notice an interesting website now: derryveagh.com, however no information on Patrick Campbell and his wife.

 

Audrey

 

acampbellfrear…

Audrey,

Your ancestor was George Campbell b.1863 and mine was his sister Margaret Campbell b.24 June 1848.  On my genealogy records I have only one son born to George and that is George Campbell b.9 Feb 1934.  I believe George married an Elizabeth Withers. (please tell me if this is incorrect).

Are you one of George and Elizabeth's children?  On my records I have six children born to them, and none is an Audrey.  Could you tell me if you are one of their children.

george 27

amber28

Audrey,  That last reply has a typo.  Margaret Campbell's date of birth is 24 June 1858.  

george 27

amber28

George 27

I havent looked at this web site for a while and see you had asked me a question.

My mother Maureen Campbell, is the daughter of George Campbell. She was born 23 July 1937. She is still alive and lives in Orewa NZ.

George married Catherine Irene Foster 8 February 1932, at Saies Registrar's Office when he was 66. She was 18. Her brother was named George.

Kind Regards

Audrey

acampbellfrear…

Audrey. I only had George Campbell born 1835 on my family records, so thanks for the info about your mother Maureen. Please let me know if George's date of birth is correct.

Did Catherine Irene Foster have two other husbands. I have a record of a divorce between Catherine Irene Campbell and George Campbell in 1937. Also a newspaper report about it. Could you tell me if this is correct?

Thanks, Tricia Mills.

george27

amber28

Reply

Reply
One image file up to 2 MB.