Sunday, April 7, 2019

A2Z BLOGGING CHALLENGE - C

SURNAMES ON MY FAMILY TREE BEGINNING WITH C


I am continuing the A2Z Blogging Challenge with my theme of family surnames on my family tree. Today's letter is "C". 
  • Cairney - Ireland 
  • Caldwell - Sydney, Australia
  • Calhoun
  • Cameron - Lanarkshire, Scotland
  • Campbell - Houston and Killellan, Scotland
  • Campion - Nottinghamshire, England
  • Chanlor - Alnwick, Northumberland, England
Alnwick Castle, Northumberland, Wikimedia, Creative Commons Licence
  • Clarke - Dungannon, County Tyrone, Northern Ireland
  • Clarke - Ballinderry, Londonderry, Northern Ireland
  • Clayworth
  • Cleveland - Ipswich, Suffolk, England
  • Cochran - Kent, England
  • Coley - Shepshed, Leicestershire, England
  • Collingwood - Claxby by Alford, Lincolnshire, England
© Copyright Dave Hitchborne and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence.
  • Collins - Renfrewshire, Scotland
  • Collis
  • Colquhan
  • Condie - Quebec, Canada
  • Cook - Shepshed, Leicestershire, England
  • Costall - Hough on the HIll, Lincolnshire, England
  • Costall - Gelston, Lincolnshire, England
  • Coulter - Scotland
  • Count - Hougham, Lincolnshire, England
All Saints Church, Hougham, Lincolnshire, Wikimedia, Creative Commons Licence
  • Courtney 
  • Cowder - Farndon, Nottinghamshire, England
  • Cox
  • Craig - Brechin, Angus, Scotland
  • Cramb
  • Crampton
  • Crosbie
  • Culvyhouse
  • Cupples - County Down, Ireland
  • Cupples - Scotland
  • Curry
CLARKE of Ballycomlargy, Londonderry, Northern Ireland


Death Notice Samuel Clarke, 24 October 1889 [1]
Samuel Clarke was my third great grandfather. He was born in Northern Ireland in around 1808 [2] and married Rachel Marshall at St John's, Woods Chapel, Artrea [3] Londonderry, on  the 14th of September, 1832. The Topographical Dictionary of Ireland, 1837 [4] tells me that Woods Chapel or Chapel in the Woods was a district parish in the barony of Louchinisholin.  

The marriage record shows that Samuel resided in the townland of Ahgagaskin, also in the Barony of Louchinisholin in the civil parish of Margherafelt and that he attended the Margherafelt Presbyterian Church. Both Woods Chapel and Ahgagaskin were around two miles from the town of Margherafelt [4]

If you have ancestors from Louchinisholin you can read about this barony here.

By the time of the Griffiths Land Valuation (1847-1864) [5], Samuel Clarke was farming 36 acres of land at Ballycomlargey, civil parish Desertlyn, in the barony of Louchinisholin, Poor Law Union District of Margherafelt [6]. 
Samuel Clarke was also leasing a house to a John Stett. The land he farmed was owned, as was much of Londonderry by the Worshipful Company of Salters, one of the twelve London companies originally invited to invest in Northern Ireland during the Ulster Plantation [7]. Samuel and Rachel had by this time, nine children, the second youngest of whom died in infancy.

The Griffiths Valuation for Ballycomlargy

The eldest of the Clarke children, Sarah Jane Clarke (1833-1873) became my two times great grandmother after marrying farmer Joseph Shaw Thompson on the third of December 1856 at Woods Chapel Church of Ireland, Margherafelt [8]


Sarah Jane White (nee Thompson) daughter of Sarah Jane Clarke and Joseph Thompson. Copyright.

ORIGINS OF THE SURNAME CLARKE IN NORTHERN IRELAND

According to several sources the surname Clarke derives from the middle ages name McClereach or O' Cleirigh, meaning son of a cleric or clergyman [9]. Clarke is used as a English name also but has similar origins as in relating to a religious cleric.  

I do not yet know whether my Clarke family descend from gaelic Irish folk or English supplanters but I am hoping that DNA might solve the origin of this name for me one day. 



FOOTNOTES
1. Death Notice Samuel Clarke, The Belfast Newsletter, Vol. CLIIL, No. 28,182, p. 5, Ancestry.com
2. Obituary, Samuel Clarke, The Belfast Newsletter, 26 October 1889, p. 3., Newspapers.com 
3. Marriage of Samuel Clarke and Rachel Marshall, 14 September 1832, Original record, Woods Chapel Register of Marriages, possession of a relative.
4. The Topographical Dictionary of Ireland, 1837, Library Ireland,https://www.libraryireland.com/topog/W/Woods-Chapel-Loughinsholin-Londonderry.php 
5. Griffith's Valuation, Ballycomlargy, Samuel Clarke, Ancestry.com.
6. County Londonderry, Official Townlands, Bill McCaffee, www.billmacafee.com/admin/adminareasderry.pdf 
7. County Derry, KiwiCelts, http://family.kiwicelts.com/21_Places_and_History/Place_Derry.html#Magherafelt
8. Ireland, Civil Marriages Registration Index, 1845-1958, Ancestry.com
9. Surname Clark or Clarke in Ireland, Roots Ireland, http://irelandroots.com/clarke.htm

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