Glenwhirry ancestors

Shauna:

Welcome to Ireland Reaching Out!

It looks like our Co. Antrim expert is away for a few days but I did look up a few records. The first link is the civil birth record for Robert Gardner Adams. You will have to sign in to see the record. I also located a transcription of the church marriage record for Robert Adams and Sarah Gault at the Newtownabbey Presbyterian church. The names of the fathers of the bride and groom were shown on the record.

Roger McDonnell

https://civilrecords.irishgenealogy.ie/churchrecords/images/birth_retur…

Date of Marriage:08-Mar-1871
Parish / District:NEWTOWNABBEY
County:Co. Antrim

Husband  RobertAdams Address Glenwherry
Wife SarahGaultAddress:Dunamoy
Denomination:Presbyterian
PresbyterianOccupation:FARMER
Age:Full Age (Over 21)
Full Age (Over 21)Status:Bachelor (Previously unmarried)
Spinster (Previously unmarried)

Husband's Father  James Adams
Wife's Father RobertGault

Thank you so much for looking this up. Good to know I got the right wife- it took me ages to find Sarah Gault.

I really appreciate getting a response so quickly.  Many thanks.

Shauna,

Griffiths Valuation for Kerneyhill in 1862 lists James Adams farm. It was plot 4 in the townland and was 32 acres. (So a comfortable living by Irish standards). Nearby on plot 1 was Thomas Hugh Adams with 35 acres and Mary Adams had a one third share in plot 5 which was a 48 acre farm. These farms are all beside each other and it’s highly likely they were all related.

The farms were all near the intersection of the Rathkeel and Moorfield Rds outside Ballymena. The area is still farmland today. Hilly upland farms of mixed quality land. Very similar to farmland in Ayrshire and southern Scotland, which is where most of these farming families originated in the 1600s.

http://www.askaboutireland.ie/griffith-valuation/index.xml?action=nameSearch

You would get a detailed description of the Glen in the mid 1830s from the Ordnance Survey Memoirs. These were a description of the land, customs and situation of the inhabitants drawn up by the army (essentially for taxation purposes) but they provide an excellent description of everyday life, and often name lots of local families. I don’t have a copy of the description of Glenwherry. But PRONI in Belfast should have a copy and the local studies section at Ballymena library may also have a copy. (Each parish gets about 20 pages so you might want to pay them to copy them for you).

Looking at the Valuation revision books, I see that plot 4 changed from Robert Adams to James in 1874 (often indicating the farther had died). It then changed to Sarah Adams in 1902, again suggesting her husband had died. By this time the farm is shown as being shared with Mary Jane Adams. Sarah changes to James in 1914 and there are several changes to Mary Jane’s part. The farm is still in James name in 1929 when that series of records ceases. (There might be Adams there today. I can see from the will abstracts there were some there in the 1950s).

https://www.nidirect.gov.uk/services/searching-valuation-revision-books

3 Adams households in Kerney Hill in the 1901 census:

http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/pages/1901/Antrim/Glenwherry/Kerney_Hill/939335/

http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/pages/1901/Antrim/Glenwherry/Kerney_Hill/939338/

This last is your immediate family:

http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/pages/1901/Antrim/Glenwherry/Kerney_Hill/939340/

1911 census:

http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/pages/1911/Antrim/Glenwhirry/Kearneyhill/122734/

Your family:

http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/pages/1911/Antrim/Glenwhirry/Kearneyhill/122737/

Note that Sarah Gault and Robert Adams had 6 children, all of whom were alive in 1911. Let me know if you need assistance in locating their names and dates of birth.

http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/pages/1911/Antrim/Glenwhirry/Kearneyhill/122738/

A number of your family signed the Ulster Covenant in 1912. (Search under mid Antrim constituency). Some spelled their address as Carney Hill others as Kerney. It’s the same thing. You can see their actual signature son the covenant document. And it obviously tells you about their politics; at least insofar as Home Rule was concerned.

http://apps.proni.gov.uk/ulstercovenant/search.aspx

Your family were Presbyterian so they may well have attended Glenwherry Presbyterian church. Their records start in 1845. There’s a copy in PRONI on microfilm. They are not on-line anywhere so far as I am aware. There are 2 Adams gravestones in Glenwherry Presbyterian graveyard:

Erected By John Adams Of Kernyhill. In Loving Memory Of His Children Francis, Died 2nd Oct. 1900, Aged 10 Years. James. Died 29th Oct. 1900, Aged 19 Years. Thomas Hugh, Died 1st Nov. 1900, Aged 23 Years.

Erected By Hugh Adams, Maxwells Walls. In Memory Of His 4 Children. 6 Graves North.

Here’s some probate abstracts to give you some additional data. These are taken from the PRONI will site:

Letters of Administration of the personal estate of Agnes Adams late of Kerneyhill County Antrim Widow who died 23 July 1879 at same place were granted at Belfast to Mary Jane Adams of Kerney hill Spinster a Child.

The above probate file was destroyed in the 1922 fire and all that remains is the abstract.

Probate of the Will of Robert Adams late of Kerneyhill County Antrim Farmer who died 25 May 1897 granted at Belfast to Sarah Adams, the Widow

Probate of the Will of Matilda Adams late of Kerneyhill County Antrim Spinster who died 7 October 1912 granted at Belfast to James McMaster M.D. and Robert White Farmer.

