Crawfords of Cloughey

Jennifer,

Crawford is a very common surname in Co. Down. In the 1901 census for example, there were 638 in the county of which 44 were named William. The name would have been just as common in the late 1700s when your William left for the USA. So care needs to be taken in identifying the right family. These people weren’t all related. It’s just a common Scottish surname. Most will have ancestors who came to Co Down from Scotland in the 1600s.

There are 2 places named Cloghy in Co Down. One is in the parish of Kilclief and the other in Castleboy. Looking at Griffiths Valuation for 1863 there was a Rose Crawford on plot 20c and Eliza Crawford on plot 18e living in the Castleboy Cloghy. That’s on the Ards peninsula.  Both were probably widows and had small labourers cottages each with a garden. In the Kilclief Cloghy, which is just south of the village of Strangford, there were no Crawford households listed at that time. But obviously there might have been in the 1700s.

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

To be in the Freeholder records meant you were on the electoral register. The right to vote at that time was far from universal and, pre 1830, only men with land valued at £2 a year or more could vote. So those on the list were mainly farmers with a reasonable sized farm. Obviously there were thousands of other Crawfords below the £2 threshold who didn’t have a vote and so weren’t listed. So whilst useful, the Freeholders list isn’t the same as a census. It only lists 5% of the population, if that. If you know that your Edward was a farmer with a reasonable sized farm then it might be your ancestor but otherwise it could easily be someone else.

You haven’t said what denomination your ancestors were though Presbyterian seems a possibility. The Castleboy Cloghy is near Cloghy Presbyterian church. Unfortunately its records don’t start till 1841. The nearest Church of Ireland appears to be Ardkeen with records from 1745 (copy in PRONI). The RC records don’t start till 1828.

Kilclief Church of Ireland has no records earlier than 1866 (it’s older records were lost in the 1922 fire in Dublin). The local RC records don’t start till 1866. Strangford Presbyterian don’t start till 1846.

There are several hundred Crawford entries on this Co. Down site though I don't see a William or Edward from Castleboy or Kilclief mentioned.

http://freepages.rootsweb.com/~rosdavies/genealogy/SURNAMES/C/Crawford.htm

The problem you face is that your ancestor was born and left Ireland at a time when there were few records. That combined with the fact the name is so common in that area makes it very difficult to identify his roots.

CRAWFORD

I feel for you having a common surname. I have a Wilson in my family tree and it is very disheartening. One thing that sometimes helps is to check out the early families before the population boom in the 1800s. Sometimes a particular set of Christian names can help choose a more likely candidate line through a more distinctive maternal  middle name. Social strata and religion will often become apparent from the families they intermarried with. 

I am very good at digging up red herrings so feel free to ignore the following..  

https://archive.org/stream/historicalnotice00youn/historicalnotice00youn_djvu.txt

A SELECTION FROM THE MSS. COLLECTED
BY WILLIAM PINKERTON, F.S.A.. FOR HIS INTENDED HISTORY OF BELFAST

The linked book was published in 1896 and contains records back to the 1600s.

It is supposed that Mr. Corry settled some of his relations about
him. A Mr, Laurence Crawford was, according to the Betham MSS.,
his nephew. This gentleman, whose name appears amongst those
inhabitants of Fermanagh who were attainted by King James II's
Parliament of 1689, resided close to Castlecoole until 1731, successively
at Cavancarragh, Bonnybrooke, and Carrowmacmea, or possibly in
that part of the old townland of that name now known as Cloghtate.
It is not certainly known who his father was ; but there seems to be
grounds for supposing that he was the son of William Crawford, of
Ballymenagh, Co. Antrim, gent, of whose effects Mr. Corry took out
Letters of Administration in 1661, for the benefit of his widow, Ann
Pibles, alias Crawford, and her children. If this Ann were John
Corry's sister, she must have had a former husband. Mr. Crawford
himself appears to have been a gentleman-freeholder on a very
moderate scale. But of his descendants (Crawfords) eight have been
High Sheriffs of Fermanagh.

The Clooncoe House  Lewis records "Brooklawn" as a seat of the O'Brien family in 1837. Brooklawn House in the townland of Clooncoo, parish of Cloone, was part of the Clements estate but is described at the time of the first Ordnance Survey as the seat of a Mr. Crawford. It is labelled Brooklawn on the 1st edition Ordnance Survey map but as Clooncoe House on all subsequent editions

I appreciate the replies. I do know for sure we (several) Crawfords share DNA with Edward Crawford (and by baptism record and his granddaughter's immigration records) his brother Patrick Crawford. Since both are listed in Cloughey, which matches the immigration record information as well, that at least is something to go on.

Again, thank you.

Hi I’m Rosie. My Crawford’s come from Co Down all I know is he was born in 1835 David was his name and his father was also called David and his mother was a Margaret Fullerton. Their son was a sailor and died on board a ship called the Constance in 1887

Hi, I am directly related to the Crawfords of Cloughey/Castleboy/.   My great great grandmother was Mary (Polly) Crawford who was born in 1828/9 in Ardmemmon/Ardmennon towland which is effectively beside Castleboy. She married a Patrick McKeating of Castleboy and my line is traced through their eldest daughter, Mary.   Now, I have not been able to absolutely determine who Pollys father was.  The parish records for the area only record his initial which looks like either a D or an E - potentially Daniel or Edward (she used the names James, John and edward for her sons).   I have taken the Ancestry DNA and it is open and up on the site as well as on Gedmatch so if you have taken a DNA please look me. up on Ancestry.  JMCB50 is my username.  Happy to help with your digging if I can - based here in Ireland.  They are all recorded as being of the Roman Catholic faith Judith