I have just turned 70 years old and have lived in Adelaide Australia since 1968. My Paternal grandmother was Elizabeth Polley born in Cloughey in 1886. Her parents were James Polly and Margaret Adair. I have family buried at Ardkeen Church. I cannot trace back beyond these two names of my great grand parents. James was drowned at sea he was master of the Loch Long that went down at the Bar Mouth. I think Margaret died before him leaving my grandmother to rear the family the yougest of whom was about 7.
My grandmother Elizabeth married William (Willie) Porter. Willies brother Walker used to rent a cottage for holidays at Tullytrammen.
I spent every summer of my childhood in Calhame Cloughey. My granparents rented(by the year) a wee (holiday) cottage up Calhame Lane as it was then. Wonderful memories - I remember it all like it was yesterday. Later my grannies sister Catherine (Cass or Cassie) built a holiday bungalow on the Quarter Road . Her husband was Harry Mc illhagga - someone may remember them.
We also had relatives in Portavogie. One name I remember was Warnock and I think it was him that had a fishing boat. My Dads cousin Maureen married a Billy Ambrose from Poratavogie and my Dads brother Jackie an Agnes Coffey from there also.
My childhood friend was a Ruthleen Palmer. I would love to know about her.
Can anyone can help me to trace back my ancestors - or does anyone share my memories.
Margaret Parker
Sunday 14th Jul 2013, 12:13AM
Message Board Replies
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Hi Margaret,
Thank you very much for your message. I hope that someone with information or stories on the family makes a connection with you.
In the meantime, have you tried checking in church records for more information? Most Catholic records are held locally so you may need to write to the local parish priest for possible assistance. One website that you may find useful is the Irish Times where they give an overview of what records are available in specific parishes. It also shows you where copies of the records are available. For Ardkeen parish, follow this link:
As you can see from the above link there are copies available from the Ulster Historical Foundation. Here is their email if you would like to contact them, however a fee may apply: enquiry@uhf.org.uk
Most surviving Church of Ireland records 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. Here are their websites: http://www.nationalarchives.ie/ and http://ireland.anglican.org/about/42
Lists of these surviving registers can also be found at the National Library of Ireland.
Civil registration began in 1864 so if James and Margaret were married after this year you should be able to find their marriage record in civil records. Civil records are available from the General Register?s Office. Here is their website:
http://www.groireland.ie/research.htm
You can search the indexes to these records up to 1958 online at:
https://familysearch.org/search/collection/1408347
Have you tried looking in the 1901/1911 census records to see if there were any Pollys still in the area at the time? http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/
Also, you could try looking for record of the family earlier in the century in Griffith?s Valuation. This is available online here:
http://www.askaboutireland.ie/griffith-valuation/
Some other websites that you may find helpful are:
The National Archives of Ireland http://www.nationalarchives.ie/genealogy1/genealogy-records/introduction/
The National Library of Ireland http://www.nli.ie/en/family-history-introduction.aspx
The National Archives UK ? genealogy search: http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/records/looking-for-person/
The Public Records Office of Northern Ireland http://www.proni.gov.uk/index/family_history.htm
Family Search: www.familysearch.org
Irish Genealogy Toolkit: http://www.irish-genealogy-toolkit.com/index.html
I hope some of this is helpful. Please be patient - as our programme has only begun to rollout across the island of Ireland and volunteers in some areas may not yet be organized.
Kind regards,
Genealogy Support
Monday 15th Jul 2013, 02:14PM -
Many thanks for sending me all this information. I couldnt work out how to print it off or save it - it needs a younger brain than mine! Cheers
Monday 15th Jul 2013, 11:39PM -
You're very welcome! Unfortunately, there is no way to print it directly off the site. I recommend that you copy the text and paste it onto a Word document or notepad and print it off that way.
All the best,
Emma
Tuesday 16th Jul 2013, 08:25AM