Probate of the Will of Sarah Adams late of Kerneyhill, County Antrim, widow, who died 26 December 1911 granted at Belfast to James Adams and John Adams both of Kerneyhill, County Antrim, farmers. Effects: £187 0s 0d.

Probate of the Will of the late John Adams, Kerneyhill, Co. Antrim, Farmer, who died 25 April 1919, granted at Belfast 1 September 1919 to Robert Boal, Solicitor. Effects: £76 5s.

Adams John of Kearneyhill Glenwherry county Antrim retired farmer died 25 February 1953 at Royal Victoria Hospital Belfast Probate Belfast 4 February to Alexander Adams retired farm worker. Effects £342 5s.

The above wills should be in PRONI in paper format. They’ll copy them for a fee or you can go and look at them yourself.

Probate of the Will of Mary Jane Adams late of Kerneyhill County Antrim Spinster who died 2 February 1903 granted at Belfast to Matilda Adams Spinster.

Above will is on-line on the PRONI wills site.

That is fantastic! Can't thank you enough. Such a great help.

.Hi quite a lot of stuff there regarding the Adams line . Shauna I was the postman who delivered around Moorfields , Glenwherry for yaers and there is still quite a few Adams s and Gardners around the area ,    

I am trying to research my own family tree and looking around this area but cant seem to find my Great Grandfathers parents His name was Robert James Adams. 

He married Annie Hood Taggart in 1896 and they moved to Bentra , near Larne and are on both the 1901 and 1911 census as living there. 

On the wedding certificate it looks like the father of Robert James Adams is T H Adams or J H Adams. I can find Thomas Hugh Adams around this period but cannot find any link to suggest Robert James is his son . I have tried looking out all births . 

Wedding certificate says Robert James was living in Rokeel at time of marriage and that his father was a farmer. 

Any help would be appreachiated 

Thomas Hugh Adams of Rokeel was married to Isabella Fleck. She had triplets on 29.12.1866. 2 males and 1 female. None were named at the time, so that probably explains why you can’t find Robert James’ birth. You would need to check the church records for his baptism to confirm it’s the right family. But I suspect it is from his address when he married and the father’s initials.

https://civilrecords.irishgenealogy.ie/churchrecords/images/birth_retur…

Hi, Sorry not been on the website for a while and was unaware of these replies. Thank you so much for getting in touch with this information.

Hoping to visit Glenwhirry in 2018. 

I'm interested in this conversation.  My maiden name was ADAMS and my ancestor was Hugh ADAMS from Rokeel (recorded as Rock Hill on his Australian marriage registration in 1849).  Hugh was one of three sons of Hugh ADAMS who is burried in the Broughshane cemetery where his headstone reads 'Erected by Mrs Robert Esler of Lisnamurrikin in memory of her beloved father Hugh Adams of Rokeel who died [-] aged 68 years Also of her mother Margaret Adams who died [-]1857 aged 77 years'
Martha ESLER (ADAMS) was the only girl and only member of this family to stay in Ireland.  The other brothers being John (the eldest) who arrived in Australia in 1841 and Samuel (the youngest) who arrived in 1854.  The children were all born between 1813 & 1822.

information from my father had the maiden name of Margaret as CARLETON but information recorded on the deaths of Hugh & Samuel had it as BARBER.

There are a number of newspaper notices from 1854 where 79 acres of land at Kerneyhill Glenwherry is being sold with Eleanor HARRIS being the plaintiff and John ADAMS and others as the defendants.  The notice mentions the land was formerly in the possesion of one Jared CARLETON and afterwards in the possesion of Robert CARLETON.

John ADAMS (now of Roughan) in his will of 1862 leaves money from the sale of this same land to his children - James ADAMS, Rose SMYTH, Agnes MAHOOD, Margaret Jane REID & Matilda MOORE.

Descendants of Agnes MAHOOD ended up in Australia and married with descendants of my ADAMS families. Agnes also used the name CARLETON as a middle name for her daughter Maria.  Maria is not a very common name in the Northern Irish but it was also used by Martha ADAMS for her daughter.  I haven't been able to find much about what happened to the other children.

I'm sure there is a connection here somewhere.  One that may never be determined but the CARLETON name along with the ADAMS name, the later family connections with the MAHOOD's and the mention of Rokeel makes me sure  that there is one.

If anyone recognises any of these names I'd be very interested to hear.  I have gone down the DNA path and have had success with matching/confirming my other Northern Irish lines but either the ADAMS didn't leave many descendants or the ones that are around haven't looked at DNA as none of our family get any matches that connect the ADAMS name back to Ireland but we do get matches amongst descendants of the 4 children of Hugh ADAMS & Margaret (CARLETON or BARBER) so there is no doubt about any parentage. 

Looking forward to hearing from anyone that might be able to offer suggestions or thinks that they can help with connecting the ADAMS & CARLETON families.

Hi Shauna,

Hopefully you still read this.

I am related to the McGrogan's, Esler's, Gardner's (Gardiner's) and Carmichael's who were originally all from Glenwhirry. Your Elizabeth fits in with the age of my 2nd Great Grandmother who came to Australia. Do you have DNA on Ancestry or somewhere? I would be interested to see if we connect.

Thanks

Brad Thompson

Please see the screenshot attached in the above message.

Hi Brad, I just got notification of your post today, sorry for your long wait! I have done a DNA test on Ancestry and my results are on there. 

Just had a look at ThruLines on Ancestry and Thomas Hugh Adams is showing as my fourth great-grandfather.