O'Neills of Tullymore Lodge

I had a look at the 1901 census for Co Antrim and there are not really any Nestor/Nester families in it (save for one which originated in Galway). It’s not a name routinely found in that part of Ireland.

I assume the family was RC since most of the families in the census are of that denomination. If Ellen was born in Ballymena, Co Antrim c 1841 then the bad news is that parishes baptism records (Kirkinriola) don’t start till 1848.

You ask about records for the 2 estates. There’s certainly records for tenants on the O’Neill Shane’s Castle estate dating to 1829 & 1831: T1024/1 & T 1024/2 at PRONI in Belfast. There’s also about 30 sets of documents on Tullymore Lodge at PRONI but I don’t see any that look like lists of tenants or employees. See:

http://apps.proni.gov.uk/DCAL_PRONI_eCatNI_IE/SearchPage.aspx

The PRONI records are not on-line and if you want to view them a personal visit is required.

If the family were living in Kings when they left Ireland, I’d be inclined to start my search there. There is a Tullamore there, as you know, in the civil parish of Kilbride. RC parish of Tullamore. Their parish records start in 1809 so it might be worth checking them. The RC parish records are on-line free on the National Library site:

http://registers.nli.ie/parishes

Can’t immediately see where Tulliver might be. I note that there’s 3 townlands named Ballynamona and 1 named Ballymooney in Kings/Offaly. Perhaps that’s the Ballymena that Ellen came from?

I see 23 townlands named Clare across Ireland plus the synonymous county. None in Kings though. There is a Claremount in Kings/Offaly. That’s the nearest.

Thanks so much Elwyn.

I don't think the family was RC. In Australia they married Protestants in Protestant Churches. (No guarantee of course).  If they were COI in Ireland I realise parish records would have been lost in the Four Courts 1922 fire. That's why I was trying a different angle.

I am assuming Tulliver was a partial memory by an older person of either Tullymore or Tullamore. My source of that is the recollections by Ellen's great grand daughter (living) of what her mother used to say about where her grandmother, Ellen, came from. So any kind of distortion could have taken place.

The only reference to Ballymena we have is on the 1859 passenger list when Ellen came to Australia. It says "Ballymena, Ulster." Could be anywhere in Ulster then? I had assumed Antrim, possibly wrongly.

We have a letter dated 1864 written in Australia between the two sisters by Ellen's husband on her behalf.

Your suggestion of trying Offaly is a good one. Will do that.

Regards

Jenni

Jenni,

The term Protestant includes more than the Church of Ireland. By far the predominant denomination in Co. Antrim is Presbyterian (reflecting the fact that the county was settled by huge numbers of Scots in the 1600s). There’s 6 Presbyterian churches in Co. Antrim for every Church of Ireland. So might need to consider those records too.

Not all the Church of Ireland records were lost in the 1922 fire. About half were lost. Parishes were told that if they had a safe place to store their records they could keep them locally but if they didn’t they were to be sent to Dublin for safe keeping. So smaller churches tended to send in their records but many bigger churches (with a safe or decent vaults) kept them. Ballymena (parish of Kirkinriola) is one of those, and so their records start in 1789 (with some gaps). There’s a copy in PRONI.

For me the term “Ballymena, Ulster” would point solely to the town in Co Antrim. (there is a townland of Little Ballymena but somehow I doubt it would be that).