Family History

While Jenn and I were in Ireland, I took the opportunity to do some genealogy research; Jenn was nice enough to put up with me doing it.

To start with, my great-grandfather was David Lawson and he was my Lawson ancestor who came to America.  Records show he arrived in the US on 23 Oct 1891 at the age of 18 on board the Britannic, owned by White Star Line (not the Britannic that was a sister ship of the Titanic).  You can see he traveled with one bag and had a berth forward.  He lists his occupation as a farmer from Leitrim, but I think this may be a mistake and should be Antrim.

I think we’ve always known his parents were Hugh and Ellen Lawson, who were buried in Newtown Crommelin, County Antrim, Ireland.  I started researching Hugh a few months ago.  I found him in Griffith’s Valuation living a few miles up the road from Newtown Crommelin in the parish of Magheramore, south of present day Ballycastle.  Griffith’s Valuation was a taxing document used by the English government and made between 1840 and 1865.  Hugh is listed as living in 1861 and it shows the fields he was leasing to farm and what he was subleasing to other people.  The nice thing about Griffith’s Valuation is that it has an accompanying map, so you can see down to the building where people were.  By matching that map with present day landmarks you can find where things were.

Griffith’s Valuation Map – you can find the present day version by going to google maps and searching for 90 Capecastle Road, Ballycastle, Antrim, United Kingdom.

You can look at the two maps and see that it looks to me like only one of the buildings still exists – one of the long buildings under #8 on the Griffith’s map can be seen in Google Maps and in the picture below.

The records show that these buildings were subleased by Hugh to another person – even if he wasn’t using them, they certainly would have been familiar to him.

The fields listed as #7 are in these pictures – they were being leased by Hugh and three others to be farmed.  It doesn’t look like they have changed much since the 1860s.

Another useful piece of information comes from Hugh and Ellen’s marriage license.  It indicates Hugh’s father was named Archibald and was a farmer.  Ellen’s father is listed as Matthew Cathcart and is also a farmer.  They were married May 29^th, 1857 in Armoy in the Church of Ireland Church.  This is the church we went to seen below – it is the Church of Ireland Church in Armoy and was built in the 1840s, so while I don’t know, it seems reasonable to assume this is where they were married.  You can find more information about the church at http://www.roundtowers.org/armoy/index.html

The tower beside the church is a round tower which is a common feature of monastaries in Ireland.  It is likely from the 10^th century and is the only example in Northern Ireland.

Hugh left the Magheramore location in 1885 according to an update of Griffith’s evaluation below.  This means David was likely born in the Magheramore location on the map, which is born out by his birth certificate which locates his birth in Ballycastle.

Hugh and family moved to Newtown Crommelin, a few miles to the Southeast.  They aren’t in the valuation anymore which is likely because they were living with the Carsons in town.  Jenn and I went to Newtown Crommelin to try to find Hugh and Ellen’s grave. 

Just off of the main street is the remnants of the Church of Ireland church.  The foundations are still there, covered in grass.

Beside the foundation is the graveyard which had about 10-15 graves.  Hugh and Ellen’s grave is one of the closest to the foundation.  The grave reads as follows-

“Erected by Ellen Lawson, of Newtowncrommelin. In memory of her beloved husband Hugh Lawson, who died 9th march 1892, aged 71 years. Also the above named Ellen Lawson, who died 28th February 1908, aged 72 years. "Here rests." Until the day break and the shadows flee away.”

Here are some pictures of Newtown Crommelin today – Hugh’s will lists him as a Publican so it’s tempting to think that the Inn is his old inn/pub, but there’s no way of knowing.  It was closed when we visited – it might be closed permanently.

Overall it was pretty successful.  I can’t find anymore information on Archibald Lawson, Hugh’s father, so that may be a dead end, but I think I can find some on Matthew Cathcart, so I’ll probably see what I can find out about him next.

Fittingly, as we left Newtown Crommelin we saw a rainbow.  It seemed to confirm that we had been in the right place.