A History of Ballymoney Old Churchyard
Introduction
Introduction
I grew up just outside Ballymoney and from an early age was always interested in family history. I kept notes of some of my conversations with my great aunts. Many of my ancestors are buried in the old churchyard in Ballymoney and I have spent many hours reading the graves. When I got as far as I could with my own family tree I started helping others with theirs as I had accumulated a lot of information on many of the families around Ballymoney.
A few years ago, I thought it would be a good idea to put what I knew into book form. Keith Beattie, from Ballymoney museum had created an excellent web site on Ballymoney genealogy and in doing this had already mapped and numbered the graves. I have used Keith's numbering and map for simplicity. He has also greatly helped by letting me have copies of his work.Irish records tend to be poor due to the loss of so many in Dublin at the time of the Irish troubles in the 1920s. However, we are lucky in the Ballymoney area, as some of the church records go back to the 1700s and although all the censuses are missing apart from 1901, an 1803 agricultural census, 1825 Tithe Applotment records, 1859 Griffith valuation and street directories of 1824, 1846, 1856, 1864, 1905 and 1952 give valuable information for researchers.
More
Dorothy Arthur
my email specifically for the book will be dorothy@ballymoneygraveyard.com
The launch is on Saturday, November 1 in Ballymoney Town Hall. It has 496 pages with full colour throughout priced at £25. It is published by Impact in Ballycastle.
Ballymoney Ancestry website
Ballymoney Graveyard website
Bill Macafee's Family and Local History website